Kisses’ is real life, charming without fantasy

There are kids’ films, and then there are films about kids. All too often, in Hollywood at least, the two are interchangeable, which may be good for box-office sales but is hardly fair to the real-life issues that troubled children in particular face on a daily basis.

Not every child, after all, is a wizard, a sports star, a superhero or the master of some talking pet, capable of vanquishing foes with the flick of a magic wand.

Irish director Lance Daly understands the distinction in a way that most American filmmakers do not. With his third film, “Kisses,” Daly does his best to portray the experience of two young Dubliners, capturing all the desperation of their everyday situations while trying to emphasize the moments that make even lost lives worth living.

Dylan lives in a soulless suburb with his mother and abusive father, a man who starts drinking instead of putting up the Christmas tree and who is as likely to hand out a beating as anything resembling a gift. Kylie lives next door, and if anything her family is even worse … mean and socially cannibalistic in a way that even Dickens would have trouble finding funny.

So it comes as no surprise when, after a particularly nasty confrontation, the two decide to run away. Barely into their teens, and maybe not even that old, Dylan and Kylie are sorely prepared for life in the big, bad city. But they do have a bankroll that Kylie stole from one of her brothers, and they have a vague notion that they can find Dylan’s older brother – who, Dylan explains, left home before he was forced to kill their dear old dad.

That’s the point at which filmmaker Daly dips about as far into fantasy as he is willing to go. Dylan and Kylie enjoy a day and night on the street, enjoying the kindness of strangers (most notably a immigrant worker running a kind of garbage scow on the River Liffey , which runs through Dublin’s center) and dodging those who would interfere with their stab at freedom, whether that be kindly charity workers bearing soup or dark would-be kidnappers who target Kylie.

Daly, then, gives us a world in which the term Social Darwinism is more than mere theory. It’s a working concept, one that these Irish children – with a little timely help – are able to negotiate far better than we might have imagined.

As a filmmaker, Daly underscores the world of his characters by shooting in a kind of muted sepia, as if both children – and we – exist under an ongoing dark cloud. Then, without drawing undue attention to it, Daly makes the point that Ireland, as with Britain, France and the rest of Europe, is becoming a more diverse society , with immigrants from the Middle East, Africa and Asia popping up everywhere the children turn.

The corollary, then, is that native Irish families – such as those the children are born into – end up feeling even more alienated and disenfranchised.

Fitting into all this, Daly employs two actors – Shane Curry as Dylan, Kelly O’Neill as Kylie – who boast no professional polish. But rather than detract from their performances, their lack of formal training works in their favor, giving them a sense of authenticity that helps ground the overall movie.

And it is that authenticity, ultimately, that Daly leaves us with. There is no happy ending to “Kisses,” certainly none that is immediately apparent. This is no Hollywoodized Incredible Journey . Stuck where they are, caught between families that seem to delight in tormenting their young and an overall society that, despite the occasional kindly corner, poses a dangerous indifference, our two young protagonists seem to have no future.

Nothing is certain, of course. Both children have spirit. And, at least for a day and a night, they have each other. Maybe that will be enough to ensure their passage into something approaching a normal adulthood.

Probably not. But the child inside me wants desperately to believe that, yes, such miracles are possible.

Below : The trailer for “Kisses.”