San Francisco Chronicle

‘SHALL WE KISS?’ (2007. NOT RATED. MUSIC BOX FILMS. $29.95.)
Two strangers meet in Nantes, France. He lives there, and she is passing through. At the end of the evening, he goes to kiss her, and she (Julie Gayet) pulls away – not because she doesn’t want to but because she once knew two people who thought they could kiss casually, but things turned out much differently. … And from here we get a flashback to the story of Judith (Virginie Ledoyen) and her best friend, Nicolas (Emmanuel Mouret, who also wrote and directed). One day they kiss, and their lives begin to spin out in complicated and unanticipated directions.

The French are great at romantic dramas and often have trouble with romantic comedy, but this movie – with elements of both comedy and drama – shows an impressive mastery of tone. Though funny and sometimes farcical, the film’s scope is wide enough for the demands of drama, for a genuine look at the serious consequences of human desire.

This film is always pleasing, but deepens as it goes along. It’s about the ramifications of actions that, in the moment, seem natural, spontaneous and almost innocent, and it forces us to ask ourselves what causes these consequences – something morally intrinsic to the actions themselves or something faulty in our social arrangements that doesn’t allow for much wiggle room?

The cast is first-rate, especially Ledoyen, one of the joys of French cinema since her breakthrough (“A Single Girl”) 15 years ago.
– Mick LaSalle

‘BAD GIRLS OF FILM NOIR, VOLS. 1 & 2.’ (1946-55. NOT RATED. SONY PICTURES. $24.96 EACH.)
Hard-core noir enthusiasts should be pleased by this series of B pictures that range from delightfully weird to howlingly corny. Noir newbies probably should move along to safer areas. Of the two sets, Volume 2 is most recommended for the inclusion of “Night Editor,” a deliriously over-the-top thriller that unfolds after ice-cold society dame Janis Carter and bad cop William Gargan witness a murder while they’re having an extramarital affair.

The other three films star overflowing pinup girl Cleo Moore: “Women’s Prison” features Ida Lupino as the warden and Howard Duff as the prison doctor; “Over-Exposed” is a blackmail plot co-starring a young Richard Crenna; and the luridly titled “One Girl’s Confession” achieves an almost poetic stiltedness thanks to the bizarre Hugo Haas, a director and actor known as the Ed Wood of noir.

Volume 1’s most interesting film is “The Killer That Stalked New York,” about a pair of diamond smugglers (one of them is bad girl Evelyn Keyes) who unknowingly bring a deadly disease to New York. Suddenly, the Big Apple is under the Big Quarantine.

“The Glass Wall” stars Gloria Grahame, always welcome, in an unusual take on immigration. “Two of a Kind” is another loopy one from “Night Editor” director Henry Levin, starring Lizabeth Scott, Edmond O’Brien and Terry Moore in a plot to scam a millionaire couple – unfortunately, it goes soft in the end (Yo, Coen Brothers – this would be a good remake).

Finally, there’s the rather boring “Bad for Each Other,” starring Scott and Charlton Heston, which explores the tensions between rich and poor in a small Pennsylvania town.

There are very few extras in this set.
– G. Allen Johnson