Kiss me deadly by MATTHEW HAYS A few years back, when a nasty explosion and fire on Parc avenue managed to gut an entire apartment block, a joke circulated in the film community. The building included the home of filmmaker Bashar Shbib and, luckily, he and his family, who were home at the time, all managed to get out without any injury. The only pity, went the gag, was that Shbib's films weren't left behind in the blaze. A rather mean joke, certainly. But Shbib, who has appeared intent on being as prolific as possible, has often traded quality for quantity. Take his horror-comedy Draghoula--about a transvestite vampire--which attempted to cash in on the Ed Wood craze four years ago. Or last year's entries--five films in one year!--all of which were about the senses. There were certainly some moments to be found, but the sense series was wildly uneven, to put it mildly. Now Shbib has made a film about the sixth sense titled The Kiss (my private nightmare). Shbib himself stars as a B-movie director who finds out he has a form of blood cancer and won't last much longer. The film features mock documentary-style interviews with the director's friends and his three children (played by Shbib's own trio of offspring). In some deliriously awful, incoherent sequences that parade as artiness, Shbib brings to life many of his dreams, which are laced with images of people kissing. Shbib has always insisted that one of the strengths of his work is his improvisatory style. Brief the actors on the movie's plot, roll the camera and you have an instant movie. This certainly can work--American independent filmmaker Henry Jaglom uses the approach, with mixed results--but Shbib's casts are often not quite talented enough to carry this off. The improv in Julia Has Two Lovers, Shbib's 1991 entry which introduced David Duchovny to the world, worked extremely well. But much of the improv throughout the senses films simply feels forced and unintentionally awkward. And then there's the issue of Shbib casting his own children in the film. The three younguns' are undeniably adorable. But they don't really seem that into the whole affair, and I question how much fun it could have been for them to dress up and play like daddy's about to kick off. The Kiss opens this Friday, April 23, at the Impérial. See listings for showtimes. >>> More dysfunctional family hijinx can be found in Haligonian filmmaker Lulu Keating's The Moody Brood, which airs on Newsworld this Saturday, April 24 at 10 p.m. and Sunday, April 25 at 4 p.m. In a truly experimental documentary. Keating explores her family history through interviews with her siblings. This daring film is entirely animated, and the resulting genre-busting doc is well worth watching. Featuring the work of noted animator Helen Hill. A Calling to Care is local filmmaker Bobbi Jo Krals' heartfelt film about Grace, a 55-year-old nurse who left her life in Alberta behind to venture to Pakistan to improve that nation's health care. The doc airs this Tuesday, April 27 at 10 p.m. on Vision. COMMENTS: matt_hays@babylon.montreal.qc.ca