Kiss or Kill (1997)
Director: Bill Bennett Cast: Matt Day, Frances O'Connor, Chris Haywood, Barry Otto, Andrew S. Gilbert Rated R: Sex, violence, language
by Nathaniel R. Atcheson
KISS OR KILL is an honest attempt at something different by writer/director Bill Bennett, but unfortunately his effort is a wacky, crazed, emotionally confused mess of a film. That's not to say that it's bad--there are some moments that work, and some material that is both funny and moving, but the overall picture here is a labyrinthine disaster so hyperbolic that it actually manages to hide much of its insanity in its own craziness.
Matt Day and Frances O'Connor star as Al and Nikki, an Australian couple on the run from the police for accidentally killing a guy but intentionally stealing all of his valuables. They take off across the desolate Australian landscape and meet an interesting array of characters, most of whom end up with their throats slit at the hands of . . . someone. Yes, it's a road movie-slash-love story. It reminded me somewhat of the loathsome THE DOOM GENERATION and a little bit of KALIFORNIA, but Bennett has no problem escaping cliches and common plot devices--if nothing else, KISS OR KILL can be described as innovative.
But the problems can not be ignored. First, we're talking style overkill here. Bennett likes short takes. Really short takes. I'd guess the average take-length is around two seconds. Not only do the takes change constantly, but the angles change with each take. The result is jittery, and hyper, and the thought of it makes my heart pound quickly. Through the whole film I felt uneasy and tense. I almost called Bennett brilliant for this, but I realized something: he uses this approach through the entire film, even when the action is focusing on the two cops (Chris Haywood and Andrew S. Gilbert) pursuing the heroes. If Bennett threw us the style fastball only during the scenes containing Al and Nikki, I could see some point in it. As it is, there is clearly no reason for its presence other than his need for style.
The script is outright sloppy. The characterizations seem almost completely random, and hardly effective. Nikki is the most interesting, because her past is explained (well, one element of it, anyway) so at least we know something about her other than what's on the surface. Al, on the other hand, is an opaque window--there might be something there, but any hypothesis would simply be a stab in the dark. At one point the plot twists and Al may or may not be who we expected--either way, it makes no sense. His actions in the last half of the film--not to mention the interactions between himself and Nikki--are simply unfounded. I was constantly questioning motivation, but I never got the answers. There was a moment towards the end of the film that felt true and solid, but it was just a moment--the rest of the film lacks this kind of honesty.
The only characters that I really liked were the two cops. The best scene in the film has the younger giving the older a fake story about his life--it's a wonderful scene, and ironic that it has nothing to do with the rest of the film. In fact, the cops-n-robbers part of the film is never integrated smoothly, and the quick transitions from cops to robbers is intrusive. Not only that, but a legal scene in the last third of the film feels contrived--I don't see how the laws in Australia could be so easily avoidable.
The acting is great all around, with a particularly strong performance from O'Connor (mostly because she has the most to do with her character). Bennett's direction, aside from his ludicrous stylistic attacks, at least allows the film to progress in a manor that does, in fact, feel progressive. It doesn't meander and it's far from dull.
But it's unsatisfying. Even in the closing scenes the characters' relationship is sketchy, but it seems like it shouldn't be--here is a couple who has made it through a lot of junk, and yet Bennett can't even level with the audience about what is going through their minds. The shell of this film is an interesting one, and Bennett clearly has a great deal of talent in what he does, but he needs to learn the value of solid characterizations and the point of stylistic approaches.
>From 0-10: 5 Grade: C
Visit FILM PSYCHOSIS at http://www.pyramid.net/natesmovies
Nathaniel R. Atcheson
The review above was posted to the
rec.arts.movies.reviews newsgroup (de.rec.film.kritiken for German reviews).
The Internet Movie Database accepts no responsibility for the contents of the
review and has no editorial control. Unless stated otherwise, the copyright
belongs to the author.
Please direct comments/criticisms of the review to relevant newsgroups.
Broken URLs inthe reviews are the responsibility of the author.
The formatting of the review is likely to differ from the original due
to ASCII to HTML conversion.
Related links: index of all rec.arts.movies.reviews reviews