50 Kisses

When I first heard of the concept for the 50 Kisses film (50 writers, 50 different production teams making 50 different films about a kiss, mostly taking place on Valentines Day that would form into one feature film) I have to admit I was completely sceptical. How could it work? I decided to set myself a bench mark for it to live up to in terms of entertainment - looking to more mainstream films similar to this concept which have to include the work of Love Actually and the barely tolerable Valentines Day. I should have aimed higher. In these films a series of characters whose lives cross connect all reach some form of conclusion on the said day, normally in a gushy fairy tale manner. Here, the stories of many more characters are all told with only the central theme, a kiss, in common and each has to reach its own conclusion in an average of two minutes. Which would you think would be the more emotionally engaging film for a mainstream audience?

I have to answer in all honestly - 50 Kisses. Here with such a wide range of well explored takes on the single theme of a kiss including everything from Repressed Homosexual Hit men, Androids, Zombie Love, A Child's First Crush to a Child's first Valentines surprise, to Brain Damage, Dates Gone Wrong, Emotional Betrayal to Virtual Romance, Suicide, Tenderness, A First Kiss to a Fatal Kiss - The range and depth of the stories, characters and ideas on display here is simply richer than anything Hollywood in it's current system could ever hope to achieve. It is no small feat that the film manages to seamlessly bleed from one story to another without you feeling you're watching a series of unconnected shorts and keep you completely captivated. In fact the 50 Kisses world we are 'flies on the wall' in is thoroughly engaging, charming, funny, touching, sad and uplifting from start to finish.

I confess to be being blown away by the quality of the work here, which I did not expect to be up to such high standards. The co-ordination of this production must have been a logistical nightmare and I understand it may go into the Guinness World Book of Records, deservedly so. It is a truly unique piece of quite frankly, outstanding cinema and I am afraid something few big budget directors could ever achieve with such grace, warmth and soul and substance. I recommend you find it and watch it.

This put it among the top rated films of the week. Is cinema at a Crossroad?Taking a step back for a more controlled step forward, in a crowd funded feature, acting as a catalyst for change? I used to write culture reviews for the Aga Khan appearing in India, Africa and also for the Guardian newspapers. I still enjoy it.

So what inspires all these people to jump at the chance Chris gives them of directing, writing, acting and editing in a crowd funded feature that will not be paid? It must be the touching innocence that exudes from Chris. 'Gone Fishing' his Oscar nominated short that 'came much closer to winning than I thought' he tells me, is beautifully and artistically created by one of the masters of DOPs, Director of Photography, Vernon Layton. It is as he also points out a children's version of 'Jaws', a brilliant concept, as entertaining. There is a need to see your work out there so you feel you have taken chances and reached people. That is why Chris, Vernon and his ensemble buzz with positive energy..

Of course blockbusters will always exist to make us jaded, stay in and prefer making love. Or watch 'Fifty Kisses', another upbeat, sublimely eccentric film from Judy Goldberg and Chris, who make no bones about bringing about positive outcomes in this case by involving a record number of screenwriters, filmmakers, and musicians in a film, over 2000?

The axis or shift of power from men to women has never been hazier. As I watched these fifty attempts at healing kisses it feels comforting how much I enjoy listening to women talking of film, or directing as Yildirim of Turkey did in 'That Good Night', in which a lead is played by her neighbour who 'has never played more than in background roles'. Bertolt Brecht had the habit of employing 'lay actors',non-experts, and I find myself the experience of working with homeless on a Millennium Award funded 'From the Horses Mouth' an authenticity left us yearning to do more work like this. In Eastern Europe we worked at Brecht's 'People's Stage' highly popular in Europe. Certainly first for working class work and his first attempts.

Even this though does not compare for me to the upbeat nature of many of these fifty films. For example in 'Beryl' by Sarah Page, the care worker takes on the role of former husband of the Alzheimer sufferer.

How interesting in fact it is to look at Kenneth Lemm's script, which centres on disappointment in familiar settings of parental hopes or wishes. The author notes a number of times that no-one has taken on the task of filming his offering and he must have felt concerned. Then as said a woman from a relatively unknown environment with 'zero budget' succeeds in making the film. Being a woman is what it speaks of to me, for she doesn't exaggerate the old man's anger, anymore than his reaction to his prodigal daughter's return with granddaughter. The understatement is what wins us over and makes us admire Yildirim as best director also.

I recently admired a book of poems by a woman from Massachusetts who delivers a guide to herself by seeing others, self-portrait drawn from many, and this is what I think has always made men see themselves, the reactions of women. The nurse yielding in the face of the old man's brutality, as well as the daughter silently but forcefully returning set the tone. In fact when comparing script and finished film understatement is more exalted by the end.

There is also the 'Dream Date', a much-admired section co-written by two females Ann Marie Draycott and Charity Trimm which is a great one to see. It works entirely out of the mistaken expectations we have of film to reveal aggressive, testosterone-driven sex, with the sedate parents exclusively orgasm over enjoying 'quiet time'. Similarly simple, gentle nuances are what set the works of women a cut above.

In fact all in all the female sequences seem more believable. Tracy Flynn also rewards with her sensitive tale of agoraphobia, while for sheer multitude of kisses envisioned Jennifer Allen outdoes the field. Nina Haerland makes for the gushing tears but Smiley Gab and Emma Croft bring a powerful outcome. 'Enough' by Kirsty McConnell was considered good enough to win best script on the night of the Premiere. It speaks intensity which is what we all feel in relationships that break down. Interestingly similar to 'Love Actually' it is however more believable, urgent with the woman's role having more depth, with her smoking out of the blue; it does not glamorise the misery that is experienced when lines o communication are impaired and what feels right becomes much more ambiguous. The film was played by a whole canon of actors and filmmakers showing that it is a universal scenario.

This 90 minute feature film created from the '50 Kisses' competition run by the London Screenwriter's festival, is a really entertaining result of what must have been a monumental effort from the many, many, many people involved.

I really enjoyed this eclectic collection of 2 minute stories linked together by a kiss. Each story runs seamlessly on to the next, achieving a sense of a cohesive feature film and not just a load of short films bunched together. Contains stories of warmth, humour, tragedy and the downright bizarre I'm pleased to say!

This film is a must see for anybody aspiring to be a screenwriter or filmmaker. And for those who just like to watch and enjoy film, there are many delights!

The film finished and we were invited by the good shepherd on stage to go to the IMDb page to let the world know what we thought. OK so I have started this review in reverse, so let's go back to the beginning.

I'm an American in London and I was asked by a good lady friend of mine if I would like to attend a special film screening as her guest and that was that, oh and just one more thing, I needed to have a dinner jacket. It has been a long time since I wore one of those, so dusted down and thankfully still fitting, although not done up that is, off we marched on the eve of Valentines Day to the Genesis Cinema in East London (nice venue) to watch the World Premiere of 50 Kisses, which we learned was the worlds first crowd sourced movie which will hopefully get a Guinness Book of records entry for the most people who worked on it, or something to that effect.

'50 Kisses' the film and its conceptualization, turned out to be a true revelation and genuinely so delightful, that afterwards I found myself really excited at the prospect of having been part of its opening night. One of those nights that are not planned for and you just feel good as the show goes on. 50 Kisses is a collection of very short stories that magically weave into each other without question (a miracle in itself) and are based around a kiss and Valentines Day. You would be pretty stuck to think how many times you can watch a kiss and the possibility that would this fall apart after a few stories gone, but the extraordinary array of talents on display here have achieved exactly the opposite, I also felt there was a universal camaraderie to the makers too, not just in person but from the film itself, many of who were in attendance.

As Forest Gump would say, which feels like the best way to describe it for you, 50 Kisses is like a box of chocolates, you never know which kiss you are going to get, and like a box of confectionery known to the UK as Quality Street, this was a collection of short, sharp, bite sized individual stories, wrapped up in varied colors and shapes that all in one way or another tasted, well of a fine quality.

50 Kisses as a watch flew by and each of them was more than justified with the thunderous applause of the whole audience in tow, a brain wave of an idea that as a repeated international platform, could yield the easiest and most cost effective way for new talents to breakthrough on to the big screen, without the hardships of not knowing which way to turn in order to do so.

Our host for this jolly (as they say over here for enthusiastic time, event or place) Mr. Chris Jones, is the ringleader and bubbly optimistic waver of the film wand of 'can do' as an attitude to carry at all times, provided a magical evening for all those involved, which in short and to the point has universally delivered 'the ones' to watch globally as film and writing talents to support and reward, with further opportunities I sincerely do hope.

There were awards given prior to the screening which showcased all the writers and filmmakers and also the best of the best films within the film, with a large and thoughtful balance given towards female filmmakers.

These highlighted the most promised of them all and were evenly spread out through the film as a whole; 'That Good Night' from Turkey gave us a new female voice as a director to watch out for, she was genuinely over blown for winning.

'Smasheroo' from the US, the best picture, handling deftly and sensitively a difficult and emotional subject matter.

'LOVE' from the UK which was unfortunately absent from the film for some legal reasons, appears to have been a much loved and daringly made entry, and took home a Guerrilla award for its efforts (it is available to watch online we were told).

And then there was 'Neil' from the UK, which seemed to have won the most awards on the evening, collecting gongs and merits for Original Music, Production Design, Sound and 'Kubrick influenced' Editing, for a moment I thought Michael Jackson had come back to life when the filmmaker came on stage to collect them, a few people said this to me also, so I wasn't being odd with this thought. The film was outed from the stage as being a home run from the start and it is certainly a magical lullaby scored Thriller, forgives the pun and closes the movie on a well earned high; it may have also given us the next Christopher Nolan.

Other delights involving Teddy Bears, puppy love and those childhood 'The Wonder Years' crushes we all have had warmed us all, devious grannies, zombie love and traffic light shenanigans made us all laugh out loud. I could go on and on, but I will leave it here as otherwise it spoils it and I want you to discover it for yourself.

I hope 50 Kisses does gets a proper theatrical release, it deserves it and earns it and I am sure purely on the audience's reaction alone, justifiably warrants it. The big screen is a films truest home, and with all the CGI mess we have to accept these days as being the only choice on offer, here is truly a collective breath of many refreshing airs as stories, and the good thing is, is that they all smell like roses, well it is Valentine's Day, and so they should.

Bravo to them all.