Some of you may be aware that the Recoil track 'Jezebel' features in 'The Monkey's Mask', an Australian film directed by Samantha Lang and starring Kellie McGinnis and Susie Porter.


Described as "a stylish and compelling film noir" by What's On, the film opened in London's West End on 28th March, 2001. Screen International published the following review:


It is not often that a movie thriller is based on a book of poetry, but Dorothy Porter's 1994 'verse novel' 'The Monkey's Mask' provides the basis for Samantha Lang's follow-up to her intense debut feature, 1997 Cannes competitor 'The Well'.


Inspired by many a noirish thriller, the novel told the story of an Australian private detective story in stripped down flashes of poetic imagery and cinematic references. Lang and screenplay writer Anne Kennedy have fleshed out the minimalist plot, dialogue and characterisations, thus returning it to its familiar origins.


But while the thriller side of things seems unsurprising, there is another far more original and successful element. Hired by an anxious Sydney family to find their missing student daughter, private investigator Jill Fitzpatrick (Porter) is a lesbian who falls for the prime murder suspect, the missing girl's poetry lecturer (McGillis). Instant attraction is followed by a dangerous liaison, which threatens to include the suspects barrister husband (Marton Csokas).


Quickly and frequently, the gritty investigator and elegant suspect are doing their own stripping down and fleshing out, passionately and voluptuously. Porter reveals even more than she did in the recent Australian hot-selling festival favourite 'Better Than Sex' while chain-smoking McGillis is sumptuous as an older woman who revels in her sexuality. Lang directs this enigmatic lust-driven relationship with precision, although at times her camera wanders about self-consciously.


Well chosen promotional images will sell this unusual cross-genre movie to an international art house audience who will not be put off by the strong language or the underpowered whodunnit plot. 'The Monkey's Mask' is set for local release in March.