Movie: Sex, Pool and Retailing

The new movie "Kisses and Caroms" opens with a shot of Breaktime Billiards Supply Store manager Zack (Drew Wicks) in bed after an, um, 1-2 combo with his girlfriend and a sexy professional female pool player, both of whom work at the store, to boot.

So, as a BD reader, you must be asking yourself, "So how're the pool scenes?"

Well, aside from Tara's (Nicole Rayburn) diatribe about how little she makes playing professionally and a few background games going on at a store table, the game itself makes about as much of a cameo as Ginger Lynn Allen, a tenured adult-film star. In one scene, Allen poses on a 9-foot table and calls the store to inform them that the installer needs to deliver her a set of balls.

At least the director, Vince Rocca, knows his audience. Credit this to the fact that Rocca manages Breaktime, an actual retail store in the San Fernando Valley, which rests way too close to Hollywood for him to not interact with the film business. Consider that the Valley also happens to be one of the porn-making capitals of the world (Rocca rents out tables to production companies in the area, then re-felts them), and you have the makings of his first feature length film -- a threesome sex comedy set in a pool retail store.

When people think of indie movies, images of poignant, stark, obscure takes on life, love and war are typical. Rocca instead filled his cast with thong-revealing femme fatales and guys with mindsets dirtier than the 8-footer at your local biker bar.

When talking about the movie, Rocca's anecdotes don't stray too far from this: "I'm standing here with a gorgeous girl, and she says, 'Do you want me to pick a booger out of my nose?'" For the record, she was talking about a scene in the film.

"Kisses and Caroms" came about after Rocca took a two-day film class in which the instructor told him not only to write what he knew, but to write what he had on hand. So Rocca began to journal the actions of his customers. They, including one who came in to ask about a table, but instead left blaring into his cell phone after a guy called asking for his wife, who had a past history of, using billiard terms once more, "fouls." (Rocca turned this character into a midget.)

Rocca and his crew filmed in 2003, during the slow summer months for retail. Using his own equipment and calling in favors from plenty of pals, Rocca shot the movie in five days and for just under $10,000.

The initial post-production work was finished in 2004. Now Rocca is busy submitting the 81-minute movie to film festivals and trying to find a studio deal that will allow "Kisses and Caroms" to see the light of day, either as a theatrical release or direct-to-video offering (which could bring its cost to $250,000, given post production work and industry-related fees).

The movie may have a familiar vibe for indie-flick fans. Off-beat customers (including a naked guy in need of green chalk) fill in the scenes between the main characters' relationships. It's a storytelling style similar to that of Rocca's idol, "Clerks" director Kevin Smith, whom he met after winning a contest to go to actor Jason Mewes' one-year sobriety party.

Rocca learned that Smith was looking for a handmade blackjack table, and built him one. He's working on a Texas Hold 'Em table for the director's game room, as well. In turn, Smith offered a blurb for "Kisses and Caroms" to use on its promotional literature. It's all part of the business.

"Making a movie is the most rewarding, fun, thrilling experience of my life," Rocca said. "I could talk about the movie the way people talk about their children."

Depending on Rocca's negotiations with film distributors and other industry players, "Kisses and Caroms" could be available at major video rental outlets as early as September, he says. Stay tuned.

-Cory Mattteson

Check out the movie's Web site at www.kissesandcaroms.com.