Kiss of Life

Part romance, part road movie and part ghost story, Kiss of Life is a strong but inconsistent debut feature from British director Emily Young. It's the story of a woman who – after being killed in a car accident – finds herself stuck in limbo whilst her husband, unaware of her death, races from war-torn Eastern Europe to be with her. In telling this tale, Young attempts to weave two very different stories together, and is not always successful. It becomes hard to care about one character or the other as you continually flit between stories. On one hand you have the family living in England. Helen floats in limbo whilst the rest of her family deals with the grief of her death. As Helen is reduced to being a spirit in her own home, she recalls previous times with husband John. Here, Young is attempting to wring emotional mileage out of Helen's situation, but it never completely works. This partly because it takes too long for her to work out her situation (You were hit by a car, your kids or father can't see you and are crying all the time. There's a good chance you may be a ghost) and partly because it all feels slightly too manipulative. However, as Helen, Dapkunaite does a fine job and is given able support by David Warner as her father.

John's story proves much more productive. Peter Mullan gives a wonderful performance as the father who will do anything to get back home. Hitching lifts with refugees or trying to find his way across deserted towns, his journey becomes not only a personal odyssey, but a document of the effect of war. It's in these sections where the dramatic irony of his wives death works so well. His desire to see her is countered by our knowledge of her death. Thus, his story is also tinged with an underlying sadness which culminates in an almost unbearably tragic scene in a deserted tower block as he continues his journey.

Kiss of Life contains many wonderful moments, but never quite coheres as a whole. Perhaps more suited to the small screen, it remains a confident debut from a director who will be worth keeping an eye on in the future.

With this film Emily Young uses a simple plot to explore the deeper emotions of the human condition, including desolation, yearning, loss, love and grief. Ultimately the film questions the viewers' beliefs and philosophies of life, death and the afterlife. A mother of two is killed in a hit and run accident while her husband, unaware of the accident, but in the process of realizing his deep love for his wife and family, desperately tries to return from his aid mission in Eastern Europe. Meanwhile, the dead mother's father, himself still in grieving for his dead wife is poor comfort for the disorientated children. To explore the mother's feelings she appears, following her death, as a spirit/ghost and interacts with the living. Some viewers may be confused by this and get bogged down trying to understand the order of events but really the death of the mother is serving to prime the viewer to empathize fully with the family characters in the scenes to follow. The order of events and indeed whether the events have actually occurred or not are largely irrelevant but the feelings evoked by the scenes are crucial. Some of the scenes and events/images are allegories for other events, states of mind, general emotions etc. Also the events have different meaning for each of the characters in the film. For example, the photo, shown regularly in the film has a very important meaning to the mother but a different but just as important meaning to the young son. The script is left quite bare and the director relies heavily on the skills of all the actors' expressions and abilities to convey the meanings of each scene. There are a number of tremendously emotional scenes in this film but the imagery in the wood and the final scenes with the mother in the rain are particularly important. I personally think this is an excellent film because it does demand full involvement and empathy from the viewer.

Watching this movie was like watching the funeral ceremony of a total stranger: depressing, boring and ultimately pointless.

This movie could have used a stronger story, though what that story should have been I don't know as I'm not exactly sure what this movie was trying to tell us.

The characters are too underdeveloped and the movie too fragmented to really start feeling for these people, which makes the whole thing boring, depressing and confusing rather than moving.

The added "ghostly" twist doesn't help either. In this respect; why the mother had to suffer twice by making her witness her children's sorrow is beyond me as well.

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 !

All through this movie you are able to relate to the importance of family. The father is away - and alone - and also needed at home. Through his eyes you get to see what it is like in a war torn arena - and through the eyes of his wife (now dead) and his children you get to see and feel what love is truly about. Yes - It is all very sad. And you wont want to raise the roof after seeing this. But, you will remain introspective and considering of others - As a low budget film this movie oozes quality - Mainly for it's sensitivity - I really felt that each character (especially the young boy - but even the dithery grandfather has his moment.) was alive. It's a movie that feels from the heart and speaks of the troubles in the world today = NOT ENOUGH CARE FOR EACH OTHER, and TOO MUCH WAR. I'd rate this as far better than Titanic, but, if you like that sort of thing - Watch this.