“Kisses” is a slight and nuanced film played by two really talented kids. It’s a fairy tale ready to take off, but reality seeps in and almost stomps out the magic. The beauty of it all though, is that even with their horrible lives, the children still manage to create something lovely out of all the garbage they’re surrounded in.

Eleven-year-olds Kylie and Dylan are two loners in the slums of Dublin on Christmas. The boy, Dylan, is quiet and has no friends except for Kylie, his next door neighbor. Kylie finds some money under the bed while she’s hiding from her sexually abusive uncle, saves Dylan from his physically abusive father and they run away to the city together to look for Dylan’s older brother who also ran away two years ago.

“If ‘Kisses’ was set in America, the kids could probably have found the brother and driven off into the sunset,” said director Lance Daly. Thank goodness it wasn’t, as it wouldn’t be the perceptive and beautiful film it is.

Kylie (Kelly O’Neill), who looks like a pocket Drew Barrymore, is clearly the boss in their relationship. She has the best lines: "I'll not marry you if you become a nothing and you're going to keep living in the kip!" (The “kip” being the ghetto that they’re stuck in). Then a second later she says she’s only joking and would still marry him no matter what.

Daly gradually infuses color into his film, going from a drab and depressing black and white and weed-infested town to vibrant reds and pinks and blues in the city where Dylan and Kylie come alive.

They steal a ride from a dredger, who somehow goes from a guy just collecting garbage on the river to a kind man who introduces Dylan to Bob Dylan and sings, “Shelter from the Storm.” It’s fitting considering how much Kylie has taken care of Dylan. Suddenly the winter isn’t so bleak and the water doesn’t feel as cold. A playful montage of everyone goofing around on the dredger’s barge sets the tone for what surely will be a fun time in central Dublin.

When the kids arrive, everything is joyous, from the haircut Dylan gets; to the jackets they buy; even down to the wheelie light-up sneakers Kylie buys for them. They skate through the city with gleeful abandon, looking for Dylan’s older brother.

It’s only after the money runs out that they’re forced to look at the situation they’re in. They’re cold, hungry and homeless. Kylie swears she’ll never go back, but Dylan wants to go home.

Even though they separate, you know somehow that Dylan, played by Shane Curry, will never leave her. Curry’s eyes say everything. The character he plays is introverted, but you know that he’s taking everything in and has a mind of his own. Although at times he seems detached from Kylie, you know that deep inside he’ll protect her.

One scene has them thinking that they’ve met the real life Bob Dylan (the always awesome Stephen Rea), which could be a sign that things are looking up. For a second, you think these kids will actually make it, but then everything that’s ugly about people and life intervene.

The only gripe I had about this film was that there were a lot of close-ups and montages. I understood the bond between them after montage number two, which got to be a little tiresome afterward. Close-ups are great for establishing intimacy but there were just way too many of them. And even though I was rooting for Kylie and Dylan to get together, the kiss they share went from a sweet kiss on the cheek to a full on make-out session, and who really wants to see two children (O’Neill being 10 at the time) going at it except pedophiles?

That being said, there are elements to the story that are quite simply, perfect. Just as Kylie and Dylan are about to go back to their dismal families and dejected lives, there’s a glint of a smile, a breath of a kiss that gives hope that there is still some color left for these kids.

To reach reporter Roselle Chen, click here.