Kelly + Victor (2012)

You won't be disappointed!

Fantastic!

As Good As It Gets

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

I wish IMDb would delve into the negatives as well as the positive number realms because its the only way to truthfully cover films like these honestly .Acting was decent story was weak girl meets boy girl likes is into kinky asphyxiation type of sex .Even though she's 90 lbs soaken wet and couldn't gag a maggot . Meaningless lives and meangingless sex equal a meaningless movie with no point or meaning 1-10 not worth your money or the time to think about or give meaning to it .You want to thought provoking material read a book .Skip this movie at any and all costs i made it 50 mins into the film and shut it off because i felt myself growing dumber by the second .Yes it was one of those films

I saw this at the 2012 London Film Festival. Those who saw 'Donkey Punch' may remember Julian Morris, the pretty young thing who delivered the titular blow. He's bulked up a bit since then - in fact he looks really good - but don't expect to see 'Donkey Punch' levels of nakedness from him in 'Kelly + Victor', as despite its plethora of sex scenes Morris' only real nudity is curled up on the shower floor sobbing - not v erotic! Based on a novel by Niall Griffiths, the film is a dreadfully slow-moving tale about a romance that goes wrong because of the woman's brutality in the bedroom. It's full of filler material that has little to do with the main plot line, such as a trip to buy drugs in Wales that comes totally from left field and is barely mentioned again, and pictures of some seagulls. It would have been far better to have concentrated on the central relationship, dumped the extraneous stuff and been content with a shorter film.

I did some research on the films that were screened at SXSW, but the details that describe Kelly + Victor do not prepare you for what is in store. The first thing that I found to be particularly odd was the light speed at which their relationship began. Kelly (Antonia Campbell-Hughes) is this petite little thing who comes across innocently enough at first glimpse she could be the shy little girl next door. The story begins as she prepares to go out for the night and she encounters Victor (Julian Morris) in a night club and comes on to him completely unhindered by any coy social standards or order. This film wasted no time getting to the gratuitous sex and there was nothing shy or coy about the adult themes such as drug use, nudity and the nature of abuse. As Victor says in the film, it got intense. The most provocative theme of the story was the dynamics of abuse from sadomasochism to abusive relationships. It was an interesting backdrop to how everyone seemed to be meandering through their otherwise ordinary lives while all these other damaging factors invade. Many of the sequences in the story made me tilt my head as if that would make it easier to understand the conversation, much of which was indiscernible due to the heavy accents. Since much of the themes were difficult to appreciate it made relating to the characters difficult as well. I was sympathetic to Victor but that may be because I immediately recognized his portrayer Mr. Morris from one of my favorite guilty pleasures Pretty Little Liars. I was not a fan of what seemed like a hodge-podge of images thrown into the film as visual fillers, having seen a group of flittering gnats once in a film is enough more than that is just as I said earlier, filler. However, I did like the retrospective style of storytelling that detailed how an event or situation unfolded. If the intent of this story was to get people talking about some taboo topics then it was a success, since Catt and I talked about the impression it left on us for most of the evening after having viewed it. Kieran Evans the director was in attendance at the screening and was very happy and honored to have his film's US premiere take place at SXSW. I am glad to have experienced it, but am undecided about who I could refer it to if anyone.

I saw this at the Dublin Film Festival just because it was on before another film I wanted to see. The film blew me away and was my favorite of the festival. The film follows the troubled Kelly and Victor as they become deeper and deeper involved in an affair which was passionate but destructive. Throughout the film its never made clear whether this is love or lust and this is one of the films strengths. The film is challenging and at times shocking but also has moments of haunting beauty. Stylistically the film is definitely a mix between a grimy realism and a more lyrical poetical style plus the sex scenes which are quite intense. Plus a note about the acting. Don't look what the two leads have done before, their performances are totally stunning and brilliant.Also the film never feels the need to make anything explicit. There are hints about the characters past but much like in Shame, these are implicit hints which trust the audience to be smart enough to piece together. This is a film which will stay with you long after the credits roll