Kinsey
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Movie Reviews of Kinsey
Movie Review: Let's Talk About Sex
Summary: 5 Stars
"Kinsey" is an extremely well-made and engrossing film, definitely one of the year's very best. I knew next to nothing about the life of Alfred Kinsey when I walked into the movie theatre, but when I left it I wanted to know much more. Written and directed flawlessly by Bill Condon, whose previous work includes "Gods and Monsters," this loving biopic captures the life and work of the complex Alfred Kinsey, whose books on male and female sexual behavior opened the eyes of the entire world. Before Kinsey, the majority of people knew next to nothing about sex. The impact of his findings on society is immeasurable.
Liam Neeson plays the brilliant Alfred Kinsey, who escapes from a strict religious background to become a biologist and a professor at Indiana University. The fiercely inquisitive Kinsey meets and marries Clara MacMillan (Laura Linney), and the two are both virgins on their wedding night. Their first sexual encounter is awkward and painful, and only after consulting a sex therapist can the two enjoy a pleasurable married life. Kinsey begins to counsel his students on sex, and eventually decides to form a reserach team to conduct interviews across the United States about people's sexual behavior. Contrary to societal views at the time, Kinsey believed that there was no such thing as "normal" or "perverted," there were only things that people did differently. Initially greeted with respect and fame, Kinsey was gradually became reviled by those who had praised him.
Neeson gives a wonderful performance as the imperfect Alfred Kinsey, showing us a man who is driven to research by deep-seated emotional needs. He is sometimes blind to the pain he causes others, such as when he has an affair with Clyde Martin (the superb Peter Sarsgaard) for the sake of experience. As his devoted wife Clara, Laura Linney is also amazing. Her initial devastation upon learning of her husband's affair gives way to her own awakening, and she eventually sleeps with Clyde herself. Clara loves Kinsey and understands him, and supports him without asking questions. Peter Sarsgaard also gives a terrrific performance as Clyde, definitely one of the best supporting turns of the year. Chris O'Donnell is also very good as one of Kinsey's researchers, and John Lithgow is fearsome and ultimately touching as Kinsey's repressed father.
It's very important that people see this film to see how significant a man Alfred Kinsey was. While extremely flawed as a person, his personal crusade to expose the truth about sexuality was a great act that made society stop hiding. At the end of the film Kinsey is interviewing an elderly woman (Lynn Redgrave) who found the courage to come out as a lesbian after reading Kinsey's books. "You saved my life sir," she says. He saved countless others, as well. He is worth remembering.
Movie Review: Let's Talk About Sex, Shall We
Summary: 5 Stars
"Kinsey", starring Liam Neeson and Laura Linney, explores the true story of sex researcher Dr. Alfred Kinsey. It received three Golden Globe nominations and one Oscar nomination for 2004. As Kinsey discovers more information on the truths about sex, many people around the country either loved him or hated him. Regardless, everybody knew who he was in the early to mid 1900's. His teachings as a professor influenced his students and his audiences. Meanwhile, some people try to stop him from continuing his studies. Through everything, he stays true to his word and works harder to teach people that sex is perfectly natural. In fact, some sex acts which some consider taboo are performed much more often than they think.
Bill Condon directed and wrote this film brilliantly. Much of it was adapted from Kinsey's books "Sexual Behavior In the Human Male" and "Sexual Behavior In the Human Female". Through the exploration of Kinsey's discoveries, it unveals how he became so influencial to millions and how he compiled the information. This film presents these details in a graphic sense that forces audiences to step out of their comfort zone. Many other film creators have been hesitant to express these sexual desplictions in this manner. All are necessary to share Kinseys methods and inner thoughts. Beyond the autobiographical details is the emotional value placed within the characters and the storyline. It shows the struggles the many of the lead characters endured during this life journey, namely through the family. Therefore, the inner intentions are presented well.
Liam Neeson plays Dr. Alfred Kinsey beautifully. Words cannot possibly describe his wonderful performance in this film. Neeson's research for his role is obvious as he mastered many of Kinsey's real-life mannerisms. The emotional value through Kinsey's actions are beautifully acted. Equally impressive is Laura Linney's performance as Alfred's wife, Clara Kinsey. Through the last few years, she's evolved greatly as an outstanding actress. This film and "P.S.", also of 2004, proves the extent. Though all the other performers present their strengths greatly through their roles (Chris O'Donnell, Timothy Hutton, Dylan Baker, Tim Curry, Peter Sarsgaard, and others), Neeson and Linney stand out.
Such tremendous film quality makes "Kinsey" worth watching multiple times. New film details (there are several) will be discovered through multiple viewings. Through all of them, this will surely please many of its audiences.
Movie Review: A preoccupation with sex
Summary: 5 Stars
KINSEY is the story of Alfred Kinsey, here played by Liam Neeson, the author of "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" (1948) and "Sexual Behavior in the Human Female" (1953), both of which raised, um, eyebrows.
As the film succinctly shows, Alfred, the son of a puritanical minister that went so far as to rail against zippers for giving idle hands easy access to occasions for sin, grew up to be a zoologist whose obsession with collecting and studying the gall wasp gained him a measure of obscurity. However, after marrying Clara McMillen (Laura Linney), with whom he achieved sexual liberation after sorting out a few physical impediments with the help of a knowledgeable physician, Kinsey achieved local notoriety at Indiana University by teaching an enlightened and graphic sex education course for students and staff. It was there that he first utilized questionnaires to elicit personal sexual histories, the methodology, administered by trained interviewers, that he later used in the thousands across the nation to build the database for his two books. In KINSEY, we also see depicted the Kinsey couple's unconventional sexual relationship, as well as those of Alfred's cadre of interviewers and their wives. Hugh Hefner would've been proud to have the investigative team over to his mansion for a frolic.
Insofar as it goes, KINSEY appears to give a reasonably accurate summary of the sex researcher's bio. I base this conclusion on my own sketchy knowledge of the subject, hastily gleaned from a website. The film does skip over a couple of minor points. It doesn't share that Alfred was an atheist who thought Judeo-Christian sexual ethics repressive. It also seamlessly transitions from Kinsey's sex-ed class at IU into his larger national study without revealing that he was replaced as the class instructor because his lecture content was too racy for the times. In any case, Neeson's performance is certainly worth an Oscar nomination for Best Actor, and perhaps Linney for Best Actress also.
Perhaps hoping to be on the cutting edge of sexual expression, as were Kinsey's two books, KINSEY has two brief shots of full-frontal male nudity (involving supporting actor Peter Sarsgaard), something not often seen in American theatres in mainstream releases. Kinsey would be pleased.
KINSEY is a finely crafted, entertaining, and instructive look at a simpler time and place before AIDS and HIV became parts of the sexual equation.
Movie Review: A Daring Film on a Daring Man of Genius
Summary: 5 Stars
Bill Condon is to be commended as a filmmaker willing to tackle controversy in the pursuit of truth. "Kinsey" was one of the top films of 2004. It entertained while at the same time filling in important details about the life of a man who opened America's and ultimately the world's eyes concerning what sex was really all about, shattering long held myths in the process.
Liam Neeson plays the role of Kinsey with spirited conviction. His Kinsey is a man constantly pursuing knowledge, unafraid to venture where the frightened followers of tradition feared to tread. Early in his career as a biology professor Kinsey recognizes how many traits the creatures he microscopically analyzes resemble the conduct of humans. The problem was that people so frequently tended to shy away from their actual feelings for fear of being ostracized. A rigid and destructive conformity rooted in guilt prevailed. So many acts practices considered now considered normal by enlightened psychiatric opinion were denounced as verboten, aberrant, and ultimately depraved.
One of the most fascinating segments of this thought provoking film relates to the rocky relationship of truth seeking Neeson and his father, a hellfire and brimstone Christian preacher played by John Lithgow. The haughty and chauvinistic Lithgow loves putting down both his son and his wife. He achieves a badly needed humility after Kinsey asks him probing questions about his own sexuality, as a result of which he faces basic truths concerning himself for the first time.
Neeson's pursuit of sexual freedom through liberating truth is enhanced by his successful marriage to a bright and inquisitive spouse. Laura Linney becomes attracted to Neeson while a student of his at Indiana University. She is able to penetrate his initial stuffiness and help to make him a better-rounded individual. Linney assists him in his personal sexual explorations as they use their own marriage as a laboratory to learn about their own erogenous zones and how to maximize sexual pleasure.
A touching element of the film occurs when a tormented lesbian woman thanks Neeson for saving her life. She had believed prevailing psychiatric dogma about her own feelings and was considering suicide. Kinsey's enlightened teachings made her feel like a human being and enabled her to overcome sexual guilt feelings that had previously paralyzed her.
Movie Review: Very thought provoking and great.
Summary: 5 Stars
Kinsey is the story of a man, during the periods of the 1940's and 50's when speaking openly about sex was concidered taboo, took fourth to make strides about understanding of how sexuality had pervaded society. Alfred Kinsey went from studying bugs to teaching, and studying about sex; all the while he goes from not having sex untill after he's married, to openly engaging and encouraging non-emotionally connected sex acts, including some of his own on the bisexual nature. Ultimently, for all the controvesry of whether he abused children (which I believe were false rumors creaded by ultra-religous purists), to his questionable researching methods, he may have done the best sex study ever in our history. By using up close interviews, as non-judgemental as possible, with thousands of subjects, he closed the limited, though certainly didn't eliminate all together, the fact that when people are asked about sex they often lie. Ultimently, however, he was mocked and brought down, and his study was never completed the way he hoped, as society seemed still not ready.
Liam Neason, as Kinsey, gives one of the best performances of his career. Kinsey was a pretty dull man, but he's depicted with pure underlying emotion, from be secluded in his bug days, to being a pioneer of sex that believed strongly in what he was doing. Laura Liney, as his wife, is also great as a woman who finds it in her heart to love him and stay with him despite questionable permiscuity. Actors like Chris Odonald, Peter Sarsgaurd, and John Lithgow as Kinsey's conservative father, among others round out an exceptionally casted flick with a strong screenplay behind it. The time line the movies flows with is a bit unorthodox, as years pass without ever realising it, but it still works due to the direct, meaningful nature every scene encompases.
How much one appreciates this movie should not be directly connected to how much one appreciates Kinsey himself. It's a story about breaking boundaries at a time when many weren't ready, and about a person who took to a new style of thought that even today many would find objectionable. There were so many issues to ponder for myself after seeing this movie that I couldn't begin to describe them all, but at it's face value its a just very well told story.