A better title for this film might be "The Lower Depths," that recalls the nineteenth-century naturalism of downtrodden members of the working class. It might also be placed in the category of "kitchen sink" drama that depicts the angst of struggling blue collar workers in Great Britain in the 1950s. But in this apparently dark and dreary drama, the filmmakers oddly seem to be making a stab a comedy as well. Because the film focuses on the travails of a woman and moves from the tragic to the tragi-comic to the farcical style, it might be best termed a "broad" comedy.
The focus of the film is a down-and-out woman in Brooklyn named Kyra (Michelle Pfeiffer) whose hardscrabble life is on lurid display. The film begins with Kyra assisting her elderly mother, who dies early in the film. Kyra is broke and unable to find a job. At an interview for a clerical job, she knocks over a plant, and the body language of the employer indicates clearly that she will not be landing the job. The film pointedly addresses how incompetent Krya is in virtually everything.
Kyra is so desperate that she begins the charade of dressing up like her mother and cashing her mother's pension checks at the bank, long after the mother's death. Kyra's lover is a man she met in bar: Doug (Kiefer Sutherland), who is a driver who has just gotten his life back together, is appalled that Kyra has committed fraud. But Doug's warning does not seem to register with Kyra.
The production values of this film were uneven. The lighting is much too dark and blurry. The pacing is laboriously slow. At one point, Kyra laments that "nothing you worked for is working." That same adage could be applied to this film until a pivotal moment where the style shifts from grim realism to comedy. The police are now onto Kyra's scam, but she is determined that she is going to outfox them.
Throughout the film, it is clear that Kyra cannot do anything right, yet at the end, she tries to pull of an amazing stunt and even enlists her loser boyfriend to participate in the charade. If you want to see how all of this turns out, be sure to check the film out and discover how kitchen sink drama can be instantly transformed into broad comedy.
The focus of the film is a down-and-out woman in Brooklyn named Kyra (Michelle Pfeiffer) whose hardscrabble life is on lurid display. The film begins with Kyra assisting her elderly mother, who dies early in the film. Kyra is broke and unable to find a job. At an interview for a clerical job, she knocks over a plant, and the body language of the employer indicates clearly that she will not be landing the job. The film pointedly addresses how incompetent Krya is in virtually everything.
Kyra is so desperate that she begins the charade of dressing up like her mother and cashing her mother's pension checks at the bank, long after the mother's death. Kyra's lover is a man she met in bar: Doug (Kiefer Sutherland), who is a driver who has just gotten his life back together, is appalled that Kyra has committed fraud. But Doug's warning does not seem to register with Kyra.
The production values of this film were uneven. The lighting is much too dark and blurry. The pacing is laboriously slow. At one point, Kyra laments that "nothing you worked for is working." That same adage could be applied to this film until a pivotal moment where the style shifts from grim realism to comedy. The police are now onto Kyra's scam, but she is determined that she is going to outfox them.
Throughout the film, it is clear that Kyra cannot do anything right, yet at the end, she tries to pull of an amazing stunt and even enlists her loser boyfriend to participate in the charade. If you want to see how all of this turns out, be sure to check the film out and discover how kitchen sink drama can be instantly transformed into broad comedy.