Aoife McArdle‘s KISSING CANDICE is the bold announcement of a brilliant new cinematic voice. The film is so beautifully made hat the film literally takes your breath away at times.
The plot of the film follows Candice a teen age girl living near the border between Ireland and Northern Ireland. Her father is cop in an area over run by gangs. Things are out of control to the extent that her father said it was safer during “the troubles”. The film is Candice‘s story as she deals with the perils of growing up under these conditions.
More mood piece than straight forward narrative things drift across the screen as they drift through CAndice‘s mind. This is a film you feel on an subconscious and emotional level than one that we follow on straight forward narrative. How you react will depend on whether you need hand holding or not.
Ultimately the narrative doesn’t really matter. What matters is that the film puts director McArdle firmly centerstage and makes her a filmmaker to watch. This is one of those films where sequences are so visceral and tactile that you want to leap up and scream- "play that again- right frigging now!". It’s a film where the filmmaking alone takes you places you never been before.
The film begins with a stunning sequence that bends your mind as you wonder what the hell you are watching as a make-out session in a car becomes an ethereal walk on the wild side. It is one of the most arresting sequences in any film in 2017 and would be the crowning achievement- except that McArdle follows it up beautifully crafted sequence after sequence that move us in gloriously unexpected way.
No I will not tell you more- I want you to go out and see KISSING CANDICE and have your ass kicked.
An absolute masterpiece and one of the gems of Toronto. Go see this film.
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