The Kiss

Well, I liked this movie. I thought it was rather sweet and touching. I found the character of Cara especially true to life and made more so by the lovely and talented actress Francoise Surel, who I never heard of before.....but she is very pretty and a natural, believable actress. I disagree with the hateful comments here by other reviewers. I found her perfect for the part. The only problem here I found was the part where the old boyfriend of Cara's is still in a funk after 10 years--has not remarried, and as I said, after 10 years, all he can seem to paint is portraits of a girl he dated in college. This parallels with the 20 year mourning done by the Terence Stamp character. The parallels are just too, too unrealistic. Also that the male writer character in the past had no British accent and 20 years later, he does. In any event, it is a sweet film, well acted, but very, very unrealistic. A very happy ending here, but in real life, such a happy ending would never, ever, ever happen. You can bet that the boyfriend remarried. You decide.

I'll see anything Eliza Dushku is in, but I was really looking forward to this after getting my hands on a copy of the script. Suffice it to say I wasn't impressed. Apparently neither were the writers - before the film began, Stephen Manzi stood up and asked the audience not to laugh in the wrong places, as well as other comments of a similar nature that escape my swiss-cheese memory.

I can't quite put my finger on what was wrong with The Kiss. It's a wonderful story with an incredibly talented cast, but something got lost along the way. The script moved me to sappy romantic tears and the movie completely failed to move me.

Finally, a film with content and true character development. The Kiss, which I viewed at the San Diego Film Festival, is one of the most refreshing films I've seen for a long time. Is it setting the scene for a turnaround in the American film style? I hope so. The storyline flows elegantly throughout the scenes from beginning to end. A realistically rendered emotional scene with Terrence Stamp and Francoise Surel toward the end only makes you wish that the film would not end so soon. A genuine change from the vapid, in-your-face, so-called dramas we have been subjected to over the last few years. This film brings the whole concept of movie watching up a notch. Highly recommend it.

Reading the disclaimer from the director of this film, Gorman Bechard, makes a lot of sense, as it explains a lot of questions one asked about it while watching it. "The Kiss" must have shown a lot of potential in order for this project to have gone ahead, but it appears there was a lot of cutting, making the film incomprehensible, at times.

The best thing in the film are Terence Stamp and Eliza Dushku, who make the best out of their characters. In flashbacks we see Billy Zane and Francoise Surel as the protagonists of the novel without an ending, and in real life. Alas, these two actors don't live up to what Mr. Bechard probably had in mind.

Since the director was not consulted in the cuts, one can't hold him accountable for what comes out in the screen, yet, one sees the possibilities of what could have been in small doses.

Before you make fun of this movie or talk about how awful it is, I suggest you read director's Gorman Bechard's defense testimonial. In it, he says that the main actress (gaunt Mia Farrow look-alike) was cast because she was the producer's wife, that someone else edited the picture, and that the music was brought in later. As a result, maybe this is simply a life lesson about Hollywood and how it corrupts anything good. Still, how can one let Mr. Bechard off the hook for having the great Terrence Stamp wear white sneakers? I mean, the guy is supposed to be a JD Salinger-like character and he's in Keds??? That, is kind of tough to forgive. But, alas, what isn't?