Holy Smoke

In this wildly inventive film from director Jane Campion (THE PIANO), Kate Winslet stars as Ruth, a headstrong Australian woman determined to get back to India in time to join a group marriage to her guru. Her family, hoping to break the cult leader's psychic grip on Ruth, hires P. J. (Harvey Keitel), a macho American deprogramming expert teetering on the brink of a nervous breakdown. A no-holds-barred battle of the psyches, cultures, and sexes ensues as P. J. and Ruth fight, connive, and eventually fall into bed together in what becomes a mutual search for individual truth. The strong performances of the two stars, a hilariously offbeat script (cowritten by Campion and her sister, Anna), and a wealth of delicious, texture-enhancing flourishes (including some surreal bits of computer animation, Pam Grier's work in a small role as P. J.'s partner, and a wild opening sequence set to Neil Diamond's "Holly Holy") combine to make HOLY SMOKE a weird, winning blend of goofy comedy and hallucinatory mysticism.