The Kinky Boots (2005)

Charlie Price (played by the Australian Joel Edgerton) inherits an old-fashioned English shoe factory when his father dies suddenly. It's obvious the business has no future, and Charlie is persuaded to go for a new niche market. But what? Well, he recently made a chance meeting with a drag queen, Lola (played by Chiwetel Ejiofor) and this determines that the niche market will be boots for transvestites. Lola joins in the work at the factory, although we are never quite sure what she does there.

There is a nice little cameo with an elderly landlady at her digs, who asks her in a matter-of-fact way whether she is a man. There is some friction between Lola and some more traditional employees, but eventually all is sweetness and light. The big test will be the international footwear fair in Milan ...

Although some plot elements are a bit predictable, I found this an entertaining and more or less believable film.

Lola has a major role in the film, and is depicted more three-dimensionally than is often the case. Chiwetel Ejiofor is Nigerian by birth and has no previous form in transgender work, so far as I know.

The film was inspired by a memorable British television documentary from two or three years ago, which followed the fortunes of a real factory based at Earls Barton, near Northampton, and which went into the kinky boots business.

HF February 2006

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