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Kissing on the Mouth
Battling post-college ennui (with sex!)
Reviewer's Bias*
Loves: Good indy films
Likes: Gratuitous nudity
Dislikes: Full-frontal male nudity
Hates: Boring movies
The Movie
When I graduated from college, I spent a few months dealing with a questionable relationship, instead of finding a job like anyone with a massive student loan ought to. When the relationship inevitably ended, I was no better off than I was before, and my bills remained. Eventually I straightened things out and got my life on track, but I'd wasted a few good months.
I see a good deal of the limited drifting I experienced in the lives depicted in Kissing on the Mouth, just with way more sex. Roommates Ellen (Kate Winterich) and Patrick (director Joe Swanberg) are the stars of the show, coexisting in the odd emotionally-parasitic way that only unmarried, non-dating men and women can. They are friends who may have been more at some point, and Patrick certainly would like it to be that way (again or for the first time.) Of course, Ellen sees him purely as a friend and is somehow blind to the idea that Patrick might be interested in her.
Unfortunately for Patrick, Ellen has another guy on her mind: Chris (Kevin Pittman), her ex-boyfriend. Because they've been a couple before, they fall into bed pretty easily, which is all she wants, though she's loathe to admit she's doing the booty-call thing. Not that she does much else, besides talking about sex with her friend Laura (Kris Williams), laying around the house and trimming her ladyhair. Then, when she's done with that, she runs to her parents, to do laundry and make a few bucks working for them. It's the limbo that awaits people with a degree and a severe lack of ambition or maturity.
When Patrick isn't wanting after Ellen, he's working on an audio project, recording people talking about their break-ups. The film lays the tracks, recorded by real people, over montages of moments from the characters lives, putting the focus on what is being said, rather than what is happening on the screen. It works wonderfully, as the end result has the feel of something that's actually meaningful. These scenes are easily the best part of the film, and are part of the artistic vision that's obvious in the films construction, including the nice-looking titles.
The most famous part of the film though is the graphic sex that's rampant throughout. From the first scene, the movie isn't shy about getting right up into the most intimate of moments, displaying just about everything shy of the actual coupling. That doesn't stop the film from topping There's Something About Mary though, as it shows the entire act of manual male manipulation from start to messy finish. It's shocking to see something like this outside of the realm of porn, and it's truthfully a bitgratuitous , though it fits with the film's honest, all-out depiction of sex. In the course of the plot, the scene makes sense, as it shows the mindset of one of the characters vividly. Whether we needed to see it all is another story.
Watching this movie I was reminded of the old stereotype of foreign films, in which people do a lot of nothing and talk a lot about life and love. There's truly not much to the plot of this film, as the ideas and techniques are more important overall. As such, I think this would have made an incredible short film, had it been trimmed down to put the focus squarely on the audio interviews montages. As it stands, it's a bit of extended voyeurism, and is worth a viewing by anyone who can deal with graphic sex and is interested in intimate personal film.
The DVD
Released on one DVD, packaged in a clear keepcase with an embossed slipcover, Kissing on the Mouth has a static full-frame main menu that offers a choice to play the film, select scenes, adjust the audio and view special features. The audio options are not actual audio choices, but a swap of the film's soundtrack and a commentary, and there are no subtitles or captioning. The scene selection menus have animated previews and titles for each chapter.
The Quality
This was a low-budget, shot-on-video production, and it has that look, with a grainless full-frame image and washed-out, dull color. On the other hand, the level of detail is shockingly high. There's something of a home-video feel to the overall film, but a high-quality home video.
The audio is presented as a Dolby Digital 2.0 track, and it's generally pretty good. The audio interviews that play over scenes are the best-sounding part of the film, while the dialogue is decent but not overwhelming. The only complaint is about the volume level on the dialogue, which can be a bit low. The sparse music, which is a good mood setter, sounds nice as well.
The Extras
The main extra is a feature-length audio commentary with the four stars of the film. Three of the quartet are together for the session, while Kate Winterwich's comments are edited in. It's a friendly track, and very in-depth in terms of how the film was created. As expected, discussion about the sex and nudity takes up a good deal of the commentary, and their view of its place in the movie is expressed well.
A five-minute interview with Winterwich that was done in preparation for the film is actually a pretty good supplement to the commentary, as she talks about the film's themes, including the depiction of sex on-screen. It's followed by nine minutes ofrehearsal footage that continues the "how we did it" concept of the extras. Since this was a heavily improvised and collaborative movie, the final clip in the footage is the most interesting, as they hash out a scene on camera.
Three deleted scenes are also included, with introductions by Swanberg and Williams. The scenes are short, and were cut for good reason, though admittedly the personal grooming scene is fascinating for all the wrong reasons. The disc is wrapped up by a trio of trailers, including one for this film, and the disc's trailers. In the case there's a final extra, an eight-page booklet with a production journal written by Swanberg. Though he comes off a bit like your stereotypical auteur, it's a good "in the moment" look at no-budget filmmaking.
The Bottom Line
Most people (read: guys) will check out this movie for the sex, but they should be warned that they will find more explicit male nudity than female. The sex scenes are well done and feel very "real," but they may also cause the rest of the film to feel a bit dull in comparison. That's unfortunate, because the juxtaposition of the images and the interesting audio interviews creates a very impressive and insightful examination of relationships. The DVD presents the film in an optimal way considering the source material, and the extras are worth checking out for fans of "do it yourself" filmmaking. Giving this movie a rental is probably the smartest move, as it's one of those movies that will split audiences.
Francis Rizzo III is a native Long Islander, where he works in academia. In his spare time, he enjoys watching hockey, writing and spending time with his wife, daughter and puppy.Follow him on Twitter
*The Reviewer's Bias section is an attempt to help readers use the review to its best effect. By knowing where the reviewer's biases lie on the film's subject matter, one can read the review with the right mindset.
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