Kissed (1996)
by Lynne Stopkewich
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Canada
Product details
Actor: Jay Brazeau, Jessie Winter Mudie, Molly Parker, Natasha Morley, Peter OuterbridgeDirector: Lynne Stopkewich
Producer: Lynne Stopkewich
Writer: Lynne Stopkewich
Producer: Dean English
Producer: Jessica Fraser
Producer: John Pozer
Writer: Angus Fraser
Writer: Barbara Gowdy
Edition: VHS Tape
Format: Closed-captioned, Color, NTSC
Running Time: 78 minutes
Release Date: 1999-04-20
Audience Rating: R (Restricted)
Publisher: Orion / MGM
Studio: Orion / MGM
VHS Movie Reviews of Kissed (1996)
Movie Review: Beautifully done
Summary: 4 Stars
The star, Molly Parker, is luminescent and a terribly challenging topic is addressed in a very sensitive way. I first saw this Canadian movie on VHS years ago and was quite disappointed that it wasn't available for so long on DVD. I added it to my wish list as soon as I found it was available. Very recommended.Movie Review: Strangely Poetic
Summary: 4 Stars
In most movies, necrophilia is either hinted about ('American Gothic') or used as a joke ('Dodgeball'). You rarely, if ever, see it portrayed onscreen. "Kissed" does just that. Instead of making the character a sick perverted person, the filmmakers actually present you with a character you come to like. This character is Sandra, played by Molly Parker (HBO's "Deadwood"). As a child, Sandra develops a fascination with death that continues into adulthood. Once she gets a job at a funeral parlor and becomes an apprentice embalmer, she begins having sex with the cadavers. She doesn't do it to fulfill some kind of sick desire, but does it because it becomes a need. An experience she can't live without or explain. Then Sandra meets Matt (Peter Outerbridge), a person who indetifies with Sandra and shows no emotion when she reveals her secret to him. Instead, he becomes fascinated with the subject as well which leads to the final scene in the movie. The movie is haunting, but not disgusting or exploitive. No one who sees this movie should feel sickened by what Sandra is doing. It's not that what she's doing isn't disgusting, it's that the filmmakers don't make it look disgusting. Some of the reviews on the DVD proclaim the film to be poetic and provocative. It's both, but definitely the former. It's told very poetically, which is helped by Parker's voice-overs. Having only seen Molly Parker in "Deadwood" I'm impressed by how strong an actress she is. A lot of lesser actresses could've taken the dialogue and actions that occur in the film and made it campy. Parker nails everything dead-on (no pun intended...I'm serious, that was an accident). General audiences won't find this movie enjoyable; It's slow-moving and it's subject matter will most definitely steer people away. It's no masterpiece, but this is a movie that comes out of nowhere and hits you pretty hard.
GRADE: B+
Movie Review: SUSPEND YOUR DISBELIEF--AND YOU MAY LIKE IT
Summary: 3 Stars
Director/producer/writer Lynne Stopkewich seems to be improving steadily. Finally, in this low-budget film, a professional "feel" is present most of the time.
The acting of the two stars--Molly Parker as Sandra Larson and Peter Outerbridge as Matt--is flawless. She appeared in Stopkewich's SUSPICIOUS RIVER and is probably best known as the elegant widow in HBO's series "Deadwood"; he appeared in LUCKY NUMBER SLEVEN as Dumbrowski. A few of the other actors are adequate, but several come across as rather wooden and amateurish.
The basis of the plot is a Stephen-King-like premise: Ms. Parker's character believes that for a short while dead people's bodies still contain some sort of vital energy which is released if one "loves" them, allowing the living "partner" to know the individual, unique essences of these people to a degree otherwise impossible in human life. While working at a funeral home, Sandra has tested this many times before she meets Matt. When she tells him what she has been doing and why, he is intrigued and then wishes to confirm this for himself, but she refuses to take him to the funeral home after hours to do so. Can you guess HOW he is able to get around her refusal in order to discover whether she is right? (It makes "sense" in a way, but be warned: if somebody close to you has died violently in the last 3 or 4 years, you may not be ready for Matt's solution. You may never be ready.)
As for the necrophilia, ho---hum. It is "tastefully depicted" (as much as such a thing can be). Certainly some people will be too sensitive to deal with even the mention of the topic, but here it presented as a weird sort of SPIRITUAL THING and NOT some sort of kinky erotic turn-on for the audience--or some ghoulishly horrible act.
Movie Review: A wonderful film based on a wonderful story
Summary: 5 Stars
This movie is based on a wonderful, transcendent short story by Barbara Gowdy that's called "We So Seldom Look on Love". It's a very faithful adaptation. The story and movie deal with a young woman's perceptions of the recently dead, the spiritual energy that they radiate, and her very special relations with the departed. The adoration of a body as its energy is blazing away from life to death is presented in such a way as to make the act known as necrophilia into something holy, a spiritual service to the departed, and an act of communion for the lover of the dead.
This excerpt from the prologue of the story gives a good flavor for what you may expect in the film:
"When you die, and your earthly self begins turning into your
disintegrated self, you radiate an intense current of energy. There is
always energy given off when a thing turns into its opposite, when love, for
instance, turns into hate. There are always sparks at those extreme points.
But life turning into death is the most extreme of extreme points. So just
after your die, the sparks are really stupendous. Really magical and explosive.
I've seen cadavers shining like stars. I'm the only person I've ever
heard of who has. Almost everyone senses something, though, some vitality.
That's why you get resistance to the idea of cremation or organ donation. 'I
want to be in one piece,' people say... [but] no matter what you do - slice open the flesh, dissect everything, burn everything - you're in the path of a power way beyond your little
interferences."
The story and the movie are both exquisite creations, remarkable achievements, and carry my highest recommendation.
Movie Review: OBSCURE THEME - BRIGHT FILM
Summary: 4 Stars
In one of the reviews it's said the movie is severely cut. Hmm... I don't know. I didn't have a chance to watch it in cinema and just got the DVD. Seems fine to me - I mean there were plenty scenes of necrophilia so I don't know if it's cut or not. Of course if the DVD is really censored it'd be nice to see the original version but even like this the film delivers. Beforehand I thought it'd be either stupid or it'd be some kind of art-house dull stuff. I was wrong and slightly surprised. "Kissed" although is dealing with such an obscure, disturbing and hidden matter as necrophilia, is done very good. It's bright and for everybody. It's very sensual and erotic, exciting and serious at the same time. It's about true love although this love may seem strange to average people. It's not an exploitation flick and has nothing sleasy in it. It's very romantic and enchanting. You'll definately not regret watching it for I bet you haven't seen anything like that before. Obviously deserves to be seen and liked.
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