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Hideous Kinky (1998)
Released By: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment   Rating: R   In Theaters: N/A
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Studio: Sony Pictures Home Entertainment
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: R
Director: Gillies Mackinnon
Language: English
Official Website: N/A
Theatrical Release: N/A
Home Video Release: N/A
Cast: Kate Winslet, Carrie Mullan, Bella Riza, Said Taghmaoui, Pierre Clementi, Abigail Cruttenden
Published ID: 8475
UPC: 043396037403,
Plot: Gillies MacKinnon directed this $5.6 million production with a screenplay by his brother, Billy MacKinnon. The film adapts the 1992 autobiographical novel by Esther Freud (Sigmund Freud's granddaughter) about hippie misadventures in North Africa in 1972, as described by a five-year-old girl. Disenchanted with the dreary conventions of English life, 25-year-old Julia (Kate Winslet) heads for Morocco with her children, six-year-old Lucy (Carrie Mullan) and precocious eight-year-old Bea (Bella Riza). Living at a low-rent Marrakesh hotel, the trio survives on the sale of hand-sewn dolls and a few checks from the girls' father, a London poet who also has a child by another woman. After the girls match their mother with gentle Moroccan acrobat and con man Bilal (Said Taghmaoui), sexual gears are set in motion, and he moves in, serving as a surrogate father. Julia's friend Eva (Sira Stampe) urges Julia to study in Algiers with a revered Sufi master at a school of the annihilation of the ego, and in another sequence European dandy Santoni invites Julia and the girls to his villa. As finances dwindle, Julia's philosophy is God will provide, although usually it's Bilal who provides. This film was shot October-November 1997 in Morocco, where Winslet caught a stomach bug. Back in London, she went directly into the hospital and thus missed Titanic's London premiere. The score blends North African music with British-American pop hits of the '60s. The film's title derives from a word game played by the girls. Shown at the 1998 {~Dinard Festival of British Cinema} and the 1998 {~London Film Festival}. ~ Bhob Stewart, All Movie Guide
IDDateTimeTitleReviewHelpfulVotesTotalVotes
Pocketful of Sunshine
Added 2/3/2009

This is a film that carries you away and transports you into a magical, intoxicating world. Kate Winslet is as usual, fantastic. She has a light in her eyes and looks so at peace with herself in this. I love the story and the beautiful cinematography, and this movie does everything it's supposed to do, entrall you with good acting and TAKE YOU AWAY FROM ALL THIS!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
In my Top Three all time favorites.
Added 2/19/2008

There is not much I can say about this movie that hasn't been said beautifully by others. I saw this when I was around 20 years old and it left an indelible impression on me. I am truly grateful for Kate Winslet to have chosen to tell this story. I think that her character is based on the granddaughter of Freud to to be especially familiar for me, as I come from a family of Freudians and yet I too am of similar spirit to Julia. However I only learned that fact after watching it and loving it already. If you enjoyed this movie as I have, I also recommend 'Holy Smoke' which she made with Harvey Keitel before this movie. It is similar but also very different.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
"The Truth Is A Man Standing Upright In The Sun" ~ Duties And Passing Pleasures On The Road To Annihilation
Added 2/26/2007

Synopsis: Set in the year 1972 in Marrakech, Morocco we find twenty-five year old British hippie Julia (Kate Winslet) wandering about Marrakech with her two young daughters. Tired of the sameness of everyday life she has left the father of her children behind in London in search of "something different" for the children and herself in North Africa.

Julia and the girls wander about the exotic landscape interacting with the locals, other occidental fellow seekers and an occasional British ex-patriot or two. She becomes involved in a romantic interlude with a street performer named Bilal (Said Taqhmaoui) but her real quest is not to find another man, but to discover the Truth (yes, with a capital T). She hopes what she is looking for will be revealed to her by the resident leader of a group of Sufi's, a sect of Islamic mystics flourishing in the area. The only question is whether or not she's ready for the answer?

Critique: `Hideous Kinky' released in '99 is an exquisite film that insightfully captures the innate human desire to find some form of spiritual underpinning in life to counterbalance a mundane world consisting of nothing more than duties and passing pleasures. The film takes the viewer on a slow, meandering, hypnotic journey through the cities and countryside of Morocco. The goal of the storyline is at times unclear, but then so is any true spiritual journey. And like any real quest for truth the answers one receives are generally not answers at all, only more questions. It's this ambiguity of thought and motion that is the real beauty and message of this mesmerizing film. The amazing scenery coupled with a soundtrack consisting of late `60's, early `70's pop tunes interspersed between African rhythms and Sufi trance music make for a magical mystery tour to another world.

Recommendation: This film belongs in your permanent DVD collection.

3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
Mothers on a journey often abandon their children
Added 1/14/2007

Kate Winslet stars as a single English mother of two who takes them to Morocco with her on her spiritual journey. They have many adventures, which begin as a fun time, but they run out of money and the girls begin to miss home. I loved the movie because I related so much with Kate Winslet's character until she turned into a self-obsessed mother - one of my greatest fears.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
Hideously Good
Added 10/11/2006

Kate Winslet is a very good actress, there is no doubt about it. She is one of few actors who gives a very honest account of the character she is playing being extremely focused to her work. She does this movie a lot of justice. The story moves slow at times, but fast enough to keep you captivated. Kate is very convincing as a young single British mother on a spiritual journey and quest of self discovery in Morocco. The scenery is also spectacular. Buy this movie along with Holy Smoke if you can. It works out cheaper, it is certainly not worth the money being asked of it on its own.
0 out of 1 people found this helpful.
Pocketful of Sunshine
Added 2/3/2009

This is a film that carries you away and transports you into a magical, intoxicating world. Kate Winslet is as usual, fantastic. She has a light in her eyes and looks so at peace with herself in this. I love the story and the beautiful cinematography, and this movie does everything it's supposed to do, entrall you with good acting and TAKE YOU AWAY FROM ALL THIS!
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
In my Top Three all time favorites.
Added 2/19/2008

There is not much I can say about this movie that hasn't been said beautifully by others. I saw this when I was around 20 years old and it left an indelible impression on me. I am truly grateful for Kate Winslet to have chosen to tell this story. I think that her character is based on the granddaughter of Freud to to be especially familiar for me, as I come from a family of Freudians and yet I too am of similar spirit to Julia. However I only learned that fact after watching it and loving it already. If you enjoyed this movie as I have, I also recommend 'Holy Smoke' which she made with Harvey Keitel before this movie. It is similar but also very different.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
"The Truth Is A Man Standing Upright In The Sun" ~ Duties And Passing Pleasures On The Road To Annihilation
Added 2/26/2007

Synopsis: Set in the year 1972 in Marrakech, Morocco we find twenty-five year old British hippie Julia (Kate Winslet) wandering about Marrakech with her two young daughters. Tired of the sameness of everyday life she has left the father of her children behind in London in search of "something different" for the children and herself in North Africa.

Julia and the girls wander about the exotic landscape interacting with the locals, other occidental fellow seekers and an occasional British ex-patriot or two. She becomes involved in a romantic interlude with a street performer named Bilal (Said Taqhmaoui) but her real quest is not to find another man, but to discover the Truth (yes, with a capital T). She hopes what she is looking for will be revealed to her by the resident leader of a group of Sufi's, a sect of Islamic mystics flourishing in the area. The only question is whether or not she's ready for the answer?

Critique: `Hideous Kinky' released in '99 is an exquisite film that insightfully captures the innate human desire to find some form of spiritual underpinning in life to counterbalance a mundane world consisting of nothing more than duties and passing pleasures. The film takes the viewer on a slow, meandering, hypnotic journey through the cities and countryside of Morocco. The goal of the storyline is at times unclear, but then so is any true spiritual journey. And like any real quest for truth the answers one receives are generally not answers at all, only more questions. It's this ambiguity of thought and motion that is the real beauty and message of this mesmerizing film. The amazing scenery coupled with a soundtrack consisting of late `60's, early `70's pop tunes interspersed between African rhythms and Sufi trance music make for a magical mystery tour to another world.

Recommendation: This film belongs in your permanent DVD collection.

3 out of 3 people found this helpful.
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