DVD Review: Charming, Delightful ‘Kisses’ Plays Like Modern Fairy Tale

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CHICAGO – When we’re young, a relatively short distance can seem like a trip around the world. I vividly remember thinking my grandparents lived in another country when I was a kid when it was really just the other side of town. Naturally, when two kids run away from home and go from a rural nightmare into the big city, it’s going to feel not unlike Dorothy traveling to Oz. This sense of adventure, wonder, and magical reality infuses every frame of Lance Daly’s beautiful “Kisses,” a delightful Irish art film recently released on DVD.

DVD Rating: 5.0/5.0

Kylie (Kelly O’Neill) and Dylan (Shane Curry) have lived a rough life on the outskirts of Dublin. Kylie seems barely noticed in a family with five siblings and an overworked mother. She clearly has adolescent feelings of growing love for her neighbor Dylan, a young man who has more pain in his eyes than a child his age should have. After one more abusive encounter with his father, Dylan decides to follow his runaway brother and leave his unhappy home behind. Kylie follows.

Kisses was released on DVD on October 26th, 2010
Photo credit: Oscilloscope

The two kids make their way to Dublin and the film transitions from gritty black and white to color as it goes along; as the world becomes more alive for its characters. To call what happens in Dublin a “fairy tale” might make it sound too precious or overdone but “Kisses” is anything but. It’s not nearly as overly self-conscious as its plot description might make it sound because Daly, O’Neill, and Curry ground it in reality while playing with conventions of the story of runaway kids. The kids give two of the best child performances in a very long time. They both feel completely genuine; in the moment while also conveying depth through little things. When Kylie asks Dylan what he wants to be when he grows up, a gives her a look like no one’s ever asked him the question before and he’s too worried about making it through the day to care.

Oscilloscope continues its great year with the DVD of “Kisses.” This studio has slowly become one to watch with “The Messenger,” “Burma VJ,” “The Exploding Girl,” and the upcoming “Exit Through the Gift Shop” and “Howl” rounding out a great arthouse collection of DVDs. “Kisses” is probably the least-heralded of the group (barely getting any stateside release in theaters) but it’s also probably my favorite.

“Kisses” is one of those films that works better without much advanced description. With music by Bob Dylan, a surreal appearance by Stephen Rea, beautiful cinematography, and some of the most unsentimental, genuine, coming-of-age material I’ve seen in a long time, “Kisses” should have been an arthouse hit a la “Once” and will hopefully find the audience it deserves on DVD. Movies this good usually do.

The DVD release of “Kisses” is stellar with an above-average DVD transfer accompanied by unique special features including a commentary with O’Neill and Curry, outtakes with the cast and crew, and “Making Kisses.” Watching the kids audition, one realizes that they’re both definitely not “playing themselves,” but that they had the genuine, playful qualities that the film truly needed from day one. And the commentary is great. Although they mostly just giggle and eat candy while they watch, it’s not often you get to hear two uncensored teens talking about their work. But it’s not often you see a film like “Kisses.”

By BRIAN TALLERICO Content Director HollywoodChicago.com brian@hollywoodchicago.com