Kelly + Victor

I did some research on the films that were screened at SXSW, but the details that describe Kelly + Victor do not prepare you for what is in store. The first thing that I found to be particularly odd was the light speed at which their relationship began. Kelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) is this petite little thing who comes across innocently enough at first glimpse she could be the shy little girl next door. The story begins as she prepares to go out for the night and she encounters Victor (Julian Morris) in a night club and comes on to him completely unhindered by any coy social standards or order. This film wasted no time getting to the gratuitous sex and there was nothing shy or coy about the adult themes such as drug use, nudity and the nature of abuse. As Victor says in the film, it got intense. The most provocative theme of the story was the dynamics of abuse from sadomasochism to abusive relationships. It was an interesting backdrop to how everyone seemed to be meandering through their otherwise ordinary lives while all these other damaging factors invade. Many of the sequences in the story made me tilt my head as if that would make it easier to understand the conversation, much of which was indiscernible due to the heavy accents. Since much of the themes were difficult to appreciate it made relating to the characters difficult as well. I was sympathetic to Victor but that may be because I immediately recognized his portrayer Mr. Morris from one of my favorite guilty pleasures Pretty Little Liars. I was not a fan of what seemed like a hodge-podge of images thrown into the film as visual fillers, having seen a group of flittering gnats once in a film is enough more than that is just as I said earlier, filler. However, I did like the retrospective style of storytelling that detailed how an event or situation unfolded. If the intent of this story was to get people talking about some taboo topics then it was a success, since Catt and I talked about the impression it left on us for most of the evening after having viewed it. Kieran Evans the director was in attendance at the screening and was very happy and honored to have his film's US premiere take place at SXSW. I am glad to have experienced it, but am undecided about who I could refer it to if anyone.

I wish IMDb would delve into the negatives as well as the positive number realms because its the only way to truthfully cover films like these honestly .

Acting was decent

story was weak girl meets boy girl likes is into kinky asphyxiation type of sex .Even though she's 90 lbs soaken wet and couldn't gag a maggot .

Meaningless lives and meangingless sex equal a meaningless movie with no point or meaning 1-10 not worth your money or the time to think about or give meaning to it .You want to thought provoking material read a book .Skip this movie at any and all costs i made it 50 mins into the film and shut it off because i felt myself growing dumber by the second .Yes it was one of those films

It really feels like they wanted to shock the audience but didn't give it enough substance to have any sense. Specially on Victor character, it's very hard to find any reason for his actions and has no ral development. In the other side for Kelly character, even as her has a lttle more development, it isn't enough to understand her actions or find any reason to told her half story. And the ending..oh, the ending.. without giving any spoilers, it's VERY unsatisfying.

It really feels like they just wated to show some sex scenes and be "controversial" but any meaning besides that is missing.

So, What's the point? Yeah, a little sex snd many too long shots of nothing and silence.

There was an MP in the UK some years ago who was found by the police hanging from the back of his kitchen door with an orange in his mouth and his trousers round his ankles. Auto-eroticism gone wrong that was, and you have to wonder if something similar is on the cards for "Victor" (Julian Morris) as he hooks up with "Kelly" (Antonia Campbell-Hughes). They are in the sack pretty much immediately after they meet, and she introduces him to a few hitherto unknown kinks. Not only does he get off on them, he starts to need them to orgasm at all - even on his own. With "Kelly" unable to discern what may or may not be an acceptable limit and his increasing addiction, you begin to wonder if their game is heading for disaster. It's been done on a fairly shoestring budget, by the looks of it, but the camera loves Morris and there's quite a compelling effort, especially as the film concludes, from Campbell-Hughes. There's some sex, but it's photographed harmlessly enough to give us the idea and not really the detail. Unfortunately, there's a lot of padding here, and by half way through when we've all got the message we could skip to the denouement swiftly, I reckon. It's really only got enough scope for a short feature, maybe 45 minutes tops, but is still a solid effort from auteur Kieran Evans though as he tackles a taboo subject in a fashion that's just about worth a watch.

I saw this at the Dublin Film Festival just because it was on before another film I wanted to see. The film blew me away and was my favorite of the festival. The film follows the troubled Kelly and Victor as they become deeper and deeper involved in an affair which was passionate but destructive. Throughout the film its never made clear whether this is love or lust and this is one of the films strengths.

The film is challenging and at times shocking but also has moments of haunting beauty. Stylistically the film is definitely a mix between a grimy realism and a more lyrical poetical style plus the sex scenes which are quite intense. Plus a note about the acting. Don't look what the two leads have done before, their performances are totally stunning and brilliant.Also the film never feels the need to make anything explicit. There are hints about the characters past but much like in Shame, these are implicit hints which trust the audience to be smart enough to piece together. This is a film which will stay with you long after the credits roll