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FILMS Spain

Kiki, Love to Love: Long live sex!

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- Paco León’s third film is a dramatic comedy that focuses on the different ways, all respectable in their own way, in which we enjoy our sexuality

Kiki, Love to Love: Long live sex!
Belén Cuesta in Kiki, Love to Love

Paco León is not trying to educate or indoctrinate us, but to portray sex as a means of personal fulfilment, joyful development, the consolidation of love and an excellent way for people to get to know one another better. This is the driving force behind Kiki, Love to Love ( [+see also:
trailer
interview: Paco León
film profile
]
Kiki, el amor se hace) [+see also:
trailer
interview: Paco León
film profile
]
, the director’s third film after the success of Carmina o revienta [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
(which won multiple awards, was screened in every possible forum and revolutionised the Spanish audiovisual industry four years ago) and its sequel, Carmina y amén [+see also:
film review
trailer
film profile
]
, both of which centred around a mother – Carmina Barrios – and sister – María León. In this new cinematographic adventure, P.L. brings us a clever twist: “his girls” don’t appear, but he does with a worthy role, and not as a personal project as in his previous films, but with a mission: to adapt Australian film The Little Death, which was written, starred and directed by Josh Lawson – the rights to which are held by Spanish production company Vértigo Films- to the spirit, humour and sensitivities of not only Spanish and European audiences, but the protagonist of comedies of his such as 3 Many Weddings [+see also:
film review
trailer
interview: Javier Ruiz Caldera
film profile
]
and Embarazados [+see also:
trailer
film profile
]
.

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True to his mission, Leon has made the film his own. He has changed certain elements of the story, called in friends such as Alexandra Jiménez, benefited from the presence of Natalia de Molina (who recently won a Goya award for Food and Shelter [+see also:
trailer
interview: Juan Miguel del Castillo
film profile
]
) and ensured the credibility of the most delicate of details from the screenplay – which he wrote with Fernando Pérez – with the solid performances of Candela Peña, Luis Bermejo and Luis Callejo. They – together with Álex García, Ana Katz, Mari Paz Sayago and Belén Cuesta, the actress who plays the best character in the film, confirming that she is a talented performer it will be worth keeping an eye on in years to come – play, over the course of five stories that intersect in the final scene (during the lively, summery and cheerful verbana at the Paloma in Madrid), characters affected by sexual conflict: they are aroused by situations that aren’t exactly the norm (and keep it a secret).

And so, one of the characters gets excited watching her man cry; another gets an adrenaline rush off of danger, and one couple likes trying new things, including a visit to a crowded sex club. León, who has demonstrated that he knows no boundaries in the past, conveys this very message to the viewer, inviting them to enjoy the variety. His five stories, in which he blends drama with humour (as is real life) and the cruel with the absurd, striking a subtle balance, present the characters who are still defining themselves, fighting to maintain their relationships or doing the unspeakable out of love for another. Because love is not just something you feel, it’s something you do, and there are a thousand of ways to do it: there are hundreds of sexual perversions out there, and just some of them are described with tolerance and ease in Kiki...

From collage-style moments with animals behaving playfully to the constant presence of vegetation and fruit in the scenes (and in the poster for the film), as well as a soundtrack rich in songs with tropical and Latin beats, the entire film, superficial and white, oozes sex, and not in a murky way: light and colour flood the frames in a film that tries to rouse the soul of the viewer, making them feel good, inviting them to accept themselves by throwing their arms down, fighting repression and leaving the cinema with the urge to… well, you can probably guess.

Kiki, Love to Love is produced by Vértigo Films, with the participation of Mediaset España, and the cooperation of ICAA. Wild Bunch will handle international sales.

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(Translated from Spanish)

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