Kinsey
No punches pulled in this sex researcher biography
Next to love and death, is there anything as mysterious in the human condition as sex? Condon’s approach to his subject is much the same as his subject’s own approach to sex research: no punches pulled, no euphemisms and no, um, beating around the bush.
Against the odds, writer/director Condon (Gods and Monsters) has made a spry, entertaining film, especially strong in Liam Neeson’s performance as Kinsey. Considering the current election-year divisions about U.S. "moral values," Condon’s timing is extraordinary. To the right wing, Kinsey has long been considered near an Antichrist, a harbinger of America’s 50-year march towards moral doom.
Condon’s accomplishment is that he frames Kinsey the man in a compassionate drama that makes him its foremost "subject." Alfred Kinsey ("Prok" to his friends) was above all a scientist who set himself on a zealous mission to liberate sex from superstition and taboo.
Neeson’s Kinsey is a relentless, bigger-than-life figure who somewhat arrogantly sees himself as a Moses of eros. Kinsey’s interview methods were non-judgmental to a fault, freeing his subjects to be remarkably candid in their sexual histories. But Condon stops short of canonizing his subject. Kinsey’s own sexual experimentation sows discord in his marriage. And the infidelities among his researchers lead to at least one office fistfight.
While made on a relatively small budget ($10 million), Condon’s diligent production doesn’t skimp on its supporting cast. Linney, Lithgow, Peter Sarsgaard, Oliver Platt, et al., are all fine as the minor planets rotating around Neeson in his robust role, which deserves Oscar consideration. Kinsey’s compassion might be best summed up in his view that, when it comes to sex, "Everybody’s different." Maybe it’s this sort of revolutionary sentiment that the conservative establishment finds so upsetting, and not just in the staid 1950s. (T. Delapa, Boulder Weekly)
Kinsey
Sat & Sun March 12 & 13, 2005, 7:00 & 9:30, Muenzinger Auditorium
USA, 2004, in English, Color, 118 min, Rated R • official site
Tickets
10 films for $60 with punch card
$9 general admission.
$7 w/UCB student ID,
$7 for senior citizens
$1 discount to anyone with a bike helmet
Free on your birthday! CU Cinema Studies students get in free.
Parking
Pay lot 360 (now only $1/hour!), across from the buffalo statue and next to the
Duane Physics tower, is closest to Muenzinger. Free parking can be found after 5pm at the meters
along Colorado Ave east of Folsom stadium and along University Ave west of Macky.
RTD Bus
Park elsewhere and catch the HOP to campus
International Film Series
(Originally called The University Film Commission)
Established 1941 by James Sandoe.
First Person Cinema
(Originally called The Experimental Cinema Group)
Established 1955 by Carla Selby, Gladney Oakley, Bruce Conner and Stan Brakhage.
C.U. Film Program
(AKA The Rocky Mountain Film Center)
First offered degrees in filmmaking and critical studies in 1989 under the guidance of Virgil
Grillo.
Celebrating Stan
Created by Suranjan Ganguly in 2003.
C.U. Department of Cinema Studies & Moving Image Arts
Established 2017 by Chair Ernesto Acevedo-Muñoz.