ReaderKenka Let's be realistic.

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

ChanBot i must have seen a different film!!

FirstWitch A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

hoytyhoyty During one of the periodic art-meme phases in Australia, many were bamboozled into thinking Jane Campion had the ability to make films.Now, with the benefit of the healing passage of time, they have seen the error of their ways. Among other mistakes, 'The Piano' has finally been erased from history.With this outrageously crap film, that nearly took down the careers of both Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet, little miss Campion tries a silly film-student idea that has never worked. Ever.She tries to have three different narrative styles in the same film:One is a gritty POV documentary. One is a drama. One is a semi/stage musical.And NONE of them work. Nor do they INTEGRATE!The supporting characters are so irritating and shallow, and so is their vacuous dialogue, that you want to see them die by fire. Screaming. In agony.The main characters are so obnoxiously stupid, that you want to see them beaten up and dragged out of shot - perhaps so that a good film could be made with the resources.The musical bits are so, utterly jarring and absurd that they formed the primary moments when viewers walked out.Yes, I saw it at the cinema. OMG, I saw it at the cinema. (I had to stay though, it was a train-wreck fascination of an order of magnitude I hadn't experienced for a while. The kind that makes your bones sing.)Even with the studio spending all the available spare cash on not less than THREE promotional passes, they could not recover anything like their costs.Why they let her go on to make 'Angel At My Table' I have no idea, I guess she must have a good pitch-line.At least I know not to watch it.

FilmCriticLalitRao In "Holy Smoke",we are shown how affluent western world perceives India especially through its innumerable religions.Academy award nominee New Zealand director Jane Campion steers her film by showcasing a harum- scarum Australian family whose members make all possible attempts to persuade one of their ilk to disown an Indian religious sect leader.Her film is an attempt to unravel countless affable mysteries surrounding numerous Indian religious men and women and their emotional, intellectual or spiritual ramifications on prosperous westerners.Much of the film centers around a dysfunctional middle class Australian family which is facing tough times.Jane Campion errs occasionally as her film contains some less developed themes involving spiritual aspects versus material comfort and intricacies of mind over body.However,all serious viewers can vouchsafe a good viewing experience as perfect emotional as well as carnal chemistry between Harvey Keitel and Kate Winslet is a joy to behold.A weak and an absolutely terrible ending are some of this film's major thorns.Holy Smoke:one of those rare films where audiences will have tough time to make out how and when a hunter becomes a hunted target ? Film critic/French translator/interpreter Lalit Rao wishes to make a brief yet necessary mention about some of his fiends involved with shooting of "Holy Smoke" in India : a) Famous theater activist Rajneesh Bisht (Jawaharlal Nehru University, New Delhi, amateur theater group) and veteran media person Madame Uma Da Cunha.

Michael_Elliott Holy Smoke (1999) ** 1/2 (out of 4) Extremely bizarre story of a young woman named Ruth (Kate Winslet) who gets involved in an Indian cult, which worries her family. The family brings in a deprogrammer (Harvey Keitel) who is a specialist at breaking young woman who have fallen under the spell of cult members. I can't say this is a totally winning film but it did keep me entertained from start to finish and just when you thought it couldn't get any stranger it certainly does in its second half. This film really isn't about cults but instead the struggles between men and women. The first film has Keitel pulling his magic on Winslet who, in the second half, gets her revenge by putting her hooks into him. Whereas the first film has some sort of religious undertone the second half is a weird sexual journey, which includes Winslet in a full nudity scene, one with her kissing a woman and we even get to see Keitel in a dress walking around a desert in one boot. I'm really not sure what the film is trying to say or if its even trying to say anything at all. Campion is best known for The Piano, which also had Keitel but that film seems normal compared to this one. I've heard people call this a feminist movie, which might be correct but again the ending would lead you to believe this isn't correct. The movie is all over the map in terms of what it's trying to say and do so I guess it's going to be up to the viewer to try and make up their own mind. I'm sure many people will find the film slow and boring but the pacing is what dragged me into the movie and got me caught up with the characters. I think fans of Keitel and Winslet will be the ones walking away entertained because both give great performances and really work well together. Both are so deep into their roles that you can't help but be fascinated by each step they make and in the end they're what saves an otherwise pointless film.

jytou It's so hard to find a philosophical movie about India. When I took this movie from the local library (fortunately I didn't pay for it), I was hoping to see a teaser about Buddhism, or at least something funny about sects, but again I was wrong, and once again I understand that nobody in the film industry can make a real movie about India, Buddhism, or inner vacation. It doesn't even get close to this point. Don't search any philosophical ideas in this movie, you'll much more find every kind of porn fantasy: peeing naked woman, two men and women half naked, old man and young woman sex, man having makeup, gay/lesbians, etc. As they couldn't make a real movie, they tried the cheapest catches with naked women. My biggest movie mistake in my life, I watched it until the end to make sure and warn everyone not to watch it and waste 140 minutes from your lifetime, unless you're willing to wake up some sick feelings from strange fantasies. I was shocked seeing Kate Winslet in this movie, I really wonder how they made her sign the contract, it's definitely not the same woman who made Titanic a few years before. If your goal if to see her naked (and more), I'm not even sure it's worth renting this movie. Actors are overacting, I kept asking myself during the whole movie if it was the director's mistake or the actor's mistake, but the result is really bad, I guess they really smoked something while making this movie.