Paradise: Love (FILM REVIEW)
Paradise: Love
(Paradies: Liebe)
Film Review by Kam
Williams
Single-Mom
Develops Jungle Fever in Kenya
in Initial Installment of Incendiary Trilogy
Paradise:
Love is the initial offering in a trilogy of incendiary dramas from the
Austria-born director Ulrich Seidl. Each of the three installments focuses on a
different female from the same family.
This episode revolves around Teresa (Magarete
Tiesel), an unremarkable single-mom whom we find tired of her Vienna existence at the point of departure.
The jaded 50 year-old divides her time between raising an adolescent (Melanie
Lenz) and working with the mentally-handicapped.
Needing a
break from that humdrum routine, Teresa leaves her daughter in the care of a
sister (Maria Hofstaetter) before flying alone to Kenya for a much-needed vacation. However,
she’s planning for a little more than fun in the sun, since her destination is
a resort that caters to the carnal desires of European sex tourists.
Specifically,
it’s older white women looking to get their groove back, so to speak, with help
of African men, the younger and better endowed the better. The goal, obviously,
is less to find romance than to mate with any hunks who find them attractive.
Upon
arriving, Teresa checks into the hotel where she makes the acquaintance of
several fellow Austrians with the same goal in mind. What soon unfolds is a series
of lusty liaisons approached by the consenting parties with a compatible set of
competing expectations.
The women
want to be wined and dined a bit prior to seduction, while the local lads are
more than happy to oblige with the unspoken understanding that they will be
tipped generously for providing stud service. Given the language, age and
cultural differences, it is no surprise that complications still ensue for first-timer
Teresa as she awkwardly attempts to negotiate her way with fellows with hidden
agendas.
Will her
cravings be satiated? Will she be respected in the morning? Will she be fleeced
out of every last pfennig by the local Romeos? Those are the basic questions
raised over the course of this intriguing character study, a female empowerment
flick which harks back to Heading South (2005), a similarly-themed film set in Haiti starring
Charlotte Rambling.
Fair
warning: the film does feature graphic nudity and indiscriminate coupling, as
the ladies sensuously sample a veritable smorgasbord of native cuisine. When
all is said and done, Teresa returns home revitalized enough to resume her unfulfilling
life, but ostensibly having to keep her assorted sexual conquests a
secret.
After all, as
the saying goes: What happens in Nairobi, stays
in Nairobi!
Excellent (4 stars)
Unrated R
for violence, profanity, graphic sexuality and frontal nudity
In German, Swahili and English with subtitles
Running time: 120 minutes
Distributor: Strand Releasing
To see a trailer for Paradise: Love, visit: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F4ZFB8qwWa4
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