Kiss (Unselt) is a 2006 film from Mongolia, directed by Badamragchaa Gurragchaa.
It centers around three young women, Sisi, Janaa, and Solongoo, who are students at an art college in Ulaanbaatar. Sisi is very sexually experienced, while Janaa is still a virgin. Finals are around the corner, and their teacher, an older man named Sakhia, doesn't seem to have much interest in inspiring the girls.
Enter Khangal, the cool new teacher. Khangal takes all three of the women under his wing, giving them advice on how to use natural light when painting and taking them out into the frozen countryside to recreate a section from Gustav Klimt's The Kiss in the snow.
Janaa finds herself smitten with Khangal and makes a direct pass at him, but he brushes her off, saying that it wouldn't be professional. Soon after, Janaa sees a personal ad in the paper from a man who is searching for young women that would like to be deflowered. Janaa, who seems to feel like it's time to lose her virginity, answers the ad, and is greeted by a mysterious masked man who tells her to put on a mask to conceal her identity as well. They don't have sex with her right away. Instead, they have some long conversations about sex, passion—and art.
Can you guess the twist?
Ankhnyam Ragchaa, who starred as Sisi, appeared in the French/Chinese International Coproduction Wolf Totem.
Tropes:
- Anguished Declaration of Love: Sisi eventually makes her whispered confession, telling Janaa that all the many men she's slept with were just a big for attention, and in fact she fell in love at first sight with someone else—Janaa herself.
- Blonde, Brunette, Redhead: The three women. Janaa has a blonde dye job, Sisi has a Mongolian's natural black hair, and Solongoo has a red dye on.
- Body Paint: The mysterious masked man who greets Janaa first wants to paint her. Instead, she paints herself, painting a picture of a bird flying through flames. The man himself has some elaborate body paintings, once greeting her with his whole body painted as a tiger with stripes (it matches his blanket!), and later greeting her with his whole body covered in question marks.
- Cool Teacher: Khatgal. He gives the girls a talk about using natural light, ripping off the black curtains that Sakhia hung in their studio. He takes them out to the frozen Mongolian countryside where they all create "The Kiss" in the snow. He takes the freshmen on a tour of the art museum, and the three girls are jealous.
- Erotic Film: Janaa goes on a voyage of sexual discovery, while Solongoo finds a boyfriend of her own for passionate sex, and Sisi comes to terms with her identity as a lesbian.
- Flashback: Janaa tells the masked man about how she and her two friends once let some pseudo-intellectual man talk them into taking their clothes off, after which he rolled ice cubes over their bodies. She cringes at her naïveté.
- Imagine Spot: The three women are tasked with copying "One Day in Mongolia
", a famous portrait of nomadic life which as it turns out has a lot of sex in it. Janaa closes her eyes and imagines a man and woman making love in a nomad's yurt. - Moment Killer: Sisi has just come out of the closet and confessed her love to Janaa. Janaa seems willing to give it a shot. Sisi arranges a romantic scene with paper flowers scattered around the floor and paper birds hanging from the air. Sisi takes Janaa's top off, Sisi takes her own top off, the two women kiss—and a paper bird falls from the ceiling and lands on Janaa's shoulder. That kills the mood, as Janaa puts her blouse back on and tells Sisi that she's straight and they'll have to stay friends.
- Naked in Mink: Sakhia makes a crude sexual advance towards Janaa, and when she pushes him away he says he'll make sure she never gets her diploma. When it's time to show their art for the final, instead all three girls walk up to the judges wearing long coats. When asked to show their art, they all shuck their coats to reveal that they're naked, after which they demand that if they have to screw their teachers to get diplomas they might as well do it there and then. The three women think they'll be expelled, but later Khatgal comes over to tell them that Sakhia was fired and they have an extra month to finish their diplomas.
- Nature Adores a Virgin: The personal ad in the paper has a heading that is rendered in the English subtitles as "Inviting virgin girls for an amazing sex date." Janaa, who is tired of being a virgin, goes for it.
- Pair the Spares: A single shot of Sisi getting dropped off, then kissing the woman who drops her off, shows that Sisi has finally found a girlfriend.
- The Reveal: Although it's super-obvious at least from the point where the mystery man asks to use Janaa's body to paint. Sure enough, towards the end, a unique gesture Khangal makes when flicking his lighter on makes Janaa realize that he's the masked man who's been making love to her in the secret apartment.
- Scenery Censor: Anarchuluun, the male model who poses for the three women, is always carefully posed so his privates are hidden. When the mysterious masked man greets Jana totally nude, he is also posed this way.
- A Threesome Is Hot: Janaa opens the door to the studio and is immediately passed by Sisi, who is still rearranging her top. Then a man comes out. Then another man comes out.Janaa: You do them two at a time now!
