Kinky Boots

                   The Oscars are this weekend!  As usual I am excited about the broadcast as I want to see if I am right in my guesses of who the winners will be.  One of my favorite nominees this year is Chiwetel Ejiofor.  He is nominated in the best actor category for his work in 12 Years a Slave.  I have not yet seen 12 Years a Slave so Mr. Ejiofor’s work in it is not why he is one of my favorite nominees.  My excitement for this actor all has to do with a role he performed years ago in a film called Kinky Boots.  

                Charlie Price (Joel Edgerton) is out to create his own path in life.  He is moving out of town and leaving the family shoe manufacturing business behind him.  His fiancée, Nicola (Jemima Rooper), is waiting for him in their new apartment and she is eager to show Charlie how great their new life will be.  Their happiness, however, does not last long.  After Nicola gives Charlie a tour of the apartment, Charlie receives a call.  His father has died and Charlie must return to what he just left.

                Now in charge of the shoe factory, Charlie discovers the company is in dire straits.  He does not want to let any of his workers go, but he cannot see any other option.  It isn’t until one of his workers, Lauren (Sarah-Jane Potts), tells him off that Charlie begins to think differently.  Lauren suggests that the company should make a new product, one that has a niche market.  She feels this would be a far better solution than simply shrugging and letting things stay as they are.  Charlie understands what Lauren is saying, but he does not know what to do with her suggestion.  He does not know a niche market he should target and feels there is not much hope.  Then he meets Lola.

                Walking through the streets of London, Charlie sees a woman being followed and harassed by a group of men.  Concerned that the woman is in distress, Charlie decides to run over and help.  Unfortunately, in his attempt to assist the woman, Charlie gets knocked out by a boot.  When he comes to, Charlie finds himself in the woman’s dressing room at the club where she performs.  He also discovers the woman is a drag queen named Lola (Chiwetel Ejiofor).

                Unaccustomed to being around someone like Lola, Charlie becomes very uncomfortable.  When she goes on stage to perform, he leaves.  It isn’t until later that Charlie realizes Lola is just the person he needs to help save his business.

                   While trying to escape the men, Lola broke the heel of her boot.  As Charlie recovered in the dressing room, Lola expressed her frustration at how difficult it was to find a good pair of shoes.  None of them could support the weight of a man, which is what she needed.  The shoes simply weren’t strong enough.

                Believing he has found the answer to his problem, Charlie goes back to Lola and asks if she would be willing to let him make a pair of boots for her.  At first she is hesitant, but in the end Lola agrees.  Charlie takes her measurements and gets to work the moment he returns to the factory.  When he finishes the boots, Charlie shows them to Lauren.  He is very excited by what he created, but it is clear Lauren is not.  She does not tell Charlie her concerns and he prepares to present the boots to Lola.

                Before Charlie can go to Lola, she comes to see him.  Anxious about having a drag queen in the factory, Charlie rushes her through back hallways and up to his office.  He shows Lola the boots and she is not happy.  They are the exact opposite of what she is looking for and expresses this at a very loud volume, with the intercom on.  The entire factory hears what is going on in Charlie’s office.

                Determined to still go forward with his new idea of making boots for drag queens, Charlie asks Lola for help.  If she would design the boots, they would figure out how to make them work.  Lola agrees and begins to come to the factory every day.  But she does not come as Lola.  One of the workers, Don (Nick Frost) has made it clear he is not comfortable with Lola being a drag queen.  In order to create less conflict, Lola arrives at the factory in men’s clothes, but she feels awkward and not like herself.

                After a conversation with Charlie, Lola does begin to settle in at the factory, but that does not mean all the tension is gone.  A fashion show in Milan is coming up and Charlie is determined to show the boots there.  As the date of the show nears, he becomes panicked and more desperate to have everything perfect.  This alienates the workers to the point that they walk out on Charlie just before everything must be finished and sent to Milan.

                Already upset about the walkout, things become worse for Charlie when Nicola arrives after finding out he mortgaged the house in order to pay for the show in Milan.  She is upset and cannot understand why Charlie is doing so much to save the business.  Don overhears the argument and rises to Lola’s challenge of changing his mind about someone.  He convinces the other workers to return to the factory and they get everything ready for the fashion show in time.

                The fashion show, however, is still at risk.  Charlie and Lola get into an argument the night before they are to leave for Milan.  At a restaurant Charlie figures out Nicola is there with another man.  Not sure what to do about his feelings, he takes it out on Lola.  She disappears and Charlie does not know what to do.  Without Lola there isn’t a fashion show and without a fashion show all their hard work would have been for naught.  Charlie must figure out how to fix his relationship with Lola before it is too late.                           

                There are so many great scenes in this movie.  Some of my favorites are the ones where Lola performs.  They are so much fun with all the music and dancing, but there is one I do not like.  In this scene some hecklers are in the audience and they verbally go after Lola.  She handles it, but it is clear the hecklers still have an effect.  It is an upsetting scene and I want to reach through the screen and do something.  I do not know how people can be that way, treating someone with such disrespect because they are different.  What is the point of doing that?  I was happy when Lola told them off, but I doubt that made it hurt any less.

                Something else I enjoyed watching was the actual making of the shoes and boots that is throughout the movie.  It is a fascinating process.  One probably doesn’t think too much about how footwear is made, but there is a lot to it.  Everyone has a different, important job that takes a lot of skill.  In the special features section of the DVD the actors talked about learning the different tasks.  They quickly found out that making a shoe, even one part of it, was not easy.

                I really like the main characters in this film.  Charlie is very sweet despite being a little clueless about what he’s doing.  At first he is also too set in his preconceived notions about Lola, but he learns quickly, and that is a really good thing.  He has a really cute relationship with Lauren, who is a support throughout the film.  It is a much better relationship than he has with Nicola and I cheered for Charlie and Lauren to one day be together.

                Then there is Lola.  I love Lola.  She is such a beautiful person, inside and out, when she is dressed as a woman or a man.  Even though she can be a tad brash at times, Lola always has a lot of heart.  She has a positive effect on all those around her and shows everyone how wonderful different can be.