Kinsey vs High Fidelity

Early in Kinsey, Alfred Kinsey's father warns that the zipper just might be the most abhorrent of modern inventions, especially when located on the front of men's trousers, calling it “speedy access to moral oblivion!” If I tell you that Kinsey's father is played by John Lithgow, you should have all the information you need to determine the man's character and beliefs, not to mention parenting skills. What Kinsey seeks to convey to its audience is that while Mr. Kinsey was considered a voice of reason and moral superiority, and indeed had many followers, he was not a spokesperson for the norm. For that, you'd have to go to his son.

Alfred Kinsey (Liam Neeson) began his career as a scientist studying the gall wasp, which is a tiny insect that distinguishes itself by looking and behaving differently from wasp to wasp. He still knows they're all gall wasps though, so I guess the differences are subtle, like with terriers or the Olsen twins. Of Kinsey's colleagues and students, only one other person shares his fascination with the gall: Clara McMillen, played by Laura Linney. Kinsey is socially awkward, but once “Mac” invites herself to his picnic one day, they're pretty much inseparable. Soon, they're married (she initially rejects his proposal, calling him too “churchy”, but eventually gives in), and finding that they're not the best match after all, at least in the bedroom. Mac still loves Kinsey after a visit to his horrible father (his mom is played by Veronica Cartright, so you know she's an odd one too.), so they decide to give the lovin' another try. After a trip to the doctor (Dr. Kinsey had a very specific problem, but you won't feel one bit sorry for him), everything's fine, but Dr. Kinsey is shown that while the gall wasp has no moves unfamiliar to him, his own sex life is largely a mystery. After a young couple visits his office seeking advice, Dr. Kinsey dedicates his time to studying the sexual habits of the human.

Dr. Kinsey develops a series of questions about the sexual habits of humans, and begins finding subjects to interview. Because he's a scientist, or perhaps because his father was such hypocritical stiff, Dr. Kinsey approaches his new subjects in a matter-of-fact way. There's nothing salacious, perverse or jokey about his interviews. He doesn't patronize his guests, and he doesn't judge them. Which is good, when the questions include things like “How often did you have intercourse with animals?”  Dr. Kinsey's findings are so explosive—people like sex, of all kinds, alone or with varying partners—that he decides to expand his study, and interview as many subjects as possible. To ease the workload, he takes on an assistant, Clyde, played by Peter Sarsgaard. Clyde becomes a close family friend, eventually sharing a bed with both Dr. and Mrs. Kinsey, the latter of which begins and ends with Kinsey's funniest scenes. Linney gives the line reading of the movie when she's offered sex from Clyde and answers, “I think I might like that!” as if she's talking about having pie for breakfast.*

*Bonus to anyone who just made their own joke.

Eventually, of course, Kinsey's sex studies become almost overwhelming. He's built an entire staff (including Chris O'Donnell and Timothy Hutton. Where've those guys been?), and has begun traveling the country, collecting sexual histories. Kinsey interviewed as many different types of people as possible, of every race, gender and sexuality. At one point, he interviews an obvious sexual predator, and struggles to maintain objectivity. His associate, played by O'Donnell, uses this moment to defy Dr. Kinsey by leaving the room, one of the few acts of rebellion among his staff. By the time his book has been published (and swept the nation) Kinsey himself has developed a dependence on pills and rarely eats or sleeps.

Kinsey was directed by Bill Condon, who has a way of making non-fiction subjects feel like living, breathing, fictional characters. That probably sounds like the wrong move, but I firmly believe that a drama based on actual people is a drama first, and not a documentary. Condon goes for the emotion, in what was often a nearly emotion-free undertaking. It reminded me of Condon's own God's and Monsters, which took a real subject and his actual work, and supplemented them with imagined relationships and emotional ties. Sometimes you can do all the research in the world to make your movie historically accurate, but it takes a screenwriter to come in and make the characters whole. In other words, if Dr. and Mrs. Kinsey never bonded in the forest over a thousand year-old tree, I'm glad someone thought of it for this movie, because it's a sweet moment and gave them a break from all those lists and categories and questions. Sex is hard work, my friends.

If I haven't hinted at it enough already, the acting in Kinsey is phenomenal. Liam Neeson and Laura Linney are both required to age about thirty years over the course of the movie (I have no idea what ages they play. It appears to be from slightly younger than the actual Liam Neeson and Laura Linney to much older, or the reverse.) Both actors are incredibly available emotionally, Linney throughout, and Neeson in surprising bursts, and both are quite funny. Also good is Peter Sarsgaard, because Peter Sarsgaard is one of those actors who is always good. And, Lynn Redgrave appears near the end, completely unrecognizably, as Kinsey's final interview. She's only on screen for about five minutes, but it's one of the most concise, complete pieces of acting I've seen, and one of the strongest performances in a movie full of strong performances. Kinsey should have added one last question: “So, how long does it take you to steal an entire movie?” Five minutes.

I wrestled with which movie to pair with Kinsey. Should it be a movie like Eyes Wide Shut, or Unfaithful, or American Beauty, with sexual dysfunction that would have fascinated Dr. Kinsey? Should it be a movie about misunderstood genius (much of Kinsey deals with his battles against prudes, bureaucrats and even Communist-hunters) like A Beautiful Mind? There's another movie out there, about obsessive list-making, introspection and sex: High Fidelity. It's like Kinsey with a better soundtrack.

High Fidelity is one of those rare movies that exists on its own, waiting for you to watch it again. Other movies stop living when you shut them off, and when you return, if ever, they've somehow changed. They're not as funny, or sincere, or exciting. High Fidelity, somehow, stays the same. The annoying characters don't soften up, the smart ones still sound fresh, and the music is classic.

High Fidelity follows the life of Rob, played by John Cusack. He owns a small vinyl record store, where he works with Dick and Barry, who are only supposed to be there part-time, but come in every day anyway. I know people like Rob, Dick and Barry, and so do you. You probably are them, to some extent. I can't decide if I hate them or not. They sit around the store, making endless lists and comparisons of music and movies. Top five this, top five that. Dick (Todd Louiso) is more timid and thoughtful, while Barry is a bully about his music taste. He's right, you're wrong. Not only are you wrong, it's sad how wrong you are, and you should probably just agree with Barry from now on, so you won't look so stupid and sad. Barry is played by Jack Black, so the answer is that you would absolutely hate Barry in real life, dreading the days you were on the schedule together at work; while, in the movie, you can't wait for him to come back, because it's so rare that a character this true turns up in a movie, appealing or not. Barry ultimately won me over when his Monday-morning mix included “Walking on Sunshine”, proving what true music-lovers know: a good song is a good song, no matter how much fabric softener it sells.

Of course High Fidelity is really about Rob and the non-music loves of his life, including Laura (played by Spell-check enemy Iben Hjejle), who just broke up with him. Rob determines that Laura isn't even one of his top-five break-ups, and spends the bulk of High Fidelity looking up his previous girlfriends, trying to figure out what went wrong. He's not so much concerned with what when wrong as he is with completely absolving himself of any blame, which let's face it, is even better. He finds that most of his girlfriends have moved on completely, and that if breaking up with him was significant, then it's nothing they've dwelled on. It's fun watching Rob get put in his place over and over, especially since he's vain enough conduct this experiment in the first place, and keeps insisting on talking directly to the camera. His previous girlfriends include Lili Taylor, a complete wreck now and probably then; and Catherine Zeta Jones, who was always too much woman for Rob, and proves it when they catch up at a dinner party. Rob has a fling with a singer played by Lisa Bonet, who impresses him by making Peter Frampton sound cool. Rob fantasizes that she'll hit it big and put one of their secret jokes in the liner notes of her album.

High Fidelity is a rarity among movies: it's based on a book I've read. For the most part, it's faithful, despite moving the setting from England to Chicago. Normally, this would have turned me off, but High Fidelity makes such specific use of its setting that it proves its right to be there. It's not like they moved it from England to Chicago, and then filmed a fake Chicago in Toronto or somewhere. High Fidelity was directed by Stephen Frears, who normally takes on darker material than this, and gives the movie a more defined identity than most romantic comedies get. High Fidelity is smart and funny; it has Joan Cusack swearing and someone being crushed with an air-conditioner. It has Stevie Wonder on the soundtrack and Catherine Zeta Jones snapping her fingers while she struts across the room. And in the center of it all, it has Cusack's Rob, a complete mess, sitting in a room surrounded by records he's recategorizing, again, like so many gall wasps. If anyone could use a copy of the Kinsey Report, it's this guy.

Kinsey: A
High Fidelity: A-