Hot Cha Cha

I'm always panicking and picking a movie that there's no great urgency to watch. I guess I need it to be a very light, spontaneous act (which is what movie watching really is anyway). The other day, I had "True Detective" on blu-ray as well as other movies that I want very much to have seen, but instead of any of those I opted for "Hot Target". Something tends to draw me towards obscure erotic thrillers. The obscurity of this one was thrown into sharp relief by appearing in a small box through the opening credits and full screen instead of widescreen later.

I was surprised to find it was set in New Zealand (as I'd expected in advance that it would be American and thought while watching it that it was British). After it got going, sure enough people were speaking in fancy accents and driving on the other side of the road. Once I got over that, a story developed of a bored (but exceptionally hot) housewife who spends all too much time in the park, where she meets an American with a flair for line-crossing conversations. By this time I was in all the way for this story of a dalliance that of course goes too far and a paramour who proves to be something darker.

It's not a terrible movie. There are certain things that stick with me. The woman goes to the park a ton. The guy does too, but just because she does, I assume. More remarkable, maybe, is just how the sex scenes play out. In most movies, people look sort of like they've been having sex in a walk in fridge, because they don't look that hot or sweaty. In this movie, they look like they have malaria in Vietnam, they're so flush and sweaty. It's an interesting change.

There was a line that really tickled me. "How long have you been a criminal?" asks the protagonist. "How long have you been a bored, rich wife?" the guy asks. It's crackling dialogue. I really and truly can recommend this movie, because if you're into a cheesy variety of steamy thriller, this is it. Just ask yourself if "Wild Things" was to your taste. If so, this isn't identical, but it's as much so as a movie from years earlier could be.