Killing Me Softly (Heather Graham)

REVIEW
This erotic thriller comes from the director of Farewell, My Concubine. Though topically pretty darn far removed from the realm of his usual work, Kaige’s first Hollywood movie looks as crisp and technically gorgeous as his other films. But the bottom line is, working in this genre, does Kaige deliver the goods we come to expect from films like this, meaning intensely erotically charged moments and effective thrills? This one definitely delivers in that department. Graham plays a website developer who lives comfortably in London with her boyfriend until a chance encounter with a stranger (Fiennes) changes her perspective. She suddenly finds herself in a cab with this man and then ripping off his clothes for a wild uninhibited throwdown in his apartment. The charged-up moments between the two continue into dangerous realms of bondage and erotic asphyxiation and she finds herself being drawn deeper into his web. But will what she uncovers about him make her more intrigued or disturbed? OK, so this thriller isn’t traversing any newer ground than Basic Instinct and the plotting has a tendency to be, well, a tad unrealistic. But its cast is hotter than those Instinct folks, with the voluptuous Graham (who certainly doesn’t shy away from displaying her voluptuousness) and the strikingly handsome Fiennes (who also spends a good deal of time in the buff). And the sex between the two is pretty smoldering and kinky. So even if the plot doesn’t always make sense, there are some erotic rewards and some creepy thrills to be found here.

--Mekado Murphy