...a superior lyrical ragamuffin Irish drama about neighbor kids in a dingy outpost of Dublin who run away from their crummy home situations at Christmas and spend a picaresque night on city streets.
...may strike you as either ingeniously magical or insufferably cute, depending on your taste. But more than the story, which circles back on itself, the natural performances of its young stars, Shane Curry and especially Kelly O’Neill, nonprofessional actors, lend the movie a core of integrity.
...shows how much you can do with very little. Only 75 minutes long and made in Ireland for what had to be a micro budget, this sweet, savvy and heartfelt film will impact you more and stay around longer than many more elephantine productions.
The movie's ending may be less satisfying than that of Slumdog Millionaire -- a film you can love for its infectiously wishful exuberance, but never fully believe in -- but Kisses is truer to the tragedy of a generation of children whom we have utterly failed.
Affecting film, featuring two flawlessly natural, non-professional leads, sustains its child's-eye point of view without strain, though even at 76 minutes inspiration starts to wear somewhat thin.
This movie is not available on DVD/Video