Kinsey
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Movie Reviews of Kinsey
Movie Review: A study of sex.
Summary: 5 Stars
KINSEY, written and directed by Bill Condon, has the same things going for it that his previous works, GODS AND MONSTERS and CHICAGO (for which he wrote the screenplay) did. KINSEY contains more clever storytelling techniques, like the use of an interview-training session as a means to introduce flashbacks in the life of its subject matter, and crisp, funny dialogue. It's a fun movie that remains compelling, even though it's a biopic about a nerdy, bowtie-wearing zoologist.
Of course, Alfred Kinsey was no ordinary zoologist. And the subject matter that he chose to study after finishing his examination of the gall wasp is the sort of thing that fascinates everyone, so this isn't a story of simple science. However, the film's approach to the science behind the study is what makes it most interesting.
Liam Neeson is excellent as Kinsey, playing him as a man obsessed with experiments and studies. He's interested in studying behavior, finding and reporting facts and increasing knowledge. When it came to the study of sex, he found that there was a dearth of accurate information regarding it and no way to answer questions his students were posing, so he decided to come up with a list of questions that would give him an idea of what human beings actually do sexually.
To do the study from a scientific perspective - and interviewing people without appearing judgmental, he thought, kept his work free from moral constraints.
However, he wasn't entirely prepared for the impact his study would have on the culture. Or, on a smaller scale, his own sexual behavior or the behavior of his students.
The film shows how the study came about, how the study changed Kinsey's life and his family's life - and the life of his co-workers.
Peter Skaarsgard and Laura Linney, playing his closest associate and his wife, give excellent performances. Their characters both become involved in the study and show Kinsey that it's not entirely possible to separate sex from emotion. They also help him weather the many storms that his work causes once "Sexual Behavior in the Human Male" is published.
"Kinsey" is a fantastic movie, well-written and well-acted. See it if the topic interests you, amuses you or angers you.
Movie Review: Biopic that works
Summary: 5 Stars
The 'biopic' is always a risky chance in Hollywood. Not too many draw big box office, and there's the risk of the creators - in wanting to jazz up the film - will start messing with the details of the character's live. Most egregiously, we have the recent 'Finding Neverland,' in which Kate Winslet's character in real life was most decidely NOT widowed when J M. Barrie entered her life (which just blows the entire premise of the story out of the water, thank you very much). And, thinking back, there was 'The Hurricane' in which the storytellers decided (I still can't figure out why they felt compelled to do this) that they had to somehow spice up an already incredible life by inventing a ficticious Patterson PD Detective called Sgt. Della Pesca (the excellent Dan Hedaya), who appears to nurse a serious grudge against the story's protagonist (ummm...that guy never existed; a problem, you think?).
So, let's hear it for an honest biopic! We should expect no less from the outstanding talent of Bill Condon. His 'Gods and Monsters' is still one of my favorites. The work ethic of 'Kinsey' is, apropos enough, much like its subject...indefatigable. I love the way the movie builds the 'Kinsey' character well before the movie turns to sex. In the first 45 minutes or so of the film, "Kinsey" focuses on the professor's obsessions with the gull wasp. We see there the habits that later served him so well when it turned to matters of cataloguing sexual behavior. This is wonderful movie-making. This attention to detail and story-telling has to be rewarded. Indeed, Condon's movie is showing up now on many Top 10 lists and deservedly so.
The movie focuses a lot on an inner circle of Kinsey's researchers, played by an impressive trio of Timthy Hutton (underutilizied), Chris O'Donnell (good here, but wow, where did this guy go?) and - most notably - Peter Sarsgaard, who deserves an Oscar for bravery alone (love scene with Liam Neeson, and two Ewan MacGregor-style full frontal nudity scenes). Interestingly, simultaneous to the movie's release, there's also T.C. Boyle's new novel entitled "The Inner Circle," which takes much the same approach.
That one goes on the 'must read' list for sure.
Movie Review: Interesting insight into groundbreaking study
Summary: 5 Stars
Alfred Kinsey was a pioneer in the study of human sexuality. He was a professor at Indiana University and spent the first 20 years of his career studying an insect, the "gall wasp." This movie, starring Liam Neeson in the title role, depicts Dr. Kinsey as having an obsession with his study of the gall wasp, collecting hundreds of thousands of specimens and devoting his life to studying this species. Tapped to teach a course on marriage and the family, Kinsey developed an interest in human sexuality and he bacame as obsessive in this study as he was in his earlier endeavor. He was driven and pushed his staff hard. He employed interviewers who spoke with thousands of people in taking sexual histories. Kinsey was very hands on as he personally instructed his staff on how to put subjects at ease as they conducted the interviews.
Dr. Kinsey was the son of a morally strict father, convincingly played by John Lithgow. Neeson's depiction of Dr. Kinsey shows the results of this upbringing. His characterization of Kinsey comes across as very stiff and uptight. He is not one to really let his hair down yet, in his groundbreaking study, there is no taboo that he is unwilling to explore. Indeed, he explores his own sexuality as he has an extramarital gay affair. Despite serious misgivings at first, his wife, played by Laura Linney, is accepting.
The studies were very controversial, having been done in the 1940s, long before the "sexual revolution." Some people found his findings to be very liberating in that they discovered that they were not alone in their sexual feelings. Other people were shocked, believing that the subject was taboo and should not be discussed. There is one brief scene in which a woman, who agonized over her lesbian inclinations, was liberated by Dr. Kinsey's findings and, thereby allowed herself to enter into a relationship. Others, including Kinsey's father, were scandalized. Ultimately, however, Kinsey's father allows himself to be interviewed by his son and reveals his own, painful secrets of a repressed childhood.
We live in a more sexually open era than we did, generations ago. This movie gives an insight into one of the reasons this is so. I recommend this dvd.
Movie Review: You can not understand our current culture without Kinsey
Summary: 5 Stars
It is amazing that even after 50 years, Kinsey's research remains controversial and outrages conservatives in this country.
Yet, as this DVD reveals, Dr. Kinsey used scientific methodology to uncover behaviors that were hidden and repressed by societal taboo.
There were 3 major strenghts to the film:
First, I thought the DVD of Kinsey did a great job of demonstrating the power of observational science, whether in the biological sciences, anthropology, sociology or psychology. To some extent Kinsey's work uses methodology from all four of these academic disciplines. The film even made such topics as questionnaire development interesting.
Second, the film did a great job of discussing the basic sexual knowledge that Kinsey was able to detect, including the vast range of sexual orientations, behaviors, erotic responses, and especially the fluid nature of sexual attraction and behavior over the human life span.His two major works, Sexual Behavior in hte Human Male (1948) and Sexual Behavior in the Human Female (1953) were groundbreaking. In the sciences we are most concerned with whether a hypothesis leads to new understanding, further refined questions and the generation of new hypotheses. Even though Kinsey was not correct on all counts, his work lead to new understanding that actually was of great benefit to a large number of people over the years.
Third, the film gave an accurate and realistic view of the way moralistic crusaders will demonize and try to destroy anyone who threatens their power over the thoughts of their fellow citizens. Kinsey's research continues to be a threat because he grounded his work in biology rather than theology. He observed a vast range of behaviors and was able to approach this diversity with a scientific attitude that attempts to describe rather than a moralistic attitude that seeks to condemn.
The film as entertainment would only get 4 stars, but as a great example of the power of the scientific method, it would get 6 stars, so I averaged it out to a "5".
Movie Review: Honestly exploring the limits of science and morality
Summary: 5 Stars
"Kinsey" celebrates the life and work of Alfred Kinsey -- and obscure gall wasp researcher turned sex scientist. Kinsey, son of a puritanical and emotionally abusive minister, is shown struggling with the inaccuracy of information about sex in the first half of the 20th century. In his day, sexual expression outside of marriage, as well as non-procreative sex within marriage, were considered immoral, even though widely practiced. Illicit sex was burdened by guilt, and discouraged by lurid (mostly false) tales of the horrible consequences of engaging in it: blindness, infertility, madness and disease. The film shows Dr. Kinsey attempting to learn the truth about sex and communicate it first to his students, and finally to the entire world via his landmark studies on male and female sexuality.
The film is very frank about its subjects and very graphic visually. Kinsey (portrayed marvelously by Liam Neeson) is a scientific hero, battling forces of ignorance and mediocrity. He is also rather naive emotionally, unable to perceive the emotional, moral and spiritual facets of sexuality. His wife Clara (Laura Linney -- great job!) is his able and open partner, encouraging his research and suffering the toll of Kinsey's sexual experimentation using himself as a subject. Kinsey's research staff, the first subjects of his "sex histories," lack Kinsey's self-restraint about sex, and confuse crudely sexual speech with frankness about the subject.
"Kinsey" is a thought-provoking, even a disturbing film. It shows that science is not simply a broom that sweeps clean, but leaves a long-lasting choking cloud of dust, even as it clears old and grime-encrusted rooms. "Kinsey" rightly exalts the scientific method, but I am pleased that it also shows its limits. Science can count things very well -- the number of homosexuals in a community; the prevalence of various sexual behaviors -- but it can't tell us which are morally correct, and in which contexts. "Kinsey" is a bold, honest movie about a subject that continues to perplex us.