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.
