Kiss the Sky

Wrenching depiction of the male midlife crisis, in full bloom - completely acted out, with a kiss-off to the proverbial "American Dream." Well-cast with great scenery and direction, this film brings the audience into the internal struggle of two 40-something men trying to figure out what they and women really want out of life and relationships. With hopes and desires crumbling all around them, the American Dream not satisfying them, they accept the notion of process and continuous unsettlement, whether back with their families or off in a Buddhist monastery. The problem is not in what they have or do not have - it is with themselves. Very poignant angst captures the postmodern mindset.

Kiss the Sky is about two buddies Jeff and Marty who decide to go to the Phillipines to escape the wives and recapture the "freedom" of their youth. They end up becoming involved with a young Australian Girl played by Sheryl Lee of Twin Peaks fame. William Peterson plays Jeff, the more confident, outspoken, and dashing one and Marty is played by Gary Cole who is more emotionally shattered, but more into the religion of Buddhism.

Although the movie has some unnecessary sex scenes, it has some smartly written dialogue about the middle aged crisis that some men go through. It also shows kind of in a brutal way of what men want in a relationship and what a woman wants and how hard it is for the two sexes to communicate involving the emotions of the heart.

In their attempt to create their own Utopia, Jeff and Marty discover it is harder to turn to reality, then just holding onto the idea itself.

Terence Stamp gives the best performance playing a witty buddhist monk who gives advice to the two men. Patricia Charbonneau gives a great performance and still looks fantastic to this day.

This movie is definitely not for the whole family and I believe will cause discomfort for some men and women who watch due to honest dialogue of the movie and also because it deals with problems that I think a lot of married couples can relate to.

Jeff (William L. Petersen) and Marty (Gary Cole) are best friends and in a middle age crisis. They spent time remembering their feats in their youths. Jeff is married with Franny (Patricia Charbonneau) and has two daughters. Marty is married with Beth. In their marriages, something is missing or was lost. When they travel to Philippines, they meet Andy (Sheryl Lee), a very different woman, and they both fall in love with her. They have a threesome and decide to leave their families and live together. They are introduced to Kozen (Terence Stamp), a Zen Buddhist monk friend of Andy, and they decide to build a refuge in one isolated beach. After a period together, Jeff misses his family and the relationship of the group deteriorates when Andy falls in love with Jeff. This movie, about uncertainties in the middle age, is very interesting. The story is not corny and I found it pleasant. The character of Jeff, who never finishes anything, always full of doubts, is very human. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): `Paraíso das Ilusões' (`Paradise of the Illusions')

That's all my wife could say while she was watching this movie. And I recommend that men not identify too much with these guys if the want to stay in their SO's good graces. I had to promise that I would not... several times during this movie.

Kiss the Sky has not received a lot of attention and the critics panned it. Nonetheless, it holds your attention, and it actually inspired a "deep" conversation afterwards. And I'm not a deep guy. This is bad TV at its best.

I accidentally watched this movie around four or five years ago on TV as I spent my time away searching for something to watch on a friends house in the Middle East. I wasn't even focusing much on the plot then or whatsoever though the few naked scenes which I had the luck of seeing first of all the other scenes kept me interested enough so as not to switch channels for a while. I found it not really my type then (because then I was just in my mid thirties?). What interested me more afterward as this movie rolled on was that the language spoken in the background (aside from English) and the scenery seemed to be all too familiar. I'm a Filipino and hey, they were speaking Tagalog and those were places and items from the Philippines..the beaches, the markets, the festivals, the foot-pedaled trikes, passenger jeepneys etc., etc... In particular I was puzzled by their depiction and use of the Taal volcano island on Taal lake which they seemed to call Lake Toba in the film. Well back then, I already had this grand illusion that such place is the most beautiful of all places in the world (and I did travel a lot worldwide). The movie at least jived with my opinion that that place is paradise literally (though of course as the monk has said we create our own paradises or we pursue our paradises in vain?). Anyway these days I searched again for this movie for another value since I turned 40. It really appealed to us mid-lifers- white or Asian perhaps. Enjoy watching- its about you if you are more like my age and male of course. Though of course I don't approve of the threesome. And I love Sheryl Lee, I wonder where she is now.