Kissing Candice (2017) Reviews

• Flawed but has merit

  Bertaut2018-06-28

  Kissing Candice is the debut feature from Northern Irish writer/director , whose career thus far has been primarily in music videos and commercials (she's probably best known for the controversial American Psycho-inspired video for 's 2014 song, "Loop De Li", and the truncated short film for 's 2015 song, "Every Breaking Wave"). When a music video director moves onto features, problems can arise, and Kissing Candice features many of them; the whole thing plays like a two-hour video, all deep primary colours (especially red) with no discernible diegetic source; self-congratulatory and often belaboured visual symbolism; oblique narrative justification for many of the scenes; an achronological structure with unannounced flashbacks (think 's The Secret Agent, except not nearly as well handled), and portentous staring into the middle-distance as the actors emote at one another instead of talking. The film is especially weak in terms of narrative - the entire plot takes up no more than a half hour at most, with the rest all mood and tone. However, for all that, I rather liked it. The plot, such as it is, is actually built on an interesting enough hook. Set on an unnamed council estate in Dundalk some time after the cessation of The Troubles, Candice ( ) is a contemplative, but rebellious youngster (the love child of and , if you will). As the film begins, she is in the midst of an intense dream involving a young man she doesn't recognise. Several days later, she is stunned when she meets kind-hearted local gang member Jacob ( ), who looks exactly like the man in her dreams. Jacob has been butting heads with increasing frequency with the gang's leader, Dermot (an excellent ), who may or may not have been involved with the disappearance of a young boy from the estate, Caleb ( ), who has also been featuring in Candice's recent dreams. Anyone familiar with McArdle's work will instantly see the thematic uniformity - like many of her music videos, Kissing Candice depicts troubled youth, cut free from adult supervision and influence, going to extremes. And whilst McArdle proves fairly inept at handling the narrative, the film is aesthetically very well mounted, as we're literally placed within Candice's not-entirely-stable psyche from the off (the hallucinatory opening sequence is especially good in this respect). As the plot outline may suggest, there's a definite vibe of 's critically reviled (but actually rather good) directorial debut , and McArdle is obviously influenced by and, to a lesser extent, . McArdle is clearly talented. However, it might help her career if she directs someone else's script next time, as her writing is what really lets her down here. Nevertheless, it's well acted, looks amazing, and, as debuts go, is not too bad at all.

• Entrancing dark tale. Very impressive.

  pflynn-384292017-09-19

  So glad I went to see this film at TIFF last week. From the breathtaking visuals, extraordinary sound design and the magnetic performance of Irish newcomer Ann Skelly playing Candice, this weird movie had me gripped all the way through to the final credits. The dreamy atmosphere is punctuated by dark moments of small town frustration/violence and the eerie support cast lend a menacing air throughout. My favorite thing about this film, besides all the obvious technical mastery, is the constant feeling of impending doom that surrounds Candice like a swirling fog. They have managed to nail what it feels like to be a teenage girl growing up in an oppressive (whether real or imagined) environment. 'Kissing Candice' certainly whet my appetite for seeing more from writer/director Aoife McArdle - an auteur to watch out for in the future. Can't wait to see what she does next. Impressive debut.

• Strange

  sophymcd2018-11-05

  It has a great concept to show what abilities Mc Ardle has a director but very to keep watching. Too much going on to keep yourself watching it but it has a good storyline. For the film being based in early 90s after the troubles I think there was flaws which didnt add up for that era but I get thats hard to get that perfect.