Kisses

Dylan (Shane Curry) is a boy grown cold in a loveless house. Cast out on Christmas Day, he encounters the determined Kylie (Kelly O’Neill). Together they escape assorted abuse and their monochromatic Dublin housing estate, for a kaleidoscopic night of magic, terror and discovery. Colour bleeds into Kisses at each successive infusion of hope: the kindness of strangers, songs of Bob Dylan, and care for one another. City-centre streets are a wondrous symphony of light under the camera’s gaze. But as experience is thrust upon these kids, the darkness of adult worlds lurks at the edge of the frame. Writer/director Lance Daly captures a moment of hope for a better life, in a film driven by sheer visual inventiveness. And so, despite weak supporting characters and thin dialogue, this remains a forceful yet elegant little fable. Even if the kids must face home, kisses breathe colour into their bleak lives.