''Kissing Candice'' is a 2017 Irish

drama film In film and television, drama is a category or genre of narrative fiction (or semi-fiction) intended to be more serious than humorous in tone. The drama of this kind is usually qualified with additional terms that specify its particular ...

directed by

Aoife McArdle Aoife McArdle ( ) is an Irish writer, director, and cinematographer working across film, television drama, music videos and commercials. She has received an IFTA Rising Star Award, a WFTV Best Director Award as well as Directors Guild of America ...

and starring

Ann Skelly Ann Skelly (born 6 December 1996) is an Irish actress. She received IFTA nominations for her performances in the film '' Kissing Candice'' (2017) and the miniseries '' Death and Nightingales'' (2018). She is also known for her roles in the crim ...

. It was screened in the Discovery section at the

2017 Toronto International Film Festival The 42nd annual Toronto International Film Festival was held from September 7 to 17, 2017. There were fourteen programs, with the Vanguard and City to City programs both being retired from previous years, with the total number of films down by ...

and had its European premiere at the

Berlin International Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

in February 2018.

Cast

as Candice * Ryan Lincoln as Jacob * Conall Keating as Dermot * Ryan McParland as Conor * Caitriona Ennis as Martha * John Lynch as Donal * Jack Nolan as Wolfman * Tony Doyle as Sharkey * Maghnús Foy as Monk * James Greene as Maguire * Seaghán Óg O'Neill as Aaron * Jason Cullen as Caleb *

Kwaku Fortune Kwaku Fortune is an Irish actor. Early life and education Fortune is from Roundwood, County Wicklow. He is of Ghanaian descent on his mother's side. He graduated with a bachelor's degree in Acting from The Lir Academy at Trinity College Dublin ...

as Finn

Reception

The film holds an approval rating of 71% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, based on 14 reviews, with an average rating of 6.3/10.

Peter Bradshaw Peter Nicholas Bradshaw (born 19 June 1962) is a British writer and film critic. He has been chief film critic at ''The Guardian'' since 1999, and is a contributing editor at ''Esquire'' magazine. Early life and education Bradshaw was educat ...

of ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' said, "Aoife McArdle's tale of a teenager rescued in reality by a stranger from her fantasies is an audacious delight." ''

Hot Press ''Hot Press'' is a monthly music and politics magazine based in Dublin, Ireland, founded in June 1977. The magazine has been edited since its inception by Niall Stokes. History ''Hot Press'' was founded in June 1977 by Niall Stokes, who cont ...

'' wrote, "At once raw and stylised, dreamlike and terrifyingly real, Kissing Candice is a bleak portrait of Ireland, but a compelling one." Sinead McCausland of ''

Film School Rejects Film School Rejects is an American blog devoted to movie reviews, interviews, film industry The film industry or motion picture industry comprises the technological and commercial institutions of filmmaking, i.e., film production company, prod ...

'' wrote, "For a film so assured, stylised and well paced, McArdle has certainly made an impressive, and memorable, debut."

Controversy

Even though it screened as part of the Generation 14plus section at the 2018

Berlinale The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

, the film was given an 18 certificate by the

Irish Film Classification Office The Irish Film Classification Office (IFCO) () is the organisation responsible for films, television programmes, and some video game classification and censorship within Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Where restrictions are placed by the IFCO, t ...

. The film was given a 15 rating in the United Kingdom.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Kissing Candice 2017 films 2017 drama films Irish drama films 2010s English-language films