B

This little Irish film offers a blend of gritty realism and magical fantasy that’s undoubtedly calculated but still deeply satisfying. “Kisses” is about two kids from difficult homes who run off to Dublin and have a day and night of adventures, a few happy but others terrifying.

Eleven-year old Dylan (Shane Curry) is a dour, asthmatic boy with an abusive father (Paul Roe). His only friend is Kylie (Kelly O’Neill), the gregarious girl who lives with her large family next door. But she has her own domestic problem with an uncle who’s more than a little too friendly with her.

When Dylan tries to protect his mother (Neili Conroy) from his da and is threatened with a beating, Kylie helps him escape the house by putting a ladder to his window. But in the process they shatter the window, and rather than face the father’s wrath they run off to the canal and hitch a ride on a barge, intending to make their way to the center of Dublin and find Dylan’s brother, who left home a couple of years before.

The happier side of their escapades begins on the canal scow; the boatman (David Bendito) is a good-natured emigrant who tells them about the boy’s namesake Bob Dylan, whose songs (and spirit) follow them through the rest of their trip—which includes a stint in a mall, where they befriend a street musician (Jose Jimanez, who plays some Dylan for them), and a meeting with a Dylan impersonator (Stephen Rea) who offers them a beer.

But their time on the run has a less pleasant side. Their attempts to track down the boy’s brother prove fruitless, their money is outpaced by their hunger, and at night they not only discover the corpse of a street person but have to escape from a guy (Willie Higgins) who tries to abduct Kylie—who, as we’ve learned earlier, believes firmly in the Sackman, a ghoulish apparition that supposedly captures children and animals in his bag and beats them to death. Dylan’s heroism in saving her helps to cement the youngsters’ blossoming feelings for one another, feelings that clearly persist even after they’re brought back to their families—and their wretchedness—by the cops.

The contrast between the children’s dreary home life and the opportunities—and dangers—posed by the world outside (and by their growing friendship) is reflected in the cinematography, which switches from black-and-white in some scenes to various shades of color in others. The camerawork is by writer-director Lance Daly, who secures remarkably truthful and touching performances from O’Neill and Curry, non-professionals who come across as completely real and unaffected. He’s also surrounded them with a talented ensemble that avoids any false notes.

The title of the film comes from two kisses—one a peck that Dylan is given by a gentle lady of the evening the kids have approached about his brother, and the second the first tentative kiss between the two. Together they represent the possibility, amidst all the domestic horrors, of a meaningful human relationship in a world kinder than the one they’ve experienced with their own families. The ending suggests that Dylan and Kylie will have to endure a good deal more before that promise is realized. But the film is good enough that you’ll leave it with the hope that in time it will be fulfilled.