Kissing Candice

Uncertainty in the storytelling during the final segment doesn't derail this brilliant debut, which is a visual treat that demands to be seen on the big screen.

As is her wont, [writer/director McArdle] is intent on mood, with atmosphere, cinematography and soundtrack reigning over proceedings, but at the expense of the story.

The end result is a visual thrill and marks Aoife McArdle as one to keep any eye on.

It is to McArdle's credit that Kissing Candice keeps asks questions worth disentangling.

It's enigmatic, transgressive and full of maverick visual flair but Kissing Candice may leave you looking for answers. Possibly McArdle's intention all along.

Towards the end, Kissing Candice loses narrative shape, but not before it has given its audience memorable, sensuous images.

The result is a film that's much more about mood than story.

With its fractured, elliptical narrative, Kissing Candice uses its form to perfectly illustrate its content.

For a film so assured, stylised and well-paced, [Aoife] McArdle has certainly made an impressive, and memorable, debut. Let's hope she has more stories to tell. Kissing Candice is not to be missed.

If nothing else its sense of dread is palpable throughout, the lighting and score simultaneously beautiful and panic inducing. It's best when wholly experiential.

The story goes from dumb to dumber, and never has a grip on Candice's opaque if intensely physical presence, let alone her character.

Freed from the constraints of shorter formats, McArdle rushes around her 102-minute runtime with all the curious abandon of a goldfish moved from a small bowl to a massive aquarium.