A Thousand Kisses Deep Review
Mia is a troubled person who immediately finds herself in a bit of a time paradox in this surreal drama. Finding the ability to travel in time (via magic elevator) she leaps back in time to have a good gander at a former abusive relationship she had with Ludwig (Dougray Scott) and even a look at the poor parenting she suffered as a child from her mother (Emilia Fox) and then sets about trying to make a few changes.
The film starts in deliberate bizarre fashion, but at the same time you may end up bemused by what is happening and why it is happening. They say it is better to leave an audience confused than bored. But do you honestly want them frowning? The director clearly wants to convert some sort of visual prose across from the script into something more than just a melodrama but fails almost from the get go.
The main trouble is with the staging of the thing. The shocks, surprises and even general bumping into people in the street seems so forced and unnatural. It’s no surprise that leading lady Jodie Whittaker has so much trouble convincing us of her situation as it is so clumsily put together from the beginning (The older Mia can interact with people from the past, and yet no one recognises her?). Once the tempo has sent in however she and the rest of the cast do pretty much all there is in their power to help keep the film as entrancing as possible. Even the appearance of David Warner as Max brings a smile to the face.
Overall it’s an odd affair not without its charms, but ultimately is harboured by the tooling that has put it together.
Steven Hurst