“Relative Spirits” is Lucky McKee’s latest project and must be, like many other films of this director, it attracts with its unusualness. Except this time, the odds are bad. It’s such a spitty movie that it seems that Mr. McKee’s whole elegant vision has gone down the chimney: it’s his worst film since All the Fans Will Die.
The film begins with an almost tragic scene: two young girls running in the woods in almost fabulous design, happy, only one of them almost suffered a fatal injury. Nicole and her mother Chloe are in a strained relationship with each other. Soon, Chloe's sister, Sadie, returns home. Nicole is beside herself with joy, as she always got along well with her aunt; they are those soul mates. Soon after returning home, however, Sadie’s dark side begins to emerge: She may well have sinister motives to return home.
McKee's first film, May (as well as his other project, Woman), raised the subject of women's corruption, albeit in a lyrical and romantic manner. Misogyny in those movies was almost ruled out. "Girl spirits" is, well, quite an unpleasant film. This may have been intentionally done to fuel feelings of anxiety and fear, but McKee is by no means able to show a middle-class lifestyle that is seemingly correct and pleasant, but rotten inside. Although in the plot of “Kind Souls” a lot is connected in the secret world of Sadie, you simply do not believe in her actions and in her person.
As soon as "Soulmates" enter the territory of fantasy, the spectacle drops incredibly much. McKee seems to have wanted to create a false sense of theatricality in order to end up with some strong plot twist. But that doesn’t happen: Kindred Souls turned out to be a weak film in terms of filmmaking, and in terms of narrative – much here resembles some teenage dramatic mediocrity. Even the dynamics between the three main actors does not help, but rather distracts: the swing on the ruble, and the blow on the penny.
2 out of 10