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Kika (film)

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Wikipedia article




{{Infobox film

| name = Kika

| image = Kika 1993 film poster.png

| caption = Theatrical release poster

| director = Pedro Almodvar

| writer = Pedro Almodvar

| producer = Agustn Almodvar

| starring =

| cinematography = Alfredo Mayo

| editing = Jos Salcedo

| studio =

| distributor =

| released =

| runtime = 114 minutes

| country =

| language = Spanish

| budget =

| gross = $2 million

}}

'Kika' is a 1993 black comedy film written and directed by Pedro Almodvar and starring Vernica Forqu as the title character. Forqu won the Goya Award for Best Actress, the second female lead on an Almodvar film to do so.

Plot



Kika, a nave make-up artist, recalls how she met her lover Ramn. She had given her phone number to his stepfather, American writer Nicholas Pierce, and he had called her not for sex as she had hoped, but to make up the younger man's corpse. He was, however, merely catatonic and suddenly awoke. Ramn is a fashion photographer with voyeuristic tendencies who was traumatised by his mother's suicide after several attempts. He lets Nicholas, who has returned to Madrid, live above their flat and the two discuss whether to sell the family home outside of town, Casa Youkali, which they jointly own. Ramn proposes to Kika, who accepts but feels conflicted as she has been cheating on him with Nicholas.

Nicholas is working on a novel about a lesbian serial killer, but he makes ends meet by freelancing discreetly for an outrageously exploitative television show which focuses on bizarre and macabre events. The show is devised and presented by Andrea Caracortada ("Andrea Scarface"), who wears over-the-top outfits and a persona to match. Andrea used to be a psychologist, and Ramn was once her patient, then her lover. He tells Nicholas that she scarred her own face when he left her and she is now stalking him.

On her show, Andrea reports that Paul Bazzo, a dim-witted sex maniac and former pornographic actor jailed for rapes, has escaped while attending a religious procession. He turns up at Ramn and Kika's flat because their maid Juana is his long-suffering sister. Juana instructs him to tie her up, knock her unconscious and steal valuables, then hide at a cousin's place. Paul, however, finds Kika napping and rapes her at knife point. An unseen voyeur peeping at Kika's room notifies the police and two incompetent inspectors eventually arrive, shoot up the door and with great difficulty interrupt the rape. Paul escapes and bumps into Andrea, kitted out in a futuristic reporter's outfit complete with helmet-mounted video camera. She asks for an interview, but he pushes her off and steals her motorcycle. She then enters the flat and harasses Kika. The police are puzzled at her presence, because although they often tip her off, they did not in this case. Andrea credits an unknown peeping tom for alerting her and broadcasts video footage of the rape on her show, causing Kika to break down.

In the aftermath, Kika finds Ramn to be no help and she overhears him confess to Nicholas that it was he who called the police: he liked to peep on her from his photographic studio's window. She leaves him in silence, as does a guilt-ridden Juana who confesses her part in the rape. Ramn also tells Nicholas that he has held on to his mother's diaries but never found the strength to read them. He does so, however, after Nicholas has moved back to Casa Youkali, and discovers that the farewell letter to him that Nicholas had passed on was actually ripped from an old entry. Ramn confronts Nicholas and accuses him of murdering his mother.

Meanwhile, it turns out that Andrea and Ramn both spied on the flat from separate addresses. While reviewing footage of the upper floor, Andrea realises that Nicholas appears to have murdered one of his several girlfriends, Susana, when she visited him. Connecting this to his latest book, she also goes to Casa Youkali armed with a pistol and finds a freshly dug grave in the garden. Nicholas barricades himself, but she breaks in aggressively and offers to interview him and let him run away before the broadcast. They fight and shoot each other. Kika also appears and Nicholas confesses with his dying breath that his novel about a lesbian serial killer is actually a disguised autobiography, as Andrea had figured out. Kika also finds the bodies of Andrea, Susana and Ramn, but she manages to resurrect the latter a second time with electric shocks. Ramn had gone into shock after finding Susana's body in the bathroom.

While Ramn is taken to hospital, Kika picks up a stranded driver and takes an instant interest in him, stating that she might need a new direction.

Cast



* Vernica Forqu as Kika

* Peter Coyote as Nicholas

* Victoria Abril as Andrea Caracortada

* lex Casanovas as Ramn

* Rossy de Palma as Juana

* Santiago Lajusticia as Pablo

* Anabel Alonso as Amparo

* Bibiana Fernndez as Susana

* Jess Bonilla as a policeman

* Karra Elejalde as a policeman

* Manuel Bandera as Chico Carretera

* Charo Lpez as Rafaela

* Francisca Caballero as Doa Paquita

* Mnica Bardem as Paca

* Joaqun Climent as a murderer

* Blanca Li as a victim

* Claudia Aros as a model

Music



Perez Prado's "Concierto para Bong" serves as background music for some scenes, including the Pica'os self-flagellation scenes, a car chase and Kika's rape scene (when replayed in television by Andrea). Tite Curet Alonso's song "Teatro", as sung by La Lupe, is the film's musical theme.

Themes



The film central themes are depravity and hope, and it has a corrosive humor.

The film comments on the intrusive nature of reality television which was a relatively new phenomenon at the time.

Reception



Response to the film was mixed; some called it Almodvar's most intense and surprising work to date.

The film has a score of 59% on Rotten Tomatoes from 17 reviews.

The 'Seattle Post-Intelligencer' listed it as one of the 10 worst films of 1994.

References




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