It Felt Like a Kiss

British filmmaker Adam Curtis demonstrates in this unique work how the golden age of pop and the power of the United States peaked at the same moment. This combination of psycho-political documentary and experimental collage poetry shows how individualism gained in importance in the slipstream of events taking place from 1959 onwards, but that somewhere along the way we got lost. Do we still understand the world correctly? In his utterly unique fashion, Curtis shows us the roots of the fears we feel today. He juggles an array of archive material spanning from familiar and unfamiliar news items to iconic Hollywood film scenes. The unceasing torrent of powerful imagery is matched by an equally impressive soundtrack that mixes chart hits with music specially composed by Damon Albarn and performed by the Kronos Quartet. While many of the songs may sound happy, they trigger a gnawing anxiety when combined with the maelstrom of images and Curtis’s critical message. In contrast to his earlier films, this time Curtis doesn't provide a voice-over – although a smattering of text blocks does put groups of images into historical context. The film takes on Osama Bin Laden’s early life, conspiracy theories surrounding the death of John F. Kennedy, and the origins of HIV in Western and Central Africa.