Tag: Russell Tovey

Director: Ben A. Williams

Stars: Russell Tovey, Arinze Kene, Lisa McGrillis

Two young footballers, Jason (Tovey) and Ade (Kene) share a room the night before the most important match of their careers so far.  Restless, they can’t sleep and joke and banter around, until one kisses the other…

With a script adapted by John Donnelly from his three act stage play, the film follows their subsequent lives and careers through act 2 – five years later – and act 3, which is set ten years after ‘the kiss’. 

The storyline shows how one small moment can have a huge impact in one’s life.

A great performance by Tovey (The History Boys, Him & Her, Being Human) leads a small but confident cast in Williams’s well-directed first feature film.  Some reviewers have criticised The Kiss for being ‘a film of the play’, failing to exploit the wider canvas film offers to break free of the confines of a stage.  (Preminger’s approach in taking Carmen Jones, recently screened at David Lean, out of the theatre and into the wider world is a good example of this.)  An alternative view is that confining the action and actors to claustrophobic hotel rooms is metaphor for the closeted lifestyle of today’s ‘too-much-too-soon’ young footballers.

Here is the Londonist Review, dating from the film’s first appearance at the LGBT Film Festival in early 2016.

The review does not include a link to a Trailer – there probably was not one at the time it was written – but it can be seen here [fvplayer src=”https://youtu.be/4dIkSjCITPE”]

David Lean Cinema, Croydon on Tuesday 21st February 2017

Show starts at 7.30PM, Ticket prices: £8.00 & £6.50 (concessions)

– click on the time to make a booking. Cookie Error? See here…….