Kika (1993) Director: Pedro Almodovar

A new farrago from Pedro Almodóvar-as outrageous as his previous efforts, but without the suavity. Verónica Forqué plays Kika, a makeup artist whose life is complicated by a lesbian maid, a brooding lover, the lesbian maid's delinquent brother (who used to be a porno star), and the brooding lover's American stepfather (who may or may not be a murderer). Almodóvar shuffles them around in various combinations, but his career as a shock merchant is running out of steam; the movie feels hammy and strained, and the details are chucked in your face. Almodóvar has devised a subplot, starring Victoria Abril, which is meant to attack the emotional greed of television, but he succeeds only in drawing attention to his own failings; sensitive souls may not want to hang around to see out the prolonged rape scene. Almodóvar's palette of colors is as bright and warming as ever, but what he paints with it leaves you cold. In Spanish.