Kika

Rating:
Summary: "In my own dirty and silent way, I loved you."
Review: "Kika" (Veronique Forque) is a bubbly beautician who has a poor history with men ("I always get the weirdos"). She lives with photographer Ramon who has a few kinky habits. Ramon has never forgotten his mother's suicide, and he has mixed feelings about his sinister step-father (Peter Coyote). Ramon's ex-girlfriend, Andrea Scarface (Victoria Abril) is the bizarre former psychologist-turned-tabloid-crime-TV-host who continues to show a morbid interest in Ramon's life.

"Kika" is probably Almodovar's most misunderstood film. When I saw it in the cinema, many people left during the controversial rape sequence, and I read several professional reviews criticizing this scene. This scene, however, is essential to the film's message. The character of Andrea Scarface exploits tragedy with no respect for the privacy of the victim--the crime against the individual becomes nothing next to the sensationalistic exploitation of the crime converted to entertainment to be enjoyed by the masses. That said, Almodovar fans should enjoy the darkly comic "Kika" but those fresh to Almodovar should start somewhere else.

Guileless, chatterbox Kika is one of Almodovar's greatest characters. Terrible things happen to her, but she remains basically unscarred by events. As with most of Almodovar films, his female characters are more interesting than the males. The darkly malevolent Andrea Scarface--with her fantastic costumes--is a perfect foil for Kika's perpetually sunny disposition. But there are many great minor characters in the film--there's Kika's devoted maid, Juana ("I want to be a prison matron") who would like to be more than just a domestic servant, and Paul Bazzo ("stop drooling on me")--ex-adult film star and prisoner who escapes during a self-flagellation ceremony. Kika is a wild story--dark, wickedly funny, and kinky. Lots of nudity--this film is not for the easily offended--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: "In my own dirty and silent way, I loved you."
Review: "Kika" (Veronique Forque) is a bubbly beautician who has a poor history with men ("I always get the weirdos"). She lives with photographer Ramon who has a few kinky habits. Ramon has never forgotten his mother's suicide, and he has mixed feelings about his sinister step-father (Peter Coyote). Ramon's ex-girlfriend, Andrea Scarface (Victoria Abril) is the bizarre former psychologist-turned-tabloid-crime-TV-host who continues to show a morbid interest in Ramon's life.

"Kika" is probably Almodovar's most misunderstood film. When I saw it in the cinema, many people left during the controversial rape sequence, and I read several professional reviews criticizing this scene. This scene, however, is essential to the film's message. The character of Andrea Scarface exploits tragedy with no respect for the privacy of the victim--the crime against the individual becomes nothing next to the sensationalistic exploitation of the crime converted to entertainment to be enjoyed by the masses. That said, Almodovar fans should enjoy the darkly comic "Kika" but those fresh to Almodovar should start somewhere else.

Guileless, chatterbox Kika is one of Almodovar's greatest characters. Terrible things happen to her, but she remains basically unscarred by events. As with most of Almodovar films, his female characters are more interesting than the males. The darkly malevolent Andrea Scarface--with her fantastic costumes--is a perfect foil for Kika's perpetually sunny disposition. But there are many great minor characters in the film--there's Kika's devoted maid, Juana ("I want to be a prison matron") who would like to be more than just a domestic servant, and Paul Bazzo ("stop drooling on me")--ex-adult film star and prisoner who escapes during a self-flagellation ceremony. Kika is a wild story--dark, wickedly funny, and kinky. Lots of nudity--this film is not for the easily offended--displacedhuman

Rating:
Summary: Almodovar: RED
Review: A bitter sweet Almodovar surrounded by his favorites actors.
An interesting chemistry and coherence for this tormented story, told with a smile on the lips. This is Madrid. This is 'la movida'.This is sexy, and also maybe a little gross! And the omnipresent red color reminds Spain and the rest of the world that freedom had a price.
Not my favorite Almodovar, but a good, unpredictable movie.

Rating:
Summary: Un insulto al recato.
Review: Esta es una comedia, donde se exponen las crudas experiencias de personas que laboran en los medios de comunicación. El humor negro es la cualidad sobresaliente de esta película. Sin entrar en los detalles que a veces caen en lo ofensivo, es genial y magistral la forma en que Almodóvar maneja las situaciones. Kika mujer madura con mentalidad ingenua, arranca carcajadas por sus ocurrencias. Como víctima de la manipulación y hasta el abuso de los "machos" de la película, se deja llevar, para al fin y al cabo salirse con la suya. Realmente es una comedia que deliciosa es un insulto al recato.

Rating:
Summary: Another, lighter Pulp Fiction
Review: Great movie with shock impact, humor, vivacity, and terrific casting. This will be a cult classic. Ignore that woman who gave it a lousy rating.

Rating:
Summary: have not find any idea behind the film
Review: I don't know what the director ment when he filmed it,
I could not find any meaning...
looks like a bad movie to me, or may be it's a parody on a bad movie?

Rating:
Summary: Perplexing without a real message... yet Almodovar.
Review: I guess the right way to watch Almodovar's movies is to see them chronologically, according to the time of their creation. This is not what I did. I started watching his work with "Talk to Her" moved on to "All about my mother" and then watched "Kika". In a way, this order of viewing indeed affected my judgment. After watching the first two, "Kika" is indeed a disappointment and does not come up to the standard of his later creations. However, I am willing to admit that I might have misjudged this film as the reason for my low rating is that I find "Kika" to be very perplexing and I always find it hard to enjoy something I do not totally understand. However, this might be my own problem. Maybe you do not need to understand everything. Its not that I did not understand what I saw in the movie. Indeed, the characters are peculiar and the plot is amazing. However, what you truly do not understand is what did Almodovar want to tell you? What are the characters motives and where are they coming from? What seems to be the glue that made Almodovar put all these characters together? I have several vague ideas, but am totally uncertain about them. Although other viewers laughed and thought the movie was a comedy, my personal reaction was sitting with my mouth wide open at what went on the screen asking myself was it my problem for not understanding or was it a feeling Almodovar wanted to create on purpose....Maybe he did want the viewers to feel disgusted over the media's interests and the power of rating and wanted to make it as extreme and shocking as possible (the first shock is from Andrea's clothes...).
In spite of what I have written above, this is indeed an Almodovar movie and as such has a lot of his personal traits - including the Almodovar charm. In this movie as his other films I saw, you manage to remain not critical towards all characters and there is no one you totally hate or dislike in spite of all the horrible things they do (off course one can say that you do not care about the characters enough to really mind...). You do like Kika. She is not a strong character that stays with you after the movie ends, however, is sweet and charming with a lot of "love of life" and vivacity about her. I found her naivety and even ignorance as something that was easy for me to accept. Sort of a defense mechanism for staying in her own world.
It is interesting that even the rapist is not someone you totally hate or despise. The same can be said about Andrea, a sort of Television reporter, who is the "bad" character of the movie. She is revolting in her actions and yet, you do not feel any strong resentment towards her and in a way accept her "murder madness". This acceptance that Almodovar creates is especially important as the movie is filled with ugly disgusting things (whipping of the back, etc.) which do cause a feeling of uneasiness although you have a sense of "this can not be truly happening".
Another striking character is that of Juana who is Kika's lesbian maid. This woman has such an extraordinary face, which in my eyes is some of the Almodovar appeal. She can be said to be a true ugly person and on the other hand, has some amazing features. Her total look is one of the "Adams Family".
Reading my review over and again I find it to be somewhat confused. This is indeed how I feel after watching this movie. Many impressions, several thoughts, but all in all not a movie I would like to see again.

Rating:
Summary: Irreverent and funny
Review: I like the way Almodóvar presents his characters. I think all of them are special and stand by themselves,they reflect one way or the other, personality flirts. Take for example "Andrea Cara Cortada", Juana, Paul Vaso and Kika. What about the detectives, the wirter and Almodóvar's mother. It's a delightful mixture of situations as well as a very unuasual happy ending.

Rating:
Summary: Aldomovar's Worst
Review: I think most amazon.com patrons would be thinking about 'Kika' only if, like me, they saw "All About My Mother" or "Woman on the Verge..." or some other Almdovar masterpiece and thought, "Gee, I ought to rent/buy some of his other works." With that in mind, here's where "Kika" ranks in my estimation:

1. "All About My Mother"

2. "Woman on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown"

3. "Live Flesh" (early Bardem!! Don't miss it.)

4. "High Heels"

5. Every other Almodovar film except "Kika" (includes anything he ever did at film school, plus birthday celebrations where he might have held a video camera).

6. "Kika"

The only reason to watch this film - and this is for pure comedic value only - is to witness the train wreck of Peter Coyote in this film. I don't mean to slam him as an actor. He doesn't look *that* out of place or anything, but Almodovar has dubbed in a preposterous-sounding Castillian accent over Coyote's real voice...who knows if the actor was speaking his original lines in English or whether he really gave Spanish a whirl. Anyway, the dubbing - in my mind - became a heck of a lot more fun to watch than the movie.

Gave it three stars instead of two because, hey, it's got Victoria Abril, so it can't be that bad. She completely overshadows Veronica Forque, who is totally inconsequential as the lead character. The only thing that will stick with you from Forque's performance is her voice, which sounds like someone who has sucked on helium since Nixon went to China.

Rating:
Summary: Funny, Erotic, & Endlessly Enjoyable
Review: I've learned to accept Almodovar as he has (ahem) matured & gotten serious. He is my favorite director so I support all his progressions. However! I'm deeply & irrevocably in love with the movie Kika, its colors, its actors, its characters, its music, its dialogue, its spell. Having watched it as much as I have, I've analyzed scenes & themes that otherwise would have escaped a one time viewing only. For example, notice how Ramon kneels in front of three women, for different purposes. First the model in the opening credits as he photographs her in bed. Next, he kneels in front of his dead mother as he opens her blouse to reveal her wound. Finally, in front of Kika as he makes love to her. The posters throughout the film hint at the action to take place in the future scenes. The dialogue is hilarious beyond belief & is not all translated or not translated acurately in the subtitles. If you are an Almodovar fan, you owe it to yourself to study Spanish & brush up on Castillian regionalisms to get the fully, mordant sinuousness of the dialogue. Kika is a black comedy & must be enjoyed as such, otherwise one would not laugh at the bizarre costumes, the multiple deaths, the rape as much-needed outlet for the retarded ex-porn star, the fickleness of love, the unfaitfulness throughout. Finally, I suspect that public taste or America's increasing discomfort with black comedy when its applied to rape, is delaying or preventing the rerelease of Kika on dvd. Its available in Brazil, but, of course not with English subtitles.