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I had ran to the main theatres downtown on a Sunday night after working on a commercial shoot all day in Staten Island where I was one of many depicting a marathon runner and as I walked into the theatre I heard people saying we are going to see Kiss Me Again at the Tribeca film Festival and I just followed the crowd, not knowing anything about the movie which is sometimes a good way to go into a movie, with a totally blank page to be filled in with your own opinion. The film festival often affords opportunities to speak with filmmakers and members of the cast after the movie. The movies central character is the husband, Julian, who is a PHD professor in New York with a promising future but with some issues regarding political statements that could affect his tenure. He befriends beautiful foreign women in his class, Elena, who radiates beauty and also seems to be great company at the level of friendship and conversation, dream girl material. That she ignited an attraction is not surprising. They seemed to be hitting it off at the level of a physical and spiritual attraction. As she begins to give signals that she is interested in more the friendship, the professor faces a dilemma, he is married. In the meantime, his beautiful blond wife of three years Chalice, is seemingly loyal and even doting by his side, and yet he begins to express some dissatisfaction with the relationship and she reacts with initial distress but isn’t sure how she wants to maneuver within this distress initially. . She senses that she might be losing his interest on some levels and at first resists going along with his newfound ideas and revelations but then begins to change her approach. Right in front of both Chalice and Julian at home, are roommates and friends with an alternative lifestyle and for whatever reason they are both seemingly intrigued by this, more surprisingly from Chalices point of view. What unfolds is a plot on Julian’s part to have both women, with some twists to the story. It was interesting trying to figure out where Chalice was coming from and who the real Chalice was in the first place. Was it really Julian who brought this new behavior out of her, or was in really part of who she actually was, but left dormant by her desire to please within a conventional relationship. Her conversion seemed too quick and complete to think that it was just one reason for it. Part of the issue raised as well is how she is using her relative attractiveness to cut across boundaries, something she would have known about previously but is now willing to act on. In one scene in the diner, she references her capacity to attract almost anyone seemingly anywhere. The behavior of Julian could be looked at as immature within his relationships with women, considering his star professorship, where he exhibits expertise in giving lectures in front of captive audiences of graduate students. You would think with all that intelligence and charm, he would do better in figuring out how to handle his personal relationships. Then, for a smart guy, who is also attractive to women, he seems to put too much weight on a friend’s ongoing advice, making it more of a checkpoint than maybe it should have been. Then the behavior of Elena is also interesting. Why would a woman, who seems to have what would be in the classical mode everything lots of guys would want, find it so easy to deviate from her obvious capacity for romance and friendship with a quality guy, something she seems to want in the first place? The idea of human fallibility comes to the forefront. How some people, if they find the better road blocked, find justification for pursuing other impulses. In terms of acting, I particularly enjoyed Chalices later displays of feistiness, which bordered on the incredible. The velocity of her argumentations came across at you like a 95 mile an hour fastball, and it was some show. The way it showed up later in the movies was also interesting and you wonder if this emerging part of her persona was also something that she had previously repressed to please and conform to expected conventions. Usually people will not argue like this unless they have to do it in a professional setting as for example a lawyer. Another issue raised in this movie is the use of imaging in trying to make decisions regarding relationship choices, and what you could pick from this is that maybe some people could do this in a more positive fashion, picturing maybe a date going well, or anything going well, rather than just not even allowing that imaging to take place and this possible useful tool of decision making isn’t visited or channeled into as much as we all let things like the television images do our imaging for us. . It seemed like the characters went ahead full steam in for what for them was supposed to be an adventure and would characterize more as exploratory, but then encountered some unexpected quicksand on the trails. For Julian, the fantasy is turning into more of a nightmare, and more than anything else, he just wants to get back to where he was in the first place if that is still at all possible as he is feeling like he is swimming over his head. I think this movie is also worth a visit for in particular for the character of Julian, who has great expertise in his job, but seems to slide down the ladder a bit in other areas of concern such as relationships with women. We all know of high achievers and truly talented people that just can’t keep it all going or keep it together in their personal dealings in the areas of romance. The delineation between the two women isn’t clear either from Julian’s point of view, as both are very appealing people who also find him appealing. The 180 degree turn that Chalice makes, is an interesting point of discussion. Was she actually turning into realms of who she really was or was she turning away from who she really was? I spoke to the director afterwards, and he spoke of the film as showing how the many people do have foibles these foibles can be more of a leveling experience for bringing them back to some of the difficult issues of humanity.
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