Rating: 
Summary: A Powerful Film of Transformation
Review: Ruth (Kate Winslet) has her transfornation in India, it becomes grounded through her very human,intimate relationship (her first one) with PJ (Harvey Keitel). PJ has been to India but it was wounding rather than transforming. His transformation takes place through his attraction (and his projections) to Ruth, first as a woman, then as a goddess and then the Goddess herself appears. He is brought to the brink of insanity and death as deep transformations can do. What we Westerners glibly call cross-dressing is a sacred ritual done to attract the Gods and Goddesses to visit. It's a film of deep symbols that take us beyond the mundane....
Rating:
Summary: SURREAL-- HARVEY KEITEL IN LIPSTICK AND DRESS
Review: Last year when this film was in the cinema a friend told me to go see it, and unfortunately I missed it, but I got the video and was pretty stunned by this film. It was rather unexpected. The womanly, voluptuous and talanted Kate Winslet (who again does some nude scenes, as she seems to do in many films) plays a woman who travels with a friend to India and comes under the influence of some kind of a cult leader and stays in India. Her family creates a story about her father dying to convince her to return to her home in Australia. The plan works, and when she returns to Australia she finds that the family has hired a professional "cult deprogrammer" (Harvey Keitel) to make her come to her senses. Winslet and Keitel are both outstanding in their roles, and as their characters spend a lot of time together, you discover that Winslet has conquered this seemingly unconquerable man. He falls in love with her, and by the end of the film, he is chasing her through the desert wearing make-up, a red dress, and telling her that he wants to marry her, and they can even return to India to be with the Baba (by whom she was taken in in India)! It is a touching story in a sense, with this strange relationship developing between them. After Keitel goes a bit crazy and her family wants to kill him, she embraces him, and they seem to share a silent understanding about their love. She and her mother go to India, and Keitel's character returns to the US and has a family with his business partner, but they keep in touch... very pleasant ending for a sometimes disturbing picture.
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Summary: Gotta admire its bombast
Review: There are many things wrong with the movie but there are so many memorable scenes that it is difficult to overlook the film. For all it's weirdness and attempts to be audacious, the point of the film is actually kinda banal. But man, there is this scene in which Harvey Keitel is wearing a red... oh, you just have to see it to believe it. If you're like me and you primarily watch movies in the hope of seeing something you've never seen before, then this movie will meet your expectations.
Rating:
Summary: Ashes to ashes
Review: Rarely does one have the privilege of being so humiliated by one's own preconceptions. Vibhuti in electronic form.
Rating: 
Summary: Good Performances now equal Goofy in Campions "odd" styles
Review: It's hard to deny that Jane Campion is an inventive director. But one could ask the question, "Has she gone too far?" with this one. Kate Winslet stars as Ruth, an Australian woman who gets caught up in the mysticism of a India guru. On a simple trip as tourist, she ends up making life-altering decisions and plans on wedding the guru, and living a life in the "cult". Her family, of course, do not want this to occur and will do anything, no matter the cost, to get her out. They turn to help in a deprogrammer named PJ, played by Harvey Keitel. Needless to say, they get Ruth home - she is violent at first, hurt, that her family can't see the freedom and beauty in her new spirtitual endeavor. Finally, she submits her mind and religion to the deprogrammer and he begins his oddysey to change her (for the better?). From the movies exclamation Holy Smoke! - we can tell that Campion is painting a rather odd comedy with a bit of drama and the usual Campion vignettes, female power and sexual power. Kate Winslet is a powerhouse as Ruth, and to add to her magnetic performance - she masters an Australian accent with the ease of Meryl Streep. But, it's hard to take her seriously. Why does she seduce the deprogrammer, to prove the power of reversal? It's interesting to watch the film switch roles between guru-influenced and deprogrammer. Harvey Keitel is sensational as PJ, the womanizing religion-stomper. He submits to Ruth's power, when he should be trying to overthrow her. The movie lacks the elegance and the intelligence of THE PIANO, but we can't expect Jane Campion to keep dishing out classics such as that. Here, I think she toyed with the idea of making a goofy comedy out of a serious subject. She works it well, but at times it feels pointless, drags on, and loses its fire. Winslet's Ruth becomes tiresome and Keitel's PJ just becomes ludicrous with the flow of the movie, and if anything watch the movie to see the acting of Keitel and Winslet, seeing them together is remiscent of the acting competition of Holly Hunter and Harvey Keitel in THE PIANO. If she could have found a way to keep the fire going all the way to the end, instead of taking the easy way out and making it a goofy farce, the outcome would have been a lot more powerful and interesting instead of feeling like a waste of time.
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Summary: Different, not good or bad, just different.
Review: I know Jane Campion films are very artsy, but this one appears a little more Hollywood than The Piano. I should say that the acting by most the cast is top notch. I especially enjoyed the performance by Juie Hamilton who plays the mother. Winslet does a great job portraying the subtle effects of being brain washed by a cult. She (and Campion) keep the experience from being a solid, obviously negative thing and make it believable that a smart teenage girl could be sucked into such a mess. Keitel's character is increibly complexed. A rock star ego'd de-programer from the U.S. with all the American cowboy attitude that other countries seem to expect from us. His hair is horrible colored black with a personality like nails on a chaulkboard. He has a few scenes in this film that are incredible, including a near touching scene with Winslet's sister-in-law who he makes easy sexual prey of. If you are looking for some rare Winslet sex scenes, this is the movie for you! It's always surprising what actors will do if the film is artsy enough. And once again, we see more or Keitel then we really need to. If you're looking for something as good as The Piano, you may want to pass this up and save yourself the disappointment. It is a movie you will remember for a while and it is thought provoking. I do have to say that it does seem to lack the solid direction of Campion's past films, but a great cast makes up for this.
Rating: 
Summary: Artsy-fartsy
Review: Jane Campion is the reigning queen of artsy-fartsy movies, and Kate Winslet needed a quick antidote to her too-high-profile mega-Hollywood role in "Titanic". All of the characters were shallow; the romance got annoying and unconvincing; there was not enough background and context to tell us why Ruth was searching for herself and how the family seemed to manage to have all the reveling and laid back lifestyle while no one seemed to be holding a career or full-time job. Some of the colors appeared to be computer-enhanced and exaggerated, as in scenes of India in the earlier part of the movie. Except for zoomed in shots of the moon rising and the sun setting, and some panoramic shots of the outback in fiery late afternoon light, most of the shots were exhaustingly and boringly typical of Jane Campion.
Rating: 
Summary: A bit muddled but provocative
Review: Some absolutely stunning visual sequences in this film. The plot started strong and involved me with the characters right off the bat. Later it seemed to lose focus and start to meander in different directions but I'm not sure that that wasn't meant to reflect the fact that the main characters are also losing *their* focus along the way, their originally strong and assured viewpoints becoming bent by coming into contact with each other. In any case this is a provocative movie, one which you will likely think about for a while after seeing it.
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Summary: When bad scripts happen to good actors
Review: Jane Campion and Jan Chapman - two great forces behind one of my all-time favorite movies ("The Piano") as well as Harvey Keitel (who was SO wonderful in that aforementioned movie), plus Kate Winslet (surely one of the greatest actresses of her generation who has given truly memorable performances in such great movies as "Hideous Kinky", "Titanic", and "Quills") - put them all together with this mindlessly meandering and abominable script and you get one big waste. At first, I was excited to watch the movie. Kate Winslet, after all, going to India, after all - my most favorite of countries. She dis-identifies with her native Australian culture and falls entranced to a Guru. Her parents want their wayward daughter to come back and they exhibit no shame in their lies and manipulations to accomplish this. Also, to "de-convert" her, her parents pay $10,000AUS to hire an expert to "un-possess" her, thus Harvey Keitel is flown in from the U.S. to do so. After the deceived Winslet returns home, she is taken by force (the leading up to and actual portrayal of this deception and how much of a unforgiveable violation of human freedom it is is very painfully delivered and is probably the most meritorious aspect of the movie) and must spend 3 days in the middle of the desert in a camper/shack with Keitel. For a little while the focus is on the pitting of each character's mental resolve versus the other and Winslet is honorable in this, having been kidnapped against her will. But then the movie falls apart totally and becomes directionless. The movie transforms from being about righteous indignation and the violation of human rights to a "let's see how badly we can psychologically mess each other up" game between Winslet and Keitel. Both characters, though Keitel's more severely than Winslet's, inflict incredible cruelties upon each other. (The characters were just too unbelievable despite the great acting - even Keitel and Winslet could not triumph here.) The ending was pat, soft, and absurd - it was as if the writer had a beginning and end on the mind but exerted no ethics and threw away any degree of plausibility and self-respect in constructing the middle. As far as the visual aspects of the movie, they were good overall. There were some beautiful shots of sunsets on the Australian Outback as well some very grim, real, and truthful shots of lower-class Indian urbania (the film was actually shot in both Australia and India). The red hues and heat of the Australian outback matched the intensity and (passion?) of the action set therein and the darkness and blues of the colors in India contributed to the mysteries Winslet encountered in that place. I must object, however, to the portrayal of Indian beggers in the movie - I, myself, have been to India and have been approached by beggars and, in reality, they were nowhere near as violent and aggressive as those in the movie. Very poor taste, here. I give this movie 2 stars. The presence of its two leading actors and the decent production and direction command at least that. But the movie remains "poor to fair" due to its perversion of its virtues it tried to establish early in the plot as well as to its bathetic script which even Keitel and Winslet could not save.
Rating:
Summary: What were the Campion sisters smoking?
Review: The burning question about "Holy Smoke" is what were Jane and Anna Campion smoking when they wrote this muddle. Ruth (Kate Winslet) is a confused young woman who goes to India on vacation and falls in with a religious cult. However, Ruth is not the only one who has an identity crisis. This entire film has an identity crisis. The film starts out straightforward enough and seems to be a drama about deprogramming cult victims. As it progresses, it veers willy-nilly into various genres using elements of farce, film noir, camp, satire and sexual perversion to name a few. Director Jane Campion (Best Writing Oscar and nominated for Best Director for "The Piano") seems to think that to cook a great stew, the chef must include every food known to man. What this produces is a jumbled mess, with a disconcerting lack of continuity and cohesion. Lost in this poorly crafted story are some interesting ironies. The first is how critical the Christian world is of religious cults when all religions, including Christianity are cultish. The second is how the people who are purportedly doing the saving are often more messed-up than the lost souls they profess to be rescuing. Other than the discombobulated story, Campion's direction is excellent. She has a wonderful eye and brings numerous beautiful shots and interesting perspectives to the screen. For instance, she shows great nuance in defining characters by their feet, with numerous close-ups of foot garb and bare feet. This is a unique perspective, which adds something about the character we wouldn't ordinarily see in a film, but that we would notice if we were actually there. The acting is also excellent. Harvey Keitel has made a career out of playing dark and outlandish characters, so he is the perfect choice. His character requires someone who can be both tough and pathetic and Keitel excels at both. Kate Winslett is something of a mystery. After coming out of nowhere to hit the big time in "Titanic", she seems determined to slink back into obscurity by playing odd characters in minor films. Her two films after "Titanic" were "Hideous Kinky" and "Holy Smoke", both third tier vehicles (the two films together grossed less than $4 million compared with "Titanic" at $600 Million in the U.S. and $1.2 Billion worldwide). She also seems to have an indelible clause in her acting contract that requires every film to have a frontal nude scene no matter how out of shape she gets. To say that she is Rubenesque in this film is the kindest of understatements. Despite these peculiarities, her acting is outstanding as always. Her character is very complex and she plays her enigmatically, where you can never be sure if she is the victim or the manipulator. Why she doesn't hold out for roles that are more substantial is beyond me. This film has a number of good points that are diluted by an overly ambitious director who throws too much excrement against the wall. I rated it a 5/10 on the strength of the acting and Campion's photography. It probably would have worked as a film noir satire of deprogramming if she refrained from making the family so farcical. This is a film that most people will either love or hate. I did a little of each.
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