Youcancertainlyfeeltheheat,sweatandbloodseepingthrough
BurningKiss(2018),writer/directorRobbieStudsor’ssexy,sur-
realself-pegged‘summernoir’.Fora low-budgetindependent
featuredebutshotin Perth,it’sanimpressivefeat.Essentially
a three-hander,the film stars Liam Grahamas an enigmatic
strangerwhoentersthelivesof– andcomplicatestherelation-
shipbetween– a thuggishfatherandhisdaughter.
I speakto Studsorabout playingwith the traditionsof film
noir and creativelyfusinga multitudeof other art-cinemain-
fluencesto createan intoxicatingly unconventional Aussie
crime cocktail.Oliver Pfeiffer: How did the storyofBurning Kiss come about?RobbieStudsor:I wantedtodosomethingwheresomeone
is tryingtocreatea story– almostlikea whodunnit,except
youknow‘whodunnit’[rightfrom]thestart,thentheykindof
inventthe story as they go along.That was the first thing I was
interestedin, and that’s what happensin the film: the father
character,Edmond[RichardMellick],kindofcreatesa fake
story to try and catch Max [Graham],who we alreadyknow
is theperpetrator– soit’ssortofreverse-engineering,in a
way. That intriguedme. There’sa film calledInvestigationof
a CitizenAboveSuspicion[ElioPetri,1970] about cops mis-
handlinga case, whichinfluencedme.
FromthatgrewtheideaofMaxbeingtheprisonerin the
house,andthekindoferoticorrepressedthinghappeningbe-
tweenhim and Edmond’sdaughter,Charlotte[AlysonWalker].
It waskindofa Buñuelian^1 thing:theideaof[characters]being
trappedsomewherelike that, with GeorgesBataille’sbook
Story of the Eye^2 [...]fusedintoit. It’salmostlikea midnight
movie,^3 and so I tried to tie into that tradition in a way as well.AUSTRALIANAND
NEW ZEALAND CINEMABY OLIVER PFEIFFER
ROBBIESTUDSORON
BLOWINGABURNINGKISS
TO FILM NOIRKiss
Me
Deadly
Thisspread,clockwisefrombottomright:Max
(Liam Graham, two images); Charlotte (Alyson Walker)http://www.metromagazine.com.au | © ATOM | Metro Magazine 201• 35