A little girl runs through a dark cavern screaming frantically for her mother. As the girl falls, Julia (Kate Winslet) awakes from the dark nightmare to find that her daughter, Lucy (Carrie Mullan), is asleep close to her. The picturesque scene begins in an exotic room with colorful blowing curtains as Lucy lies by her mother, relieving her of her bad dream.
Set in 1972, Hideous Kinky is based on a novel written by award-winning novelist Esther Freud. A reflection of her childhood, it depicts an English family who find themselves far away from home in Morocco, as their mother searches for the next adventure, trying to survive an unconventional life with little help from a deadbeat father in London. Filming onsite in Morocco provides a mysterious yet wondrous emotion to the film as you watch Julia in her adventures and see her carry out the responsibilities as mother for her two daughters, Bea (Bella Riza), eight, and Lucy, six. At one point, Lucy sees a street performer, Bilal (Said Taghmaoui), and is somehow naturally drawn to him. She later introduces him to her mother when she arrives on the scene.
The little girls gave amazing performances, though their heavy English accents made it hard to understand them. Lucy was absolutely stunning onscreen, and with her beautiful face and natural presence she won the hearts of the audience. Winslet, while not always convincing of what she is in search for, portrays the feisty girl who is ready to go into battle for herself or her daughters. With her natural beauty and the earthy personality of her character, her performance of Julie was intriguing, but it was difficult seeing her in the role of a mother because she is so young.
Near the end of the movie the same scene is replayed from the beginning of the movie; I thought it was starting over from that point, but it did not. Also, the relationship of Julia and Bilal did not fully develop onscreen as much as one would have hoped. I understood where they wanted my emotions to go, but the road was bumpy and hard to follow.
+ linda mattson
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