Strong and Moving!

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

An old-fashioned movie made with new-fashioned finesse.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

Non-narrative films can be great, but this is something different. *Kisses* has enough plot and complications for anyone. Every thread is resolved, every theme revisited in this study of the beauty and terror of adolescents tasting freedom. This is one of those films in which painstakingly localized settings and characterization achieve the universal.I kept thinking of a line from Dennis Cooper while watching this: "And when they kiss, it's so cold and impressive to them." Yes, the kisses in this film are impressive to the characters, but there's nothing cold about them. They always seem to a seal a bond as warm as the sun. And though there's desperation and insecurity, the characters hold back and compensate as they would in real life. There are things we tell ourselves not to show until at last they show without our permission.Danger and wonder are everywhere, yet the tone deftly avoids the sentimental even when the structure employs techniques from classic melodrama.There are moments of joy in *Kisses* in which everything stops, like musical numbers without singing. And the use of color makes you wonder if it's the cinematography that's stunning or simply the world itself.

All very Ken Loach, (before he discovered FC United!), but nevertheless a charming, short film. Dylan & Kylie, (a fabulous, if mismatching pair of character names), were sweet in their own brow-beaten way, and all credit to Lance Daly for sticking with the sometime impenetrable dialogue.Never mind. Credit also to Kelly O'Neill (especially) and Shane Curry for demonstrating that acting is much more than just words. But what I loved was the fact that the whole feel-good aspect of the film could be attributable to …. Heelys! ("They don't come cheap you know!")Yup, Keely floating through the Dublin shopping arcades was as graceful as anything seen in a (South) West coast surfer movie – and made me infinitely more jealous. And then, just as this fairytale turns dark, the Heelys come to the rescue in a magnificent cinematic moment. Extra marks for that!Ron(Viewed 26Jul09)

Interview with Lance DalySynopsis Kisses is a road movie in which two teenagers are trying to flee from their dysfunctional home situation. The change in their life is the discovery of each other (and themselves) while wandering through Dublin (and Trollhatan). The basis for Kisses can be found in major social problems, but Lance Daly is not really appealing to a higher moral or coming up with solutions for Irish victims of abuse. The moral of the film: When you kiss, you either give or you take.Where did you find Kylie and Dylan, the lead actors in the film Kisses? LD: We have seen a lot of kids at schools, malls, etc. Finally we made a selection of 15 boys and girls and invited them for a serious screen-test. The role of Kylie was clearly for Kelly O'Neill , as she didn't need any encouragement at all. Dylan (Shane Curry) was the only one who could cope with the attitude of Kelly and after seeing the end result I think we have done a good job casting the two.Working with and directing of kids is generally experienced as very difficult and time consuming, how was that the case for Kisses? LD: Working with kids is indeed difficult and puts a strain on your endurance and mood. I had to adjust to the fact that we were not allowed to keep on filming, because the kids are protected by laws indicating they may only work so much a day. Secondly, they have a mind of their own and you just can not treat them the same as adults. This was at times frustrating, especially Kylie is very demanding and time consuming. On the other hand, Kylie and Dylan make the film and they have done a superb job. Can you elaborate some more about the title, why did you choose for 'Kisses'? LD: The title was pretty obvious for me and came up during writing the script. The film consists of several chapters and every chapter ends with a kiss. The kisses symbolize hope and love, which makes it a bit cheesy and romanticizes the film. But hey it works and closes the chapters well. There are many references to Bob Dylan, where does this fascination come from and why was it so pre-eminently in the film? LD: Well Bob Dylan is a great musician, whose music fits perfectly with the spirit of the film. The appearance of the look alike was a coincidence but also works out perfect with the accidental meeting with Kylie and Dylan.Have you considered adding English subtitles to the film as the Irish accent is difficult to understand for non Irish viewers? LD: It is funny that you ask me that question. Recently we have had this discussion back home and we just didn't know for sure. During the Q&A after the screening at festivals we have asked the audience if they would have understood the film better if there were English subtitles. Almost half of the people would have liked it and therefore I expect subtitles will be added before the theatrical release.What is the foresight for Kisses? LD: Focus Features and CAA (North America) picked up Kisses for sales and distribution. At this point the film is still showing at some festivals and around December 2008 Kisses will have its theatrical premiere in several countries.http://jeroenachterberg.blogspot.com/

I caught this movie in the 49th Thessaloniki Film Festival in Greece just yesterday, and I have to admit it was an unexpected gem, since you can't really have high expectations out of the movies in Film Festivals...Sweet, kind-hearted, honest, brave, wonderfully-outlined characters, wonderfully-developed scenario, all in all -an amazing film. I wish I could stumble upon movies like this more often. The cinematography and the direction are splendid. The Bob Dylan soundtrack tribute not only brings this movie to life, but makes it all the more stunning, as is the rotation between color and black-and-white; the film obtains color when the two protagonists are happy and it turns back to black-and-white when they are unhappy.I'm pretty content to have caught this diamond of a movie amongst the piles of rocks. Congratulations to all involved for truly bold film-making.