Sex and the factory (Kinky Boots (DVD))

Member Name: sunmeilan

Product:	Kinky Boots (DVD)
Date:	30/06/08 (186 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Gentle, quirky, intelligent comedy

Disadvantages: None for me

Charlie Price thinks that he is finally escaping the ancient industrial monstrosity that is his father's shoe factory with partner Nicola to start a new life elsewhere. Then his father suddenly dies and Charlie is forced to decide what to do with the factory, which is running at a loss. A trip to London leads to an encounter with Lola, a drag queen, who, along with factory worker Lauren, gives Charlie the idea to start diversifying...into making sexy leather boots for cross dressers and tranvestites. Wanting to take the boots to Milan, Charlie pressurises his staff into making the perfect boots to Lola's design, much to Nicola's embarrassment. Will Charlie manage to see his dream come true? Or is he doomed to failure.

Charlie Price is played by Joel Edgerton, an Australian actor that has never come to my attention before. I thought he was excellent as Charlie - he had just the right amount of geekiness with a streak of determination running through it that made me feel sorry for him while wanting him to succeed. In hindsight, I should have felt quite sorry for his wife, whose life was turned upside down by a dream that she didn't have a part of and didn't understand, but Edgerton's performance was such that he commanded the sympathy, whereas I thought that Nicola (Jemima Rooper) was a selfish cow. And I promised myself I wouldn't let another man dupe me!!

The real star of the film has to be Chiwetel Ejiofor as Lola. He made an incredibly attractive drag queen - he has the most amazingly expressive eyes - but there was more to his performance that his appearance. His/her love for life and determination to overcome everything that was thrown his way came over really strongly and made every appearance really special - although Lola is not on-screen all that often.

Sarah-Jane Potts plays Lauren, Charlie's eventual love interest. She didn't really stand out all that much though - it could have been pretty much any attractive actress in the role. In fact, I thought Lauren and Nicola were more or less interchangeable, which doesn't say a lot for either actress, bearing in mind the difference in their personalities. Nick Frost has a small role as a factory worker and, while he doesn't have much of a speaking role, he does the occasional comic turn which are all the funnier because they tend to be going on in the background.

I really liked the plot to the film. If it wasn't based on a real story, I would think that it was highly original, if not very realistic. As it is, I found the whole idea really charming, all the more so because it did happen, albeit with a few changes here and there. The great thing about this film was that I didn't really ever know what was going to happen next, but whatever happened was managed with a great dollop of gentle British humour and I loved it.

I thought the whole drag queen issue was dealt with very well. We get to see a hint of Lola's background by means of a flashback to when he was a child and liked wearing women's shoes, much to his father's disapproval. We also see him getting beaten up just because of the way he looks. Yet, I didn't feel that the director, Julian Jarrold, wanted the audience to feel sorry for him - he just wanted us to see Lola for what he is, just another person with feelings that can get hurt. No doubt there will always be some people that can't see past the clothes and make-up, but at least films like these challenge the so-called social norm. Unforunately, it was apparently banned in Malaysia - but then Malaysian censorship has always been very harsh - in my opinion, there is certainly nothing overtly sexual in the film that is inappropriate for teenagers. The language does turn the air blue at times, but it is no worse than I heard in my local town centre today.

There is a great soundtrack to the film, accompanied, at times, by Lola's caberet performances. I particularly loved the scene at the Milan fashion show - very Moulin Rouge. Songs include David Bowie's The Prettiest Star and These Boots are Made for Walking and Yes Sir, I Can Boogie, sung by Ejiofor himself.

I loved this film because it is very British, with quirky humour and a moral that I'm sure a non-British population can also enjoy. I really wish there were more films like this. Julian Jarrold also directed Becoming Jane and Brideshead Revisited, which I believe will be shown later this year - after this, I am really looking forward to seeing what he does with a much-loved British classic like Brideshead. I think most people will find something to like in Kinky Boots - you would have to be quite hard-hearted not to - although I think it will appeal more to women than men. Recommended.

The DVD is available from play.com for £4.99.

Classification: 12

Running time: 107 minutes

Summary: Enjoyable British comedy