A Bittersweet Kiss

In a scant 75 minutes, director Lance Daly packs infinitely more wallop than some so-called great directors can muster in their 3-hour long "epics". Daly assembled "non-actors" by visiting schools in Ireland and picking out the ones that behaved the worst. He whittled it further down until he was left with his two leads; Kelly O'Neill, as Kylie, a foul-mouthed tweenage girl and Shane Curry, as Dylan, a lost and frightened tweenage boy.

Kylie and Dylan live right next to each other in ghetto conditions. Dylan is withdrawn, has no friends, and lives in fear of being beaten by his father and having to watch his mother suffer at his father's hands. Kylie's life is marginally better, but she is just as miserable and fed-up as her young friend. When Dylan is about to absorb a particularly bad beating, the two of them run away together. Their destination is the mean streets of the big city but their real destination is understanding their lot in life, that there is more to life than their microscopic world, and most importantly, that it is possible to have an ally, someone to care for, who cares for you.

"Kisses" covers a time frame of less than 24 hours, but 24 hours can be a lifetime, and it is for these two youngsters. No matter how life turns out for them, and it's hard to imagine them being eternally happy, considering their surroundings, in one night, they may have lived a more positive evening than everyone else in their immediate lives have lived or will ever experience.

Daly has created a world of harsh realities, yet, he allows Kylie and Dylan to feel like they are not hopelessly lost, at least for a few fleeting moments. While it's difficult to imagine it making a long-term difference, you can't help but root as hard as hell for them. By the end, I guarantee that you will care about them and hope that they somehow survive what appears to be a pre-ordained unhappy life. Thank you, Mr. Daly, for a very special 75 minutes.