When Charles Darwin was devising his theory of evolution featuring his concept of survival of the fittest, perhaps he was thinking of life in high school. Viewing the new DVD of the Italian film One Kiss (TLA Releasing) will do nothing to alter this perception of adolescent angst. To quote a character in the film, "I can confirm life as a teenager always sucks." Apparently secondary school experiences are just as miserable in Italy as they are here in the U.S. A deceptively light movie that ends unexpectedly tragically, One Kiss has some perceptive observations about bullying, sexuality, and date rape, wrapped up in three attractive leads who make it easier to swallow these bitter pills.
Lorenzo (Rimau Grillo Ritzberger), a 16-year-old gay foster child from Turin, arrives in a small conservative town, Udine in northeastern Italy, to be adopted by his accepting foster parents. Not afraid to wear bold fashions that set him apart from other students, he arrives at Newton High School using his imagination in campy song-and-dance numbers, envisioning his classmates as being thrilled to meet him, when in reality they hate him and call him a faggot. Lorenzo concocts Glee-like sequences to distract himself from the bullies preying on him, but his outrageousness just seems to goad them on. His teacher sits him next to Blu (Valentina Roman), a subversive girl, and they become fast friends. She has been labeled promiscuous because of an orgy she supposedly had with her Milan boyfriend last summer. She rides her scooter past graffiti calling her a slut, racing each day to the mailbox to grab her writer mother's rejection letters of her novel before she reads them. Lorenzo tells Blu he has no intention of committing suicide like the other gay teens whose pictures are displayed on his computer.
They invite Antonio (Leonardo Pazzagli), a shy, handsome basketball star, derided by his teammates as dumb, into their private clique, mainly because Lorenzo is attracted to him. The three marginalized friends hang out together, skipping classes and getting into trouble. One scene, where they imagine they are fashion models trying out new stylish clothes, is a hoot.
Blu realizes she is attracted to Antonio, but neither she nor Lorenzo has any idea who interests him. Lorenzo concocts a delicious revenge scheme against his mean classmates in the form of a web-TV series called Newton's Dirty Laundry. The other kids plot revenge by writing graffiti all over a classroom and blame Lorenzo, Blu, and Antonio. Meanwhile Blu's long-distance boyfriend comes for a visit, revealing that the so-called orgy with friends they had the previous summer was in fact a form of date rape. Later, a lakeside swim among the three friends will prove who sexually favors whom, which will have deadly consequences, as it turns out they all have painful secrets they've been hiding.
At times One Kiss feels like a 1980s high school romp with tinges of Truffaut's Jules et Jim and hints of a menage a trois. The perky soundtrack, featuring Blondie's "Sunday Girl," New Order's "Bizarre Love Triangle" and Lady Gaga's "Born this Way," reinforces the nostalgia, as do splashy dream sequences a la Footloose. Director Ivan Cotroneo wants to show the power of friendship that gives outsiders strength to tolerate the mob rule in high school corridors. One Kiss won an Italian Golden Globe award.