ANYONE WHO saw Kissesat the Galway Film Fleadh this summer will not have been surprised that it was voted Best New Irish Feature. It was received with cheers and sustained applause after the closing credits rolled and director Lance Daly and producer Macdara Kelleher brought its two young stars on stage.
Two wonderfully natural newcomers, Kelly O'Neill and Shane Curry, play Kylie and Dylan, pre-teen neighbours in a drab Dublin housing estate that is photographed in grim black-and- white. Kissessubtly shifts into colour when the two of them impulsively escape their environment and their dysfunctional families by leaping on to a barge, which takes them into Dublin city centre for an eventful long night's journey into day.
It's coming up to Christmas, and the two mischievous youngsters have fun touring the shops. Downtrodden by his violent, alcoholic father, Dylan is asthmatic, quiet and shy, but he lightens up in the company of Kylie, who is exuberant, confident and protective. When they are parted, however, her vulnerability is revealed as well, and there is a beautiful, telling close-up in which, for all her streetsmart attitude, she looks angelic.
Through their adventures Kylie and Dylan experience the kindness of strangers, mostly immigrants to Ireland, and the menace and danger on the city streets by night. The film recalls Once in its distinctive use of Dublin locations and in the way it brings together an ostensibly unlikely couple. There are echoes of the unsentimental humanity in François Truffaut's memorable movies about children, and of the hard-edged coming-of-age dramas directed by Ken Loach and Shane Meadows.
These reference points are given merely as signposts to what Kissesoffers as it exerts a beguiling and irresistible hold. This thoroughly assured, endearing and captivating movie marks a significant advance for writer-director Daly from his two earlier feature films, Last Days in Dublinand The Halo Effect.
In Kisseshe works wonders with his inexperienced young leading players. And he artfully blends tension, most effectively in an extended chase sequence, and humour, wittily drawing on Bob Dylan references and culminating in a clever punchline that involves Stephen Rea in a cameo appearance.
Lance Daly, Kelly O'Neill and Shane Curry will participate in a question-and-answer session with the audience directly after this evening's 6.45pm screening of Kisses at the IFI in Dublin
****
Directed by Lance Daly. Starring Kelly O'Neill, Shane Curry, Stephen Rea, Paul Roe, Neilí Conroy, David Bendito, Willie Higgins 15A cert, gen release, 75 min
