Themes: Lovers on the Lam, Haunted By the Past, Crime Sprees
Main Cast: Frances O'Connor, Matt Day, Chris Haywood, Barry Otto, Max Cullen
Release Year: 1997
Country: AU
Run Time: 95 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Set amidst the eerie desolation of the Australian outback, Kiss or Kill is a superior reworking of vintage film noir materials from the veteran director Bill Bennett. Its lovers-on-the-run story focuses on Nicole (Frances O'Connor) and Al (Matt Day), a pair of petty thieves running a scam targeting married businessmen; when one of their victims accidentally dies, they flee his hotel room, absconding with his briefcase. The case contains a videotape of Zipper Doyle (Barry Langrishe), a national soccer hero, molesting a young boy; Nicole and Al soon take off for Perth, intending to blackmail Doyle -- never suspecting that he, as well as the police, are already in hot pursuit. As the two make their way across the country, they leave a trail of dead bodies in their wake; both Nicole and Al begin to suspect that the other is a murderer, and as their journey continues, their paranoia only grows. A similar feeling of mistrust and dread informs virtually every interpersonal relationship in the film, effectively gnawing at our own perceptions and expectations; a stylistically aggressive picture, brimming with jump cuts and inventive camera work, its distinctive take on the noir tradition is fresh and exciting. ~ Jason Ankeny, All Movie Guide
Review
This grim neo-noir isn't as polished as, say, Michael Winterbottom's I Want You, but its tight screenplay is full of excellent throwaway details, mordant wit, and subtle insight. Writer, director, and producer Bill Bennett keeps things flatly realistic rather than explicitly gritty, his jump cuts adding to the paranoid air but also detracting a bit from the flow. Meanwhile, lead actors Frances O'Connor and Matt Day, both veterans of Love and Other Catastrophes, seethe with unexpressed anxiety and dysfunctional love (Bennett's screenplay was inspired, in part, by Bruce Springsteen's "Born to Run"). The cop characters, played by Andrew S. Gilbert and Bennett vet Chris Haywood, enjoy a suitably twisted relationship and some nicely sick dialogue; their recruitment of crafty Aboriginal tracker Possum Harry (John Clark) is one of the screenplay's many subversive touches. As the protagonists travel across the outback, murder in their wake, their journey takes on a suitably surrealist edge thanks to the tic-laden characters they meet. Things never, however, digress into affectedly quirky territory. An understated antidote to such overblown couples-on-the-lam flicks as Kalifornia and Natural Born Killers, Kiss or Kill was a welcome critical win for Bennett after the disappointment of the Hollywood-funded Two if By Sea. ~ Brian J. Dillard, All Movie Guide
Andrew S. Gilbert - Detective Crean; Barry Langrishe - Zipper Doyle; Jennifer Cluff - Bel Jones; John Clark - Possum Harry; Don Chapman - Lindsay Klein
Credit
Corrie Soeterboek - Co-producer, Ruth de la Lande - Costume Designer, Bob Donaldson - First Assistant Director, Heather Oxenham - First Assistant Director, Bill Bennett - Director, Henry Dangar - Editor, Gary Hamilton - Executive Producer, Mikael Borglund - Executive Producer, Andrew Plumer - Production Designer, Malcolm McCulloch - Cinematographer, Bill Bennett - Producer, Jennifer Bennett - Producer, Toivo Lember - Sound/Sound Designer, Wayne Pashley - Sound/Sound Designer, Bill Bennett - Screenwriter
