Holy Smoke

HOLY IMPUDENCE

Is director Jane Campion in love with Harvey Keitel or what? His penis restored Hollyin Hunter’s voice The Piano, which is about all I want to say here on that subject. In Holy Smoke, as a religious deprogrammer, he finds himself under the spell of his charge, the mystic-drenched Kate Winslet, and in no time he’s letting her put lipstick on him and a dress without underwear. Dotty game-playing, and all the diametric lobbing without much redeeming value yet always absorbing. After Heavenly Creatures and Hamlet, after Titanic and now after this, Winslet shows freedom from restraint as a performer. There’s a fearlessness in her to admire, perhaps because she reminds us of ourselves when we were once daring and flippant. Many of us also appreciate the flaunt of her Rubenesque figure. We don’t have to be turned on by the body to enjoy what may be the meanings of the willingness to walk naked in the Outback—giving the finger to the fashion mob, celebrating the fleshiness. Takes nerve, and apparently she’s got plenty of it. Good use of “Baby, It’s You.” (As of 2007, the body seems to have morphed into a Miranda Priestly-approved model-thinness. Am I the only one to miss the old model?)

Heavenly Creatures is one of those highly praised New Zealand art movies you wouldn’t (and judging by the box office didn’t) pay to see but you might catch on cable or Netflix, and you should. Based on a real crime committed by two school chums living in Christchurch back in 1954, the girls—Kate Winslet and Melanie Lynskey débuting as funny and very engaging outcasts who recklessly feed off each other’s brazen individualities—become too close for their parents, who fear emerging lesbianism. Attempting to keep them apart becomes traumatic and dangerous as the girls plot to kill one of the mothers who is most insistent on keeping them separated. Directed by Peter Jackson, who also co-wrote the Oscar-nominated screenplay with Fran Walsh. During filming, the real Juliet Hulme visited the set to reveal herself as Anne Perry, the mystery novelist. Watching her on youtube, you can see her as an aged Winslet tilting toward Rebecca Wisocky as Flora Robson.

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ralphbenner@nowreviewing.com