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How I loved this film! Kisses (2008, written and directed by Lance Daly) is the story about of Kyle and Dylan, a couple of kids who run away from home and have an adventure in nearby Dublin. First-time child actors Kelly O’Neill (Kylie) and Shane Curry (Dylan) are brilliant and were an immense pleasure to watch.

I don’t know what to say about it except that everything about it worked. The setup, the adventure, tragedy, themes of friendship and love, excitement, humour… it was truly an immense pleasure to experience this film. It was at once charming, sad, exciting and horrific to journey with these children into the inner-city depths of Dublin. The kindness of strangers and then the horrible things that some people are capable of never cease to amaze me. But right when I needed him, in an uncredited role as “Bob Dylan”, Stephen Rea shows up on the screen and I could take a minute to breathe.

Coming-of-ages films are among my faves and this one definitely joins The 400 Blows, Y tu mamá también, C.R.A.Z.Y. and Stand By Me on my list (although I don’t have an actual list).

One technique that I have never seen used to this extent was that the film’s top and tail are in black & white while the middle section is in colour. While the children journey to Dublin as they escape their broken homes, colour slowly seeps in until before you know it, everything is different. Then as they return home, the colours fade away and we return to their stark reality of black & white.

This was one of my favourite films of TIFF08 and if you ever get the chance to see it, do it! The director and two kids were present for a Q&A after the film, and they were just as delightful to watch off-screen. Here is a photo and video clip that I took:

For some comments that are completely opposite to mine, read this (second review down).