Shane Curry and Kelly O’Neill are a pair of 12-year-old runaways on the streets and back alleys of Dublin.

The Newport International Film Festival opens its 12th season Wednesday with some 90 films being shown in five days.

In other years, a big film would open the festival at night and would be the only movie screened that day. This year’s “opening night” film, starting at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Jane Pickens, will be In the Loop, a comedy-drama starring James Gandolfini that’s done in faux documentary style and revolves around diplomatic misinformation leading up to a war being planned by the United States and Britain.

But this year there will be films screened during the day Wednesday as well. One is Kisses, an Irish film by writer-director Lance Daly that follows the adventures of a pair of 12-year-old runaways on the streets and back alleys of Dublin.

Artily, Daly opens his film in black and white, which adds to the bleakness of the awful home lives of Dylan (Shane Curry) and Kylie (Kelly O’Neill). Dylan’s parents seem to be engaged in a longstanding war that often leads to blows. “It’s another rotten Christmas for you, Dylan,” sighs his mother. Kylie is treated like dirt by her older sister and as a babysitter and maid by her mother. It’s easy to see why they go on the run, especially after Dylan’s quick-to-anger father begins chasing him with murder in his eyes because Dylan had whacked him while trying to protect his mother.

Dylan and Kylie are as foul-mouthed as their parents and friends, which may make them true to their lower class roots, but hardly make them an endearing pair. Curry is prone to quick, flat line readings that don’t quite ring true or easy as well.

At first their adventures, funded by Kylie’s Christmas money, are pretty mundane, although the film has blossomed into faded color. They ride into the center of Dublin on a barge helmed by a friendly immigrant pilot who introduces them to the songs of Bob Dylan. They buy wheelie sneakers at a shopping mall. They meet a street singer and have him sing Bob Dylan songs. They look for Dylan’s elder brother, who ran away from home two years earlier so he wouldn’t be tempted to kill their father, and who has now disappeared into the world of the homeless of Dublin after being kicked out of a couple of apartments for fighting.

It takes a while for some magic to surface in Kisses. A hooker they meet teaches Dylan the joy of kissing, even though it’s just a peck on the cheek. They meet a man smoking in an alley behind a theater and become convinced he is Bob Dylan. Later, Kylie is snatched by a pair of men in a car which leads to a true and exciting adventure for both children. Still later they find a body and eventually discover what the film’s title promises, the first signs of romance.

Kisses pulls no punches in its look at the unhappy lives some children are born into. Yet it also clearly shines a spotlight on the ability of many children to bounce back, even from the most trying situations. It’s not an easy film, however. It’s often grim. Although two children are at its center, this is not a film for young children. And although the characters speak English, the film has English subtitles to help the audience get over the thick accents.

Kisses will be screened at 4 p.m. Wednesday at Opera House 1. It will be shown again at 2:45 p.m. Friday at the Jane Pickens Cinema. Tickets are $10 and are available at the box office at 22 Broadway or online at newportfilmfestival.com.

***Kisses

Starring: Shane Curry, Kelly O’Neill. In heavily accented English, with English subtitles.

Rated: Not rated, contains violence, profanity, adult themes.

mjanuson@projo.com