More of an ensemble comedy than one would expect for a film titled after a single character, 'Kika' focuses on how the lives of several Spaniards intersect, including a widowed author, his jaded son, the son's reporter ex-girlfriend, a porn star, the porn star's lesbian sister and the makeup artist the sister fancies. It takes quite a while for the trajectories of the characters to overlap and 'Kika' seems a little all over the place at first with bizarre seemingly random incidents like a graveyard murder and placing makeup on a sleeping man thought dead. As the movie progresses though, everything fits into place surprisingly well with the highlight being arguably the funniest rape scene ever filmed. While a comical treatment of the subject might sound in bad taste, the media frenzy that the rape causes in the film makes for an excellent satirical target. The film is less about mocking rape and more about public nonchalance towards it. Almodóvar's satire would have, however, benefited from the rape occurring earlier with more focus on the aftermath and Victoria Abril who, dressed in full-body camera-suit (!), films and unthinkingly broadcast it. There is also a great twist with Peter Coyote's character that deserves more screen time rather than being thrown in at the end, but for all its unevenness and roundabout first half hour, 'Kika' is a reasonably involving motion picture at the end of the day.

Kika, a young cosmetologist, is called to the mansion of Nicolas, an American writer to make-up the corpse of his stepson, Ramon. Ramon, who is not dead, is revived by Kika's attentions and she then moves in with him.Pedro Almodovar makes some stylish, colorful movies and he loves his women. This film is no exception in that matter, possibly being the closest to an obscene movie that he has made (the sex scenes go beyond what you might expect from Cinemax-type movies!). It is interesting how what the Europeans do is "art" and if the Americans do it, it is smut.Peter Coyote has a smaller, supporting role. Exactly how he got in this film, I have no idea. And it sounds like he must have been dubbed, because the voice coming out of him is certainly not his. What strange casting. Not unique, I suppose, as many Italian films had American actors...

his universe, his basic ingredients. a fairy tale who becomes in his hand a manifesto. about love, about gestures, about sense of life and force of relationship. nothing new at the first sigh. Victoria Abril in same kind of role of the powerful/seductive woman who impose the order to a complicated/ fragile universe, Peter Coyote as the best choice for Nicholas, Alex Casanovas as a kind of victim who needs the woman's support. adventures, sexuality and cruelty, secrets and strange end are the old solutions for a not comfortable film in the case of Almodovar. but Kika has something different. a strange poetry of scenes, the science of Veronica Forque to give precise nuances to her character in inspired manner.

There is no director whose films embody the strange spirit of the new wave movement of the 60s like Pedro Almadovar. His weird, disjointed and patently bizarre works are a breath of fresh air given that we live with movies that come out of a Hollywood that prefers that directors just bow their heads and do as they are told. His most striking works came before his notoriety with the overrated 'Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown'. Before that he fleshed out such singular masterpieces as 'Law of Desire' and 'What Have I Done to Deserve This?'. No film since 'Women' (until the recent 'All About My Mother') has captured his pre-fame brilliance and during that dry spell came one of the worst, a little disappointment named 'Kika'.The main topic of discussion given to 'Kika' has been it's politically incorrect rape scene played here for laughs but comes off as ridiculous and uncomfortable. But seething around that scene is Almadovar's target - the rape given by the media into the private lives of anyone who ever takes their clothes off. The villain of the piece is a tabloid journalist named Andrea Scarface who runs a hot TV show called 'Today's Worst' and buzzes around on a motorcycle with a camera mounted on her helmet hoping to catch crimes as they happen.Andrea's former lover is now seeing the title character, a shapely cosmetologist with a big mouth named Kika whose personality is infectious but (I believe) would have been better served in a different movie.Kika is currently being lusted after by her lesbian maid (Almadovar regular Rossy de Palma) and the maid has a chauvinistic brother who is not only an ex-porn star but who's first day out of jail leads to aforementioned rape scene. Also attached to the story is an expatriate writer (Peter Coyote) whose wife's murder remains a mystery and has driven him nearly comatose.'Kika' feels like a first draft, there is little interest in the underwritten characters and most of the outrageous scenes exist, not for laughs but just for the sake of being outrageous. It lays a lot of characters on the canvas but can't find a use for them outside of their introductory status. This is a minor effort in which the biggest joke is really on the viewer.