Kriv Stenders’ Boxing Day is a harrowing film, with moments of absolute release and relief.
It is a low-budget work, filmed on digital video – with Stenders behind the camera – in a single location, with a cast of six. It takes place in real time, and it’s shot in long, sometimes relentless scenes that give the appearance of being a single, continuous take. It’s a film that puts its characters under pressure, and in some ways, its audience too. But it’s also a rewarding work to watch, a raw, vivid, risky movie that juggles intensity and excess, yet shows moments of restraint and grace.Read More »
Quote: 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.Read More »
