Photo Corners headlinesarchivemikepasini.com
A S C R A P B O O K O F S O L U T I O N S F O R T H E P H O T O G R A P H E R
Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.
Matinee: 'First Kiss'
13 February 2021
Saturday matinees long ago let us escape from the ordinary world to the island of the Swiss Family Robinson or the mutinous decks of the Bounty. Why not, we thought, escape the usual fare here with Saturday matinees of our favorite photography films?
So we're pleased to present the 383rd in our series of Saturday matinees today: First Kiss.
This 3:28 clip, directed and produced by Tatia Pilieva and released in March 2014, stars 20 strangers of various persuasions who agreed to kiss a stranger. And by kiss we mean not just a peck on the cheek but the whole enchilada.
She breaks up the otherwise painful-to-watch individual sessions into three acts, like any good dramatist. In Act I, the couples meet each other in what can only be described as awkward collisions. Act II gets down to business with the actual kissing, which is a good deal more erotic than we expected. Act III shows each couple reacting to their kiss.
It's all shot in black and white with music by Soko (aka Stephanie Sokolinski), the French singer-songwriter who is one of the kissers (in the leopard print top).
Pilieva, who was born and raised in the Republic of Georgia, received an MFA from the America Film Institute. First Kiss garnered over 200 million views, a Golden Lion and a Clio. Her first feature film, Forever starring Deborah Ann Woll and Luke Grimes was released in 2015. She followed that with Undress Me, which received over 45 million views (and ended with a few more kisses). Her film, Love at First Taste for Knorr was the most viewed ad of 2016. She works in Los Angeles doing commercial videos and ad campaigns.
We thought First Kiss was just the ticket for Valentine's Day on Sunday, which is also known as tomorrow (in case you have any shopping to do). Watch it with someone you love.