ThiefHott Too much of everything

MonsterPerfect Good idea lost in the noise

Siflutter It's easily one of the freshest, sharpest and most enjoyable films of this year.

Bessie Smyth Great story, amazing characters, superb action, enthralling cinematography. Yes, this is something I am glad I spent money on.

Turfseer Set in Ireland, Kisses chronicles two lower middle-class children, next-door neighbors Kylie and Dylan, who run away to the big city (Dublin) after they can no longer tolerate their abusive home situations. The inciting incident that propels Dylan to actually leave home (joined by Kylie) is when he hits his father in an attempt to stop him from beating up his mother during a drunken argument. Later we find out that Kylie has been sexually abused at the hands of her Uncle, so she too has no qualms about running away.Writer/Director Lance Daly does a fantastic job in coaching the two first-time child actors, Kelly O'Neill and Shane Curry. Their language is very coarse and you'll have a hard time understanding what they're saying, without reading the English subtitles that appear on screen (yes, the actors are speaking English, but with a very heavy Irish accent). In fact, Daly brilliantly evokes an atmosphere of a violent middle-class world the children must exist in, utilizing dialogue which is peppered with all kinds of offbeat expletives and fascinating slang.The time the children spend at home is shot in black and white, which is designed to signify the repressive atmosphere they live in. But once the children flee to Dublin, the scenes are now in color, connoting freedom from repression. Daly does well in providing us a snapshot of how bad some of these abusive family situations can be in Ireland today but by the same token, I wonder if he went too far in damning these abusive parental figures. What would have been better if he showed us that these parents were capable of moments of humanity, which would have fleshed their characters out a bit more. Some parental concern and guilt feelings were on display when we hear snatches of the parents being interviewed on radio, after the children are declared missing; but it would have been better, had Daly made the parents a tad bit more sympathetic, and hence multidimensional, from the get-go.The 'second act' of the film is a mixed bag. Daly spends a little too much time with the children interacting with a kindly barge operator on a canal as he brings them into the city proper. Once in the city, however, there are all kinds of nice touches: the children avoid some kindly child welfare workers who they fear will simply return them to their parents; Dylan receives a kiss on the cheek from a prostitute that appears heartfelt; and they realistically fail to find Dylan's older brother, who ran away to the big city two years before.Bob Dylan also figures prominently in this film. The barge operator first introduces the children to Dylan by singing a Dylan song and playing the harmonica. Later, a folk artist is singing a Dylan song at a mall where the children assist him in begging for money. Finally, the children run into a man at a stage door during a concert, who appears to be Dylan himself. It turns out that he's only a Dylan imitator, part of an Australian tribute band. We hear Dylan's 'Shelter from the Storm' as part of the film's soundtrack which is apropos, since the children are seeking 'shelter' in the big city, far from the 'storm' of their respective abusive domestic situations.The second act crisis occurs when Kylie is kidnapped by pedophiles, who snatch her off the street and drive off in a car. I had a hard time believing that Dylan would be able to hold on to the back of the car as they bad guys sped off at top speed. The children's' eventual escape also seems far-fetched but when they finally fall asleep and wake up with the dead body next to them, that was something that could possibly happen.The ending features the nice touch of seeing the parents relieved but then turning vindictive, as the children are returned to them. Dylan and Kylie exchange trusting glances as they are separated from one another and are brusquely brought back into their respective homes.Not all of the Kisses' plot is completely plausible nor are the characters (other than the principals), fully realized. Nonetheless, the performances of these child actors are so sharp, that one will find oneself ignoring some of the film's aforementioned intrinsic shortcomings.

gradyharp Some may balk at naming this a Christmas movie because of the subject matter, while others will see the reason for terming this very near perfect film as such. First, it takes place at Christmas, and second it is a story as sweet as the Gift of the Magi as far as different tales on the concept of gift giving. Lance Daly both wrote and directed KISSES and cast two extraordinary young actors in the main roles. His use of black and white to color in filming and his decision to focus the musical score on the works of Bob Dylan are two further bits of evidence that this is a man with a solid career before him. In an unnamed little town in Ireland adjoining families live in rather squalid psychological conditions. Kylie (Kelly O'Neill) lives with her parents and siblings in a state of constant bickering and chaos: Kylie's uncle has in the past added his own brand of psychological trauma to her life as we hear later in the film. Next door lives Dylan (Shane Curry), a lad Kylie's age who lives with a severely abusive father and submissive mother. It is Christmas Eve and there is not a bit of joy in the air: Kylie is sent off to walk the baby and is verbally abused by schoolmates while Dylan finally is fed up with his father's behavior (Paul Roe) and after a scuffle flees out the window - with Kylie's help. The two youngsters cannot bear their disgusting family situations and off they go, finding a ride with a riverboat dredger captain (David Bendito) who introduces the to the songs of Bob Dylan. The two end up in Dublin where they struggle for food and shelter, encounter some rather gross behaving people, as well as meeting good people like Bob Dylan (Stephen Rea) for a moment and as they look for Dylan's long vanished brother they meet a street girl (Elizabeth Fuh) who when asked how she survives plying her trade tells Dylan that her only gift to people she meets is a kiss - and she gently kisses Dylan on the cheek. After finding that life on the streets of Dublin at night is very rough the two seek help from a policeman who helps them return to their homes. But a bond has been formed between Kylie and Dylan and the story just ends. Lance Daly is a sensitive director; the portions of the story taking place in the home of the kids are shot in black and white and it is only as Kylie and Dylan discover Bob Dylan's music courtesy of the dredger does the film gradually turn to color. He also is unafraid to show the joys of the two kids as they buy things in Dublin (Kylie's uncle gave her some hush money) and shoe skate around in their new found freedom and happiness, a factor that makes the rest of the story - which is rather dreary and sad - palatable. The two young actors are superb and the music of Bob Dylan floods the screen. This is a small budget film with a big message. And part of that message is about the significance of a simple gift. Grady Harp

jdesando 'Twas in another lifetime, one of toil and blood When blackness was a virtue and the road was full of mud I came in from the wilderness, a creature void of form. "Come in," she said, "I'll give you shelter from the storm." Bob DylanShort, bleak, and brilliant—Kisses is an Irish picaresque of two 11 year-old working class kids, Kylie and Dylan, escaping at Christmas time abusive relatives from each one's home. Their odyssey takes them the streets of inner-city Dublin, where Kylie is abducted by rapists and Dylan discovers his love for her as he fights the devils, who indeed are people, not the mythical "Sack Man" they've feared in their neighborhood horror lore.The titular motif plays as an ironic reminder that life can give monstrous and beautiful at the same time: kisses that signify the unbridled lust of an uncle or a gift, the only thing one has, between two kids who have yet fully to understand the ambivalence. One "ting" is certain-- there is some beauty in the outer world: the immigrant dredge-boat driver, who gives them a ride to the city, is playful while he gets them happily to work for him as he introduces them to Dylan's namesake through a song (see above) that speaks of offering shelter from a storm.Filmmaker Lance Shelby has done the difficult by extracting love from an unforgiving landscape, like Mike Leigh's kitchen sink blokes caught in the suburbs with no one to save them yet finding hope in small gestures, like kisses, that cost little but mean much. Shelby's transition from black and white boondocks to color inner-city is too much of a cliché to be praised, but the black and white is effective as metaphor for the colorless world of the poor burbs.While the families are over the top also, or at least too unbelievably oppressive and crude, from the children's point of view, they are the devil until the kids meet the real one in the abductor/rapist. Lessons are to be learned even if the classroom is the school of hard knocks. After all, just north of them Irish have been killing Irish for decades."There's no devil. Just people." Kylie

samzpan Either the two teenagers who play the central roles are the greatest teen actors in the world OR the director can handle teenagers better than any director in the history of cinema. You should see this movie just for the superb job these two young people perform. The movie by itself is excellent, the photography, the use of the music of Bob Dylan, the dialog (thank you for the on screen translations cause at times it sounded like a foreign film from somewhere in Eastern Europe). This movie really is a gem as starts out in monotone and then when the kids reach Dublin the color is fantastic. I guess I just can't say enough nice things about this flick, check it out, you gotta love it.