Kiss of Life

Not an easy going movie that one can understand without experience of life. Just watching the "literal" movie seems indeed long, and lacking of action. But when interpreting in a deeper sense, one can see the story of a midlife crisis in a couple, where one cracks under all the household burden, and the other gets lost in a no man's land, and how this impacts their view on life, and their relationship. Being lost in all the ruins of the Balkan was a great image for that, and the struggle to get back is figurative for the way one fights to get reconnected to the people one loves. In this sense, the movie was very complex, poetic and sensitive, and filled my head for days.

I caught this film on the BBC on the 4th of September 06. The film is as they say "Essential cinema" . I liked it enough to prompt me to register here so I could comment on the film.

The film is very clever, the imagery is beautiful and the acting quality is high.

To appreciate this film, you need to have an open mind as this film is quite contemporary in the telling of the underlying story, which is why i think this film works so well, representing the emotions of bereavement in the family wouldn't have been as powerfully if it had been done more traditionally.

I don't agree with Sacha Van Spall's patronising comments; it's always easier to criticise than compliment something when it's different. Take a moment to realise this film !

"Kiss of Life" (2003) from BBC Films, written and directed by Emily Young, is a depiction of several days in the lives of a global relief worker (in far away yonder of remote Eastern Europe) and his family of wife, daughter, son and father-in-law back in London, England. It's the less glamorous side of the emotional reality of such a family, with a husband & father who has the ambition to 'save the world' of others while the world immediate to him seems to be crumbling, desperately beckoning him to return home where he's really needed.

Yes, the subject matter is tough - quite courageous of Young to tackle in her debut feature. With the help of two talented leads: Peter Mullan (always fascinating to watch) as John and Ingeborga Dapkunaite (memorable from "Burnt By the Sun" 1994 Russian film) as Helen - the woe-begotten couple (love amiss and love a-longing), along with Millie Findlay as Kate the budding teenage daughter, James E. Martin as Telly the taciturn young son, plus veteran British actor David Warner as Pap in his solitude (grandpa to the children), we have an 86-min. of tense, anxious emotions at play. The son reminds me of director Angela Pope's 'Hollow Reed' (1995, Martin Donovan, Joely Richardson with Sam Bould), a film also with a young son quite alone and coping with crisis. The daughter (the only one with makeup on most of the time) presents her teen angst in parent conflict situations, yet we see her caringness and intimate conversational moments with Mum.

Emily Young's "Kiss of Life" is an emotional ride (wringer). The Croatian Unit location shot scenes are well edited by David Charap and cinematography by Wojciech Szepel with music by Murray Gold gave the various moods a measured balance to the plot progression. There is poetry to the reminiscent flashbacks and pause moments placed to each character's thought sequences.

I was lucky to be able to catch this rare gem of a movie on Cable Sundance Channel. In spite of the seeming anxiety and probable 'tragic' turn of events, the glint of hope is there - that John's perseverance against all odds could pay off, perhaps at the loss of one and regaining connection to the others. Life is short and cherish it with the ones dear to us, we are prompted.

A very sad plot plenty of difficulties and unexpected moments. A man was working for UN somewhere in Eastern Europe (Kosovo?) And he got a phone call from his wife, who desperately wanted him to come back. The family had two children, a young lady and a small child, plus their grandfather. Being the man of the house out, his wife became everything at home; she had to take care of the children and his father without any other help. Her husband decided to go for a while back home, to do that he had to go hitchhiking to the border to board a ship back to UK. In the meantime his wife was pushed by a car on the street and died. Children had to self take care. The film tries to be original because the mother is shown after her death trying to take care of everything at home. Many of scenes are part of dreams or nightmares of her children. Finally her husband got back home and she showed herself as if she was quitting. Certainly, the film is quite difficult to follow and you need to put all your brains to realize what's going on. This film is not for relax, you will always be in tension seeing it.

This film aspires to be something far deeper than it actually achieves and is severely let down by bad to average acting and some very lame dialogue. Whilst the theme is not unique it is edited in such a fashion as to make it incomprehensible.

I'm sure there will be plenty who will disagree and say that this is a stunning debut film purely because it is British, but that is because we have so little to compare.

There are some redeeming aspects of this film, the score being one of them. I am sure that Emily Young can mature into a competent filmmaker if she learns from the failings of 'Kiss of Life'. Ultimately this would be a good student film but certainly isn't worth shelling out for at your local cinema.

At least the Film Council is finally doing what it was created for and is funding new directors in low budget features...even if the result is part of the directors learning curve. Maybe things can only get better?