Killing Me Softly
There’s a flamboyance to “Killing Me Softly” that drives it through a positively absurd second and third act and makes it halfway watchable. That isn’t to say Kaige Chen’s English-language debut is a good movie- it never has been- but the degree of ridiculousness with which it conducts itself- goosed by a score by Patrick Doyle that takes things to another level- is admirable. One thing is certain- the combination of a Chinese master (best known for “Farewell My Concubine”), a screenplay by Kara Lindstrom (adapting a novel by Sean French) and the casting of the estimable Joseph Fiennes and the fair Heather Graham in the leads, makes for a weird combination.
Heather Graham is an actress best known for her beauty, but when given the right role (see: “Boogie Nights,” “The Guru”), she’s a good addition to a movie. In the role of Alice, whom is telling her story in voiceover, she exudes the sexuality necessary to portray a woman completely overtaken by lust for an intense mountain climber (Adam, played by Fiennes), but when someone seems to be trying to warn her of Adam, she is very much out of her depths. It’s not her fault- I think a cultural clash occurred between Chen and the material- but she is also miscast in such a tense role, which requires her to be startled when she starts to learn more about Adam, and snooping around to try and get at the truth. Maybe a journalist (Yasmin Bannerman) who just did a feature story can help her? Maybe his sister (Natascha McElhone) knows more about her brother than she’s letting on in person?
The highlights of the movie are, naturally, the sex scenes, which happen quite early in the film (two in the first 15 minutes) before they disappear entirely as the mystery unfolds. Talk about getting too excited out of the gate. The first third of the movie- culminating in a rushed marriage between Alice and Adam- sets up a fascinating premise about how an attraction that is built more on lust and excitement between two very different people can lead to a toxic relationship if one does not stop and think first, and the very ending seems to be playing into that idea. The sex scenes are energetic and memorable, including their first meetup and their post-wedding workout, and if the film had focused more on how this relationship truly unfolded rather than trying to make it an erotic thriller, there might have been a good movie here, and one that wouldn’t have felt like one of its leads were miscast (although Fiennes is no better- he has the smolder, and sense of danger, raised to 11 from the get go). If you find yourself terminally bored after they get married, I don’t blame you- the best parts of the movie have passed us by- but that is where the silliness of the enterprise actually kicks in. Chen isn’t afraid to play fast and loose with logic here, and there’s some hilariously staged set pieces in this film. But the problem is that it’s all for the sake of a mystery that is fairly obvious when one thinks about it, and the only rug left to pull out is trying to explain to the audience why things implode the way they do between Alice and Adam. We understand to a degree, but the film never really spells it out with a conclusive moment in their arc where they realize it won’t work. Instead, it just goes there. That’s fine- it gives us one, final ham-fisted moment to savor in this silly film.
