pave-mayerl

Seeing a 4.3 rating on IMDb, I did expect that something must be wrong with Kite, but found it to be an overall good movie.

Story, Acting, Camera and Setting are without major flaws, and within the genre the story is quite believable and has no obvious holes.

The ending even holds some surprises, and there are a number of memorable scenes.

So why the low rating? My theory is that there are a number of factors:

• The mainstream audience may have a problem with the soundtrack which can be annoying if are not at least a little into dubstep (I found it a prefect fit for this movie)

• To purists the characters may be not cool enough; they are too vulnerable, too human and fail too often be bad-ass uberheroes

• The mainstream may find the setting too dark, while purist may not like the brightening elements in the story

It might have been a masterpiece if the film makers would not have tried to please the mainstream. It almost seems as if there was a struggle between those forces who wanted to appeal to a wide audience and those who wanted to go to the extreme. The mixed result seems to keep many people unsatisfied, although I regard it as well above average.

I can recommend to watch it and make up your own mind. I believe that "Kite" will be more appreciated over time and find its audience.

Watched it after about 30 years again, and it was still a stunning, shocking and hilarious experience today as it was when I saw it the first time. This was in the mid 1980s in a cinema in Munich where Liquid Sky was shown every week for at least ten years. The only film I am aware of that gained an even more prominent cult status is the "Rocky Horror Picture Show".

There are other parallels to the "Rocky Horror Picture Show": Liquid Sky has a similar effect on your mind that could best be described as liberating. It is a bold movie, an attack of sound and color, sex, violence, drugs and crazy characters. What makes all this bearable is the hilarity of the whole story. While normally in movies you are often required to suspend your disbelief to enjoy it, in Liquid Sky disbelief is the rescue line that keeps you sane and lets you enjoy it.

Some scenes were burned into my mind forever when I first saw it. However, it is the kind of movie you can watch over and over, like a good piece of art.

It is also a child of its time, giving a glimpse into subcultures in New York in the late 70s/early 80s that may have been the avant-garde for the 90s Rave-Culture.

Liquid Sky is one of a kind, and you will have missed a life experience if you never saw it.