User Reviews

More of an ensemble comedy than one would expect for a film titled after a single character, 'Kika' focuses on how the lives of several Spaniards intersect, including a widowed author, his jaded son, the son's reporter ex-girlfriend, a porn star, the porn star's lesbian sister and the makeup artist the sister fancies. It takes quite a while for the trajectories of the characters to overlap and 'Kika' seems a little all over the place at first with bizarre seemingly random incidents like a graveyard murder and placing makeup on a sleeping man thought dead. As the movie progresses though, everything fits into place surprisingly well with the highlight being arguably the funniest rape scene ever filmed. While a comical treatment of the subject might sound in bad taste, the media frenzy that the rape causes in the film makes for an excellent satirical target. The film is less about mocking rape and more about public nonchalance towards it. Almodóvar's satire would have, however, benefited from the rape occurring earlier with more focus on the aftermath and Victoria Abril who, dressed in full-body camera-suit (!), films and unthinkingly broadcast it. There is also a great twist with Peter Coyote's character that deserves more screen time rather than being thrown in at the end, but for all its unevenness and roundabout first half hour, 'Kika' is a reasonably involving motion picture at the end of the day.

Although the film is ostensibly about "Kika," she is actually only one character featured in this raunchy, ensemble comedy.

The plot here is all over the place! This is not necessarily bad--one character ties into another character's life and the focus of the movie moves in a circular manner which eventually returns to our heroine, the naive but lovable Kika (well-portrayed by Verónica Forqué).

This film is funny! It's a combination of "There's Something About Mary," Woody Allen at his zaniest, and "Sex and the City." Good for a laugh, especially for the poor dubbing of Peter Coyote's Spanish.

When a film begins with a keyhole bordered image of a woman undressing, sufficient precautions should be taken. When Pedro Almodóvar begins a film in such a voyeuristic fashion, everything seems right in the world.

Such is the opening sequence of Almodóvar's 10th full-length feature, Kika. A twisted tale of murder, rape, incest and just about every other adjective describing a vulgar or sinful act, Kika is at times hard to watch but usually even harder to turn away from. But while its tangled web of intertwining characters and story lines is compelling enough not to lose interest, the manner through which it maintains that interest does not prove to be worth the entertainment.

You're probably wondering why I would be driving you away from a film that sounds so engaging. If you are familiar with Almodóvar's work, it will be much easier for you to both grasp and handle this film. If you are not familiar with Almodóvar's work, this is not the place to start. If you have heard of Almodóvar's reputation but have never seen his films, this is not the place to start. In any other remotely similar situation, this is not the place to start.

I am only so relentless because Almodóvar is one of the greatest Spanish filmmakers of our time. He has a stunning catalog of films and is somewhat of a hero of the art's counter-culture. With a reputation for pushing the limits, Almodóvar is usually successful in delivering even the most perverse films in a tasteful manner.

That is where Kika fails: It is full of content but lacking delivery. If the film took itself seriously there would be much more to work with. But with the direction it chose, trying to be a dark (pitch dark) comedy, the subject matter is too tasteless to work.

To prove my point, let's do a little role playing. I will be the enthusiastic screenwriter pitching my story to you, the money-hungry studio executive half-heartedly listening to my idea for the next screwball comedy:

OK, so Ramón is a young man whose mother commits suicide for reasons that may or may not point to her unhappy marriage with Ramón's stepfather, Nicholas. Three years later, the stepfather and son move in together. One day while Ramón is presumed dead, a young woman named Kika is sent to apply makeup to his corpse, only to witness his miraculous revival. Kika and Ramón soon begin dating and she moves in with him. Eventually, Kika decides to make it a family affair by secretly having sex with Nicholas, Ramón's womanizing stepfather.

This is when it gets good.

The witness to everything is Ramón's lesbian housemaid, Juana. She has an insane brother who, as an adolescent, had sex with all sorts of animals but then moved on to raping the neighborhood girls. Being the great sister that she is, she started having sex with him so that he could "let off some steam" instead of pursuing his new hobby. His destructive path soon leads him to jail.

This is when it really gets good.

Years later, Juana's brother escapes from prison and tracks her down to the apartment at which she works. The fugitive plans to pilfer a few cameras from the apartment until he discovers the sleeping Kika. Against his sister's pleas, he rapes Kika for what seems like hours. The rape is called in by a peeping-tom across the street and an investigation ensues to find out who was involved, or rather who wasn't involved.

Sound funny? I didn't think so. And with such despicable characters, it is nearly impossible to find anyone, or anything, to laugh at. The most frustrating part about the film is that Almodóvar could have made this into a powerful drama, as he did with Talk to Her and Bad Education. All the elements are there, it's just in the completely wrong genre. It's like trying to turn Schindler's List into a sitcom.

But turning Kika into a drama would involve a few changes, especially Verónica Forqué as Kika. She is completely over-the-top and not once convincing. She adds nothing to her part and is especially painful to watch during her emotionless and even smart alecky rape.

The rape scene itself is the film's biggest red flag. No matter how hard you try, even if you are Pedro Almodóvar, making comedy out of such an emotionally charged issue as rape will prove improbable if not impossible.

With that said, Kika is a blow to Almodóvar fans who find themselves defending his films as artistic not licentious. Instead of an earnest film by a standout director, we are given an indecent soap opera with questionable direction. But we'll forgive you Pedro, nobody's perfect.

Almodóvar does Fellini? Well, that seems to be the general tone of the film here, as the director takes a central caricature and drops them into a mocking satire of grotesque farce, frightening colours and the continual abstractions of 1950's melodrama, all the while revelling in the juxtaposition of highbrow movie references and lowbrow humour. Understandably, with such a giddy concoction of ideas, the film is something of a mess; with the collage of styles and somewhat awkward combination of film references combined with the over-the-top production design and characterisations of the director bombarding us from the first scene to the last, while some of the more outré moments of satire, including the (intentionally) morally bankrupt nature of the character "Scarface" and the near-infamous rape sequence that plays out in the same frivolous, high-camp approach as the rest of the film are sure to raise a few groans of disagreement from many of the less liberal of reviewers amongst us.

Having said that, I personally feel that despite its position in Almodóvar's career as something of a creative misstep, there are still some incredibly intelligent and highly interesting ideas at work behind the film, some of which we have to really search for amidst the camp theatricality of the characters and the screaming kitsch of the narrative and its overall design. It has certain similarities to Fellini's La Dolce Vita (1960), with the comment on journalism and the depiction of the media against an episodic background that seems to go nowhere until the last twenty minutes of the film, at which point Almodóvar introduces a new strand to the drama that will probably make it necessary for a second or perhaps even third viewing to fully comprehend. It also has the same interesting concept of the writer creating the story as it unfolds that we previously saw in the excellent Law of Desire (1987), with the character played by Peter Coyote writing a crime book that might be a veiled comment on his own character and role within the film, or might be the plot of the film itself. However, unlike Law of Desire, the idea isn't carried off quite so well, with the notion eventually being pushed into the background as we focus more on "Scarface" and her trash TV empire that forces itself into the lives of the characters, creating an interesting comment on the idea of cinema as voyeurism previously foreshadowed in the "keyhole" iconography of the opening sequences, and the thread of exhibitionism that is cemented by the film's male lead, the photographer Rámon.

Throughout the film these themes jostle for our attention as we watch the drama unfold from an affluent apartment building overlooking an obviously artificial recreation of night-time Madrid, as the characters seem to just drift from one scenario to the next in a way that doesn't always make sense until pondered over in light of the film's somewhat enticing "twist" ending. Ultimately, you could argue that with Kika (1993), Almodóvar really bit off more than he could chew, as he takes full advantage of the larger dramatic canvas offered to him by the international success of Law of Desire, Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown (1988) and Tie Me Up! Tie Me Down! (1990) to truly indulge his interests in farce, design, fashion and theatrics. It's a self-indulgent work, without question, but I feel for an artist of Almodóvar's calibre, such indulgences are excusable; especially when the purging of such indulgences eventually leads to work of the impeccably high-standard of Live Flesh (1997) and All About My Mother (1999). The film is also a triumph of perfect casting, though one does wonder why Coyote - with his voiced awkwardly dubbed into Spanish - is present over a greater actor like Eusebio Poncela, who in my mind would have been perfect for the part?

Other than that rather odd choice, we have the film tied rigidly to the underrated performance of Veronica Forqué, who manages to convey the moves from comedy to tragedy without compromising the colourful tone or her somewhat ditzy characterisation. Her performance is really a marvel in my opinion and definitely makes Kika worth experiencing, even in spite of its various limitations. There's also fine support from Victoria Abril, Alex Casanovas and the truly iconic Rossy de Palma (once seen, never forgotten). Certainly, I can understand why many wouldn't like this film, what with the provocative nature of the tone, the lapses in character and the occasional slow pace, but there are still some interesting touches that should make this required viewing for anyone already familiar with the director and his work. As with the other Almodóvar films that I've seen from this era, Kika is bright and vibrant and filled with moments of keenly observed character-play and fanciful farce against an approach to film-making that rivals the very best of contemporary European cinema.

Verónica Forqué is Kika, a cosmetologist who gets called in by writer Peter Coyote when he finds his stepson, Àlex Casanovas dead. He wants the younger man looking better before he calls in the mortician, so she applies some make-up and... well, to make a long story a little shorter, he's not dead. The two younger people start living together while Miss Forqué carries on an affair with Coyote, until one day....

No, it's too complicated to give a precis. Most plots occur when plans collide. In this feature from Pedro Almodóvar, the movie is a collection of sexual kinks that collide into incidents, and several of those incidents collide into a story, although which of those incidents make what plot isn't clear until it's all over. Roles include a serial killer, Peeping Toms, a porn actor on the run from the police, a dead mother, and a woman with what I can only call a camera gimp suit, fitting for PEEPING TOM.

Are all these sexual incidents supposed to be funny, red herrings or the point of the movie? Is there a serial killer? Does any of it matter? In Almodóvar's color palette in this movie, what is the significance of the color yellow? There's a lot of black humor in this one, and that might be enough for someone looking for a shock comedy, but I have the feeling there's more.... or perhaps, not having more to say, Almodóvar substituted a slowly revealed plot.

This was the first Almodóvar film that I saw, and I would still say that it's one of his better movies. It's yet another highly unusual film by the Spanish director, filled with weird situations and his typically unorthodox style. The story is actually somewhat flimsy, and I didn't much care about what would happen to the main characters. However, I enjoyed this film because I liked a high number of the silly jokes. Like all Almodóvar films, this definitely isn't for all tastes, but if you like unconventional films, this is a pretty good choice.

Kika, a young cosmetologist, is called to the mansion of Nicolas, an American writer to make-up the corpse of his stepson, Ramon. Ramon, who is not dead, is revived by Kika's attentions and she then moves in with him.

Pedro Almodovar makes some stylish, colorful movies and he loves his women. This film is no exception in that matter, possibly being the closest to an obscene movie that he has made (the sex scenes go beyond what you might expect from Cinemax-type movies!). It is interesting how what the Europeans do is "art" and if the Americans do it, it is smut.

Peter Coyote has a smaller, supporting role. Exactly how he got in this film, I have no idea. And it sounds like he must have been dubbed, because the voice coming out of him is certainly not his. What strange casting. Not unique, I suppose, as many Italian films had American actors...

What everyone in the press seemed to miss about this film was that it was a spoof on the media and especially the talk show mentality which has come to dominate our lives. The central figure of the film is not so much Kika as it is Caracortada (scarface) who runs a real life television program featuring live footage from video cameras. She chases down much of this footage herself, having a camera inserted into a helmet and flying around town on a motor scooter. We are drawn into this web -- during the middle of a rape sequence, the rapist actually says something funny -- and in the audience with whom I saw the film when it premiered, many laughed (and then somehow gasped that they were laughing in the middle of a rape scene). That is as nearly perfect as black comedy gets. Following the rape, Caracortada interviews the victim and asks "How big was he?" Isn't this indicative of the intrusiveness of media in our lives? How did the press and so many commentators miss it?

There probably aren't many film directors who can tackle the subject of rape, head on, and manage to get a laugh. Well I think Pedro Almodóvar just about manages that here thanks to an amiably strong performance from the eponymous make-up artist (Verónique Forqué). We first meet her when she is drafted in by her lover "Nicholas" (Peter Coyote) to dress the corpse of his son "Ramón" (Àlex Casanovas). What might have helped would have been for the young man to actually be dead! Next thing, he is proposing to her - unaware of the thing with his dad - and they are living together. Happy ending? Well no, because it turns out that his mother killed herself - or did she? Star of red-top television "Scarface" (the super-hammy Victoria Abril) lives across the road and when not cavaliering around on her motorbike dressed like a mobile outside broadcast truck, she is rather voyeuristically filming from her terrace and finally, there's the horny porn star "Pablo" (Santiago Lajusticia) whose record is four times consecutively and who knows how he likes to eat an orange segment. It is maybe just that the whole film's dark comedy is in such shocking bad taste that it sort of works. There's a vague mystery underpinning the thing, but essentially this is just a chance for the over-the-top Forqué to present a character that takes the rise out of the excesses of femininity and masculinity quite engagingly. Her life is a mess, but it's a quirky mess and it's her's! Indeed, just about everyone's life here is a bit a shambles and I found it quite fun as we wade about through them all. It's a bit rough around the edges, and Coyote isn't the best, but it is an eclectic character study that I quite enjoyed.

In Spain if you dislike Almodocar cinema they look at you as if you were from another planet. Pedro has some good stuff and some very bad flicks, and this is one of them, one of the worst. Such a great talent wasted in a very badly scripted, acted and produced. Almodovar garbage.

This was one of the funniest comedies I have ever seen. Almodóvar is in a hilarious, flimsy mood. The convoluted story feels somewhat as if Dario Argento, master of italian giallo, had cooperated with Edika, the not so inhibited french comics maker. Most humour come from the direct, practical and naive manner in which Kika, cosmetologist, handles the most tragic and disturbing situations. Forget about drama - this is a farce, and in the humour lies the usual Almodóvar admiration and wonder over females.

The likable cosmetologist Kika (Veronica Forqué) is called to the house of Nicolas (Peter Coyote) , a succesful American writer to make-up the corpse of his recently deceased stepson . As Kika prepares Ramón (Alex Casanovas) for funeral when he suddenly revives . Ramón proposes to the much older Kika who has his daddy as lover . Along the way , Ramón believes his dad murdered his mom (Charo López) and then he seeks vengeance . Eventually , there appears a Psychologist video reporter , and Ramon's ex-psychologist called Andrea Scarface (Victoria Abril) and then things get worse .

Director Almodovar's cock-eyed tribute to power of women , in which Veronica Forqué gives the best acting as the sympathetic Kika , a good-natured cosmetologist . Typical but strange Almodovar movie with some ordinary ingredients , sense of style , Spanish habits , but not totally satisfactory , including conventional pitfalls , profanities , obscenity and a lot of sexual scenes . As usual in Almodovar films , here shows up a lot of bizarre characters : a peculiar cosmetologist , an escaped rapist , a suspicious writer , an intrusive gaze of tabloid-TV star , among others . It contains disgusting and disagreeable scenes when a crazed ex-porn actor and escaped criminal breaks into Kika's house and he finds her asleep and he can't resist sniffing her fanny and he subsequently rapes her . It is sad and amusing , at times , but like the rest of the movie mostly sad . This results to be an off-the-wall as well as semi-ironic melodrama with brief intrigue and suspense ; including familiar absurdities , dysfunctional roles and many other things . It packs grotesque images , silly situations but also touching , daring and very fun incidents . Male spectator seem to resent having to recognise themselves in dim-witted Ramón , other female viewers can feel identified with Kika herself . The picture also fields a miscast by the American star Peter Coyote with a pageboy wig and what appears to be a false teeth . While Kika's narcoleptic lover Ramón is played by cute Alex Casanovas and Victoria Abril plays as the stylish Andrea Scarface , a reality shows presenter which gives the movie its funniest moments . When the fuss has died down , most people will agree that this is a light return to form after the slightly disappointing ¨High Heels¨ . The picture is pretty well but turns out to be inferior to Almodovar's subsequent entries such as ¨The skin I live in¨, ¨Volver¨ , ¨The bad education¨ or ¨Talk to her¨. The result is undiluted scabrous drama , crazy strings of plots , sharp images and plenty of colorful images and some charming songs . Filmmaker piles up on the contrivances , turns and twisted events so that the picture to have success . It's a piquant look at a particular roles involving offbeat and complicated situations during its half an hour runtime . Here stands out the motley group of secondaries with the following familiar faces : Rossy de Palma, Anabel Alonso , Bibi Andersen , Jesús Bonilla , Santiago Lajusticia , Karra Elejalde , Manuel Bandera , Charo López , among others.

The motion picture was realized in his peculiar style by Pedro Almodovar ; he often uses symbolism and metaphorical techniques to portray circular story lines , though here he directs a special melodrama , including his ordinary touches . Almodovar directs throughout with splendid zip and he usually portrays strong female characters and transsexuals and along his career getting some important international prizes . His first feature film, Pepi, Luci, Bom (1980) , was made in 16 mm and blown-up to 35 mm for public release . In 1987, he and his brother Agustín Almodóvar established their own production company : El Deseo, S. A. The "Almodóvar phenomenon" has reached all over the world , making his films very popular in many countries . Oscar-winning Spanish director Pedro Almodovar who made successes such as Labyrinth of passions , Law of desire , Women on the verge of a nervous breakdown , Bad education , All about my mother , Talk to her , Broken embraces , The Skin I Live In and many others . The latest from acclaimed Spanish director , Pedro Almodovar's I'm So Excited competing for the inaugural best European comedy honor during the upcoming 26th edition of the European Film Awards . And his last hits as Julieta and Dolor y gloria with Antonio Banderas .

Over all, I liked this film (especially Alex Casanovas....mmmmm....). Veronica Forque is a unique actress, and I found her unusualness to be refreshing. This movie has Almodovar's typical outrageous characters, but I thought things got a little out of control in the last 15 to 20 minutes, what with the sudden violence. The only other possible misfire in this movie in my humble opinion was the escaped-con ex-porno actor and brother of Rossy de Palma's character, in the rape scene, which was a bit much. Like the last portion of the film, it felt out of sync.

(1993) Kika (In Spanish with English subtitles) DRAMA/ COMEDY/ MYSTERY

The name "Kika" played by Veronica Forque is a name of a kooky/ eccentric female hair dresser, who seems to get in the middle of some crazy situations such as murder suicide, book writings, media exposures, eves droppings and cover ups. As in most of director Pedro Almodóvar films, I don't find them to be funny, even though some are intended to be comedies, but what stand out the most are the twists and turns, surprise revelations and the perplex relationships involve into some of the most bizarre of situations that don't happen to our everyday lives, but do happen here and it works. In this case as well as most others of Almodóvar films things begin to unravel until after the first hour, and start to make sense, why the things happen the way they do. This is no soap opera and viewers should also expect to see the most strangest and the most oddest circumstances that wouldn't happen to most normal citizens.

Maybe this isn't as good as the bulk of Almodóvar's output: not having seen the bulk of his output, I'm in no position to tell. I do remember that there was general disappointment in 1993. As I recall - obviously, one could find out by checking primary documents whether or not my recollection is correct - every critic and his dog took the opportunity to say "This time Almodóvar has gone too far", which meant, depending on the critic, either "Almodóvar is being too silly", "Almodóvar is trying too hard to get our attention", or "Almodóvar has finally lapsed into morally reprehensible sexism".

I find all of these reactions hard to understand. "Kika" is such a sweet, such an INNOCENT film! Maybe you didn't have fun, as I did; but how could anyone OBJECT to it? Far from being hard to like, the characters were such that I found myself warming to the worst of them: Kika herself is completely adorable, the outrageous Andrea turned out to have a heart, of sorts - certainly she had an ethos -, and even Nicholas and Ramón revealed some human traits. If I have a complaint about anyone's characterisation it would be Ramón's. When we first meet him he's just a cold fish; not a bad man, but we can't like him. By the end of the film I found myself wondering if the mild warmth Almodóvar discovered had really been there all along, or if he it had been smuggled in when we weren't looking. No matter: the film isn't about him, anyway.

There's nothing gruesome about "Kika", nothing cruel, nothing hard to watch. (Well, maybe a touch of blood in one final scene, but I can forgive that.) There's a lot of sex, no doubt, but none of that terribly EARNEST stuff one finds in American movies...

[I'm about to reveal something. Stop reading now if you haven't seen the film.] ...One of the things I'm sure many critics objected to was the rape scene. Almodóvar played it as a comedy, in the way that so many directors will play an armed robbery - and it was a kind of armed robbery - as comedy. At first we wonder if Kika is so clueless that she doesn't realise she's being raped. But in fact she's just postponing her shock, in a way that is - well, ludicrous, but also commonplace. The entire extended sequence of which the rape is part is so delightfully ridiculous BECAUSE, not in spite of, all the characters' perfect clarity of purpose.

If this IS one of Almodóvar's lesser works I shouldn't hesitate to see the rest.

In his obvious effort to "keep pushing the envelope," filmmaker Pedro Almodovar forgot how to concoct a coherent story with characters you care about. He has neither in here. Maybe he just doesn't care. Maybe, after some early successes, he just wants to shock people.

This Spaniard's films are consistently twisted. They aren't erotic; just just semi- porn stuff and just plain vulgar, this being a prime example His actors must feel the same. Has anyone noticed how many low-life films, in addition to this one, Peter Coyote has been in?

His female co-star, Veronica Forque, plays an extremely annoying character who does nothing but yak on and on. What makes that even more difficult for the English-speaking audiences in the theater (or at home) is that the subtitles come on rapid-fire, giving you almost no chance to view the visuals. This is entertainment? Hardly.

As one reviewer put: "garbage."

Kika is a movie whose plot sounds tasteless beyond belief if merely read aloud. After all it features an extended rape scene played for laughs; the rapist himself is a porn star who has sexually assaulted so many girls that his sister forms an incestuous relationship with him to take his mind off raping even more women. This is hardly typical comic fare it has to be said. Imagine if in 1979 Mel Brooks had decided to make a spoof of I Spit on Your Grave, the results would have been an absolute travesty. That's what the synopsis of Kika makes you think of. However, Kika was made by Pedro Almodóvar and for some reason he seems to be capable of making even the most grossly offensive material so completely ridiculous it comes at you in reverse and can be alarmingly funny. The rape scene in Kika is comedic and before watching the movie I simply could not understand how such a thing could ever be.

The film is named after the cosmetologist played by Veronica Forqué. But the movie is not really her story, it has several memorable characters. Ramón is a young photographer whose mother commits suicide. Nicholas is his womanising step-father. The latter hires Kika to work on the corpse of Ramón, who comes back to life unexpectedly and embarks on a relationship with Kika. Kika's maid Juana is a lesbian who is in love with Kika, her brother Pablo is the porn star rapist. All the time in the background on the television is Andrea (a.k.a. Scarface) the host of a reality TV show that celebrates real life tragedy, death and destruction. The movie concludes with an unexpected serial killer plot strand.

It's true that the story is somewhat chaotic. There are so many separate ideas in here that the film seems a bit unfocused. But because it is essentially a comedy this isn't really so much of a problem. While there is a lot of silly humour, the film is mainly a media satire. With this in mind the most important and memorable character is Andrea who is kitted out in some fantastically over-the-top Jean-Paul Gaultier outfits, including her street gear which includes a helmet with attached movie camera. Victoria Abril is really excellent in this role. She is simultaneously wicked and sexy at all times. The scenes of her broadcasting her show from a stage are the most visually iconic in the movie. She roams the streets of Madrid intrusively filming scenes of grieving people and aftermaths of violent encounters. She is the black heart of Kika.

Despite the controversial moments it's simply impossible to take the events depicted at all seriously. Almodóvar's typical colourful aesthetic is present throughout and the tone is consistently absurd. This means that he gets away with material that would have been contentious otherwise. As it is, Kika is very entertaining.

I am quite an easy person but some things I can't understand, the meaning of this movie for instance... Never been that much of an Almodovar-fan myself it was a very difficult task to watch one his most extravagant movies ever. Do I need to tell the story? Let's hope there is one as the viewer is in the company of some dumb girl called Kika who is looking for the love of her life and somewhere she can't decide between a father and son. To tell something very simple, Almodovar thinks it's better to mix that up with some stupid detectivestory, something psychological (a dumb performance from Veronica Forque who plays a sort of SF=inspired TVpresentator who is looking for freaks), something hilarious (if you can make rape like slapstick then Almodovar is your guy) and actors who are completely not at their place, Peter Coyote for instance. Come on, guys, this is just as dumb as a current Eddie Murphyfilm but it's only for the so called intelligent whatever that might be worth...

I had the feeling that Pedro Almodovar's creativity went downhill in the mid-90s, after "Women at the Verge..." Since that wonderful film, Almodovar has done nothing but to provide us with weak stories and movies with extremely unrealistic situations.

I personally consider "Tacones Lejanos", "La flor de mi secreto" (yuuuck!), and "Kika" his less consistent work. Here Pedro Almodovar tries to stick to his formula by copying himself, recycling characters and situations he already sold to us.

Besides the incredible plot-holes and unrealistic scenarios, "Kika" has two things that I really disliked in the film: First, Veronica Forque as "Kika." Ms. Forque has to be one of the most annoying actresses I've ever seen. She just will not shut up! Good lord! Second, seeing Peter Coyote poorly dubbed into Spanish is almost laughable. If you want to enjoy some good Almodovar, see any of his previous stuff. This movie is weak.

The professional reviewers must be nuts. "Kika"is wildly funny with lots of typically Almodovar twists, gorgeously acted and stunningly filmed. I have seen most of his films, and each is so different that it's hard to compare them, but this is right at the top along with "Talk to Me", "Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown", and one or two others. I just love it. Were the Oscars not enormously influenced by Hollywood money this would have won best film, actor, actress, and cinematography.

This film was the worst piece of garbage I have ever seen. The worst Almodovar film by far (and I've seen every one but Flower of My Secret and High Heels). No character development whatsoever, the film drags for the first 3/4ths of it, then is wrapped up haphazardly in the last 20 minutes. Rape is again treated nonchalantly by Almodovar, and Veronica Forque, who I'm told by my film professor was supposed to emulate Marilyn Monroe, is both irritating and flaky. Warning: this film has no cinematic value. A real bomb for Almodovar. Watch at your own risk.

I suppose that this movie can be seen as some sort of social satire, but to me (and I bet Almodóvar doesn't mind!), it's mainly a hilarious black comedy, full of insane situations, eccentric characters and bizar events. At first everything appears utterly confusing and incoherent, but gradually Almodóvar makes all the weird storylines skillfully and very satisfactory come together. There's adultery, multiple murders and voyeurism, to name a few, but as heavy as this may sound, Almodóvar succeeds in bringing it all with deadpan humor, even in an absurd rape-scene that takes forever and actually is the pivotal moment of the movie.

Verónica Forqué is indefatigable as Kika, dominating all her scenes as some force of nature, forever rattling her hilarious comments, even during her rape-ordeal. But at the same time Almodovar shows us her inner kindness and vulnerability and not to forget her outer beauty. I was not so impressed with Peter Coyote, as an American he seemed a strange choice for this utterly Spanish movie (he by the way speaks fluently Spanish and is certainly not dubbed, as another reviewer here unjustly claimed!). But Victoria Abril is, just like Forqué, irresistibly hilarious and beautiful, while Àlex Casanova, in a funny and endearing way, totally holds his own opposite these formidable ladies.

The cinematography excels in rich, over-saturated colors, costumes are by Versace and Gaultier (the latter did the truly stunning outfits of Victoria Abril), and the musical score is impressive; as in every other of Almodóvar's movies there are some beautiful songs scattered throughout the picture. There's a fair amount of graphic sex and sexual talk, it's essential and thus unavoidable for the story, but I guess it could offend some tenderhearted viewers.

In short, I totally loved it, it's in the same ranks as Almodóvar's "Women on the brink of a nervous breakdown" (1988) and "The flower of my secret" (1995), those as well as Kika are all greatly recommended.