It Felt Like a Kiss (2009)
Screenplay & Direction: Adam Curtis
At one look, it reminded you of Billy Idol's music video 'We didn't start the fire!' It is a collection of certain events from our past accompanied by songs from that era. Narration which is the lynch pin of any documentary is glaringly absent. It appears like a series of videos narrating a story and can be described as an experimental film.
The film starts in the autumn of 1958 with a scene of a man getting up in his motel to open the window shades to the crooning of a song of that era. The camera shows him lighting a cigarette, feel unwell, perhaps with a hangover or even suffering from melancholy! The snippets continues with inter-playing of various significant events to mankind. In essence, it shows changes in people life style, pop music, America's interference in other country's affairs and the spread of HIV. The theme of the flick is to show how America set about to remake the world 50 years ago.
1958 was an important year. In a joint press statement, Khrushchev tells Nixon off of how the Russians were going to overtake US in space exploration. Back at home, housewives are seen bored, withdrawn, smoking too much and drinking way too much coffee. Children play their toys alone. The ad man are hard at work trying to make an impact. A young Saddam Hussein flees to Egypt after a revolution in Iraq to become a CIA agent. Lee Harvey Oswald arrives in Moscow -? possibly working for KGB, CIA or nobody. Rock Hudson's wife files for divorce. She is a lesbian. He is a homosexual who married her to cover his sexual preference. Somewhere in the jungles of Congo, HIV virus is transmitted from chimpanzee to human. Fighting in Kinshasa begins. At the same time, some other chimp is being trained by NASA to beat the Russians at space expedition.
Homosexuality is considered as sickness of the mind and ECT is advocated as a form of therapy. Lou Reed, a bisexual, a reputable musician till today is one who is treated this way at the age of 17. He describes in his song later of how ECT made him numb and devoid of all feelings.
Life goes on...
People get killed, people get lonely, single parties are organized to make couples meet, TV occupies an important place in the living room, ads and game shows fill the slots. People express the inner hopeless feelings. Guns are becoming popular. Corporations are getting important with many board meetings.
In 1963, the CIA finally attacks Bay of Pigs to assassinate Castro after multiple earlier failed attempts - an exploding cigar that did not explode, an exploding shell that failed when Castro went snorkeling, poison in his shoes and spraying LSD in a studio. The Bay of Pigs invasion also failed!
The enraged Lee Oswald bought a rifle by mail order. Sexual liberty is slowly surfacing and people are comfortable discussing it on TV.
1962... Carole King discovers that her babysitter, Eva was regularly beaten by her boyfriend because he loves her! King and her hubby write the song 'He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)' - title of film - to be sung by The Crystals.
The fight in Vietnam escalates. In South Vietnam, a Buddhist monk immolates himself against the corrupt American backed regime of General Diem. Looks like child pornography is slowing making its entry to the limelight. And Eva the baby sitter becomes Little Eva with her hit number 'Locomotion'.
Enos, the chimp, orbits the Earth passing over the jungles of Congo where he is from, where down below, the CIA was busy organizing a coup d'état. The American backed rebels capture the elected leader Patrice Lamumba. He is taken deep into the jungle, shot and his body is dissolved in acid! The coup brings in CIA supported dictator Joseph Mobutu, the most corrupt and violent dictator known to Africa. It appears that human to human transmission of HIV continues with the war weary American intelligence officers and peace keepers being feted by voluptuous hip swaying Congolese performers!
Scenes from Rock Hudson and Doris Day's 1958 film 'Pillow Talk' are recurring theme in this flick. Now, you see the connection. In 1985, Hudson would die from AIDS related illness. Songs get more depressing like this one from Skeeter Davis 'The End of the World' as more depressing scenes of depressed people are seen.
In 1963, another coup is organized by CIA. This time in Iraq where the elected government is overthrown because it is too close with Moscow. The Ba'ath party is appointed instead with Saddam Hussein part of the regime. His job was to massacre the hundreds found in CIA's outdated list! Later, Terence Young, the director of 'Dr No' and 'From Russia with Love' glorifies the feat in a telenovela, 'The Long Days'. Can you see how Hollywood is trying to justify the changes in the world?
Back home, JFK is assassinated. The 26 second snippet of the assassination is the most examined shortage in man's history but no one agrees on what happened. At the heart of the mystery is the behaviour of the 'magic bullet' which behaved like 'a jumping jack' causing many entries and exits.The Warren report accepted the 'single bullet' theory and denied conspiracy.
People are increasingly becoming individualistic, indulging in self destructive behaviours...
The Twin Tower WTC's construction is discussed. About that time, a wealthy Saudi businessman, Mohammed bin Laden is constructing a new road to Mecca. 12 out the 19 hijackers in 9/11 would be born or have been brought along that road.
The ad-man continues with women liberating ads...
The golden era of pop began to splinter. People wanted to be free to be themselves. They found a new way to control the inside of their own head. The Black Power consciousness increases, so does violence, gun culture...
Osama is 10 and is obsessively fascinated with the favourite TV show 'Bonanza'.
1967 sees his father succumb to a plane crash when he is trying to land on a road he had built. The ranch of Bonanza, now disused, becomes the site where some suburban kids start a commune to escape the increasing violence in society. Guess how became their leader? Charles Manson!
People start indulging in various relaxation techniques - scream, rejuvenation clubs, psychotherapy, etcetera. Even Richard Nixon goes to a psychotherapist to talk about his feelings of dread. In the mornings, when he would look into the mirror, he saw no one there! The man who starts the clandestine section of the CIA goes mad. He is afraid to sleep fearing terrible dreams and cannot stop talking and finally shoots himself.
Doris Day is shown many times in the film. She must be representing the last of the old school of actresses who would be easy on dropping those garments. With sexual and women liberty, she must be an icon of a bygone era. She was turned down as the role of Mrs Robinson in the 'The Graduate' for her reputation as 'The oldest virgin in the world'! Day's son meets Charles Manson to offer to produce his songs. One of his song is called 'Pretty girls cease to exist'!
The Vietnam veterans return home to tell their harrowing experiences in war zones. They tell of killings and rapes of the innocent.
Bill Spector, the reputable producer of rock and roll, plans to produce the best song ever to revitalize Tina Turner's career and release her from the wife bashing Ike. Unfortunately, it only hit No.88 in the top 100, pushing Tina to brink of suicide and making Spector a recluse!
Violence escalates...
Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated and Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestian sympathetic to the Arab cause is the accused. No one, however, believes the official version. It was either the Mafia, J.E. Hoover, CIA, KGB, Ku Klax Klan, Fidel Castro, Anti Castro Cubans, a secret government within the Government or even Nixon!
The imaginary world seem so real and the world outside becomes like a dream.
Members of the Mason family are arrested.
It is 1969 and HIV arrives in Miami and spreads throughout America.
Then starts another phase in the life of Americans. The computers that controlled the Cold War and guided the rockets to the moon were put to a new use. They started to analyse credit data of all Americans so that they could be lent money and buy whatever they wanted and be happy.
The film ends with the sound of a speeding jet....whilst Doris Day lies down to sleep wondering what the sound is... Get it?
The film starts in the autumn of 1958 with a scene of a man getting up in his motel to open the window shades to the crooning of a song of that era. The camera shows him lighting a cigarette, feel unwell, perhaps with a hangover or even suffering from melancholy! The snippets continues with inter-playing of various significant events to mankind. In essence, it shows changes in people life style, pop music, America's interference in other country's affairs and the spread of HIV. The theme of the flick is to show how America set about to remake the world 50 years ago.
Homosexuality is considered as sickness of the mind and ECT is advocated as a form of therapy. Lou Reed, a bisexual, a reputable musician till today is one who is treated this way at the age of 17. He describes in his song later of how ECT made him numb and devoid of all feelings.
Life goes on...
In 1963, the CIA finally attacks Bay of Pigs to assassinate Castro after multiple earlier failed attempts - an exploding cigar that did not explode, an exploding shell that failed when Castro went snorkeling, poison in his shoes and spraying LSD in a studio. The Bay of Pigs invasion also failed!
1962... Carole King discovers that her babysitter, Eva was regularly beaten by her boyfriend because he loves her! King and her hubby write the song 'He Hit Me (It Felt Like A Kiss)' - title of film - to be sung by The Crystals.
The fight in Vietnam escalates. In South Vietnam, a Buddhist monk immolates himself against the corrupt American backed regime of General Diem. Looks like child pornography is slowing making its entry to the limelight. And Eva the baby sitter becomes Little Eva with her hit number 'Locomotion'.
Enos, the chimp, orbits the Earth passing over the jungles of Congo where he is from, where down below, the CIA was busy organizing a coup d'état. The American backed rebels capture the elected leader Patrice Lamumba. He is taken deep into the jungle, shot and his body is dissolved in acid! The coup brings in CIA supported dictator Joseph Mobutu, the most corrupt and violent dictator known to Africa. It appears that human to human transmission of HIV continues with the war weary American intelligence officers and peace keepers being feted by voluptuous hip swaying Congolese performers!
Scenes from Rock Hudson and Doris Day's 1958 film 'Pillow Talk' are recurring theme in this flick. Now, you see the connection. In 1985, Hudson would die from AIDS related illness. Songs get more depressing like this one from Skeeter Davis 'The End of the World' as more depressing scenes of depressed people are seen.
In 1963, another coup is organized by CIA. This time in Iraq where the elected government is overthrown because it is too close with Moscow. The Ba'ath party is appointed instead with Saddam Hussein part of the regime. His job was to massacre the hundreds found in CIA's outdated list! Later, Terence Young, the director of 'Dr No' and 'From Russia with Love' glorifies the feat in a telenovela, 'The Long Days'. Can you see how Hollywood is trying to justify the changes in the world?
Back home, JFK is assassinated. The 26 second snippet of the assassination is the most examined shortage in man's history but no one agrees on what happened. At the heart of the mystery is the behaviour of the 'magic bullet' which behaved like 'a jumping jack' causing many entries and exits.The Warren report accepted the 'single bullet' theory and denied conspiracy.
People are increasingly becoming individualistic, indulging in self destructive behaviours...
The ad-man continues with women liberating ads...
The golden era of pop began to splinter. People wanted to be free to be themselves. They found a new way to control the inside of their own head. The Black Power consciousness increases, so does violence, gun culture...
1967 sees his father succumb to a plane crash when he is trying to land on a road he had built. The ranch of Bonanza, now disused, becomes the site where some suburban kids start a commune to escape the increasing violence in society. Guess how became their leader? Charles Manson!
People start indulging in various relaxation techniques - scream, rejuvenation clubs, psychotherapy, etcetera. Even Richard Nixon goes to a psychotherapist to talk about his feelings of dread. In the mornings, when he would look into the mirror, he saw no one there! The man who starts the clandestine section of the CIA goes mad. He is afraid to sleep fearing terrible dreams and cannot stop talking and finally shoots himself.
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| Beach Boys |
The Vietnam veterans return home to tell their harrowing experiences in war zones. They tell of killings and rapes of the innocent.
Bill Spector, the reputable producer of rock and roll, plans to produce the best song ever to revitalize Tina Turner's career and release her from the wife bashing Ike. Unfortunately, it only hit No.88 in the top 100, pushing Tina to brink of suicide and making Spector a recluse!
Violence escalates...
Senator Robert Kennedy is assassinated and Sirhan Sirhan, a Palestian sympathetic to the Arab cause is the accused. No one, however, believes the official version. It was either the Mafia, J.E. Hoover, CIA, KGB, Ku Klax Klan, Fidel Castro, Anti Castro Cubans, a secret government within the Government or even Nixon!Members of the Mason family are arrested.
It is 1969 and HIV arrives in Miami and spreads throughout America.
Then starts another phase in the life of Americans. The computers that controlled the Cold War and guided the rockets to the moon were put to a new use. They started to analyse credit data of all Americans so that they could be lent money and buy whatever they wanted and be happy.
The film ends with the sound of a speeding jet....whilst Doris Day lies down to sleep wondering what the sound is... Get it?
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