Warm Nights on a Slow Moving Train

Although the advertisements lead one to believe that human eroticism is about to be redefined (one reviewer called it a "mixture of Belle de Jour, Crimes of Passion, and Last Tango in Paris"), this Australian import is much tamer than any of those films, and far less compelling. Wendy Hughes, an excellent Australian actress, plays a nameless woman prostitute who rides the Melbourne express train every Sunday night. After a series of brief encounters, we learn that she's an art instructor during the week, and that she needs the extra money to support her crippled brother's morphine addiction. Very strict in enforcing her "out at 3 a.m." rule for johns, she inexplicably falls in love with a stranger (Colin Friels), who wants her to poison a politician and make it look like a cardiac arrest during sex. It must have seemed like a clever idea to screenwriter/director Bob Ellis--but that all-important puzzle piece called character motivation is missing. We don't understand why Hughes is thunderstruck by Friels, nor why she would agree to murder a stranger. (She is offered a huge sum of money--but the coin is clearly not the selling point here.) Muted eroticism, paucity of story, and inadequate character development make this seem more like lukewarm nights in a slow moving film. Not a necessary purchase. (R. Pitman)