Daily News from New York, New York • 63

cattish JucoM tesiiteaWi i WTy 16 YEARS OF ALCOHOL iV'th Kevn McKidd, Susan Lynch, Laura Fraser. Director: Richard Jobson Pervasive language, some violent content and sexual material. At Cinema Village. By JACK MATHEWS DAILY NEWS MOVIE CRITIC t's hard to imagine a worse title for a good movie than "16 Years of Alcohol," unless it's "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall." But don't hold that against writer-director Richard Jobson; he used to be a film critic. Jobson also used to be the lead singer of a Scottish punk band I ji hi- fT 1 I I i jv if'- 1 I NJ C' ,11.

--JF -jfl mm I .1 tr: 5 Arfuw -w- s.rS0,v-: I i Jmr hl V- -illM ni.i run, i 3 called the Skids, and, before that, he'd apparently had some bad experiences with drink enough to fuel a book-length, autobiographical prose poem that he has now adapted for his first feature film. Actually, the title is a little misleading. Though Jobson's presumed alter ego, Frankie Max (Kevin McKidd), downs his share of pints, the movie is more about his addiction to violence than to alcohol. It's less about losing weekends than losing teeth. After a long opening showing young Frankie's growing disillusionment with the bar-hopping, woman-hopping father he loved, we join him as a bitter adult thug, a skinhead prowling the streets of Edinburgh with a trio of fellow hooligans looking for trouble.

When they come up short, they take their anger out on each other. to overcome his anger and insecurities is the film's forward gear. Jobson's writing and pacing shows some rookie jitters. The shift from Frankie's childhood to his adulthood is a bit too abrupt, and compels the audience to accept at face value his stark psychological metamorphosis. But the film has a poetic pulse, its ups and downs accompanied by some smartly chosen pop songs, a seductive original score and McKidd's husky voice-over narration.

jected to disapproving objections while Frankie has to fight for his life. McKidd, who got his start as one of the gang members in Danny Boyle's "Trainspotting," is perfectly cast. He strikes a genuinely menacing presence but has an intelligence behind his eyes that defy Frankie's irrational behavior. That intelligence makes Frankie look to be trainable where his friends are lost causes. Whether Helen or Mary (Susan Lynch) a fellow wounded soul he meets in group therapy will have the patience The childhood section is important because it establishes an inherent gentleness about Frankie's character, a quality just below his crusty surface in later years that emerges with the coaxing of women who attract him.

INTELLIGENCE IN A THUG'S MUG The first of them is Helen (Laura Fraser), a cultured art student whose interest in Frankie alarms her friends and turns his against him. In their different worlds, however, Helen is merely sub 9 IBD btS STEAM SOY I DEATH" CAR: I -y -V The would-be terrrorists of SJL-- MILK AND HONEY v2 At the Quad Not rated: Nudity, language, adult themes. It's not surprising that director Joe Maggio got Hal Hartley to score his off-kilter drama. Both upend cliches through a deadpan visual style and mordant performances. As a result, both have had uneven success.

Clint Jordan and Kirsten Russell play Rick and Maggie, New York yuppies who spend a surreal night wandering the city, until each is changed irrevocably. Maggio and his stars find some unexpected truths in a familiar tale. Elizabeth Weltzman KThe RWer Named Death." dating an African-American (Treach of Naughty By Nature). First-time writer-director Bertha Bay-Sa Pan turns in a sincere but superficial version of a familiar story. Jam! Bernard SCHIZO AtAngeiika (126).

Unrated: Brutal fight scenes. In Russian and Kazakh with subtitles. Schizo is his name the 15-year-old who learns his way around the arid Kazakhstan landscape and schizo is the game in this stunning, spare debut feature by writer-director Guka Omarova. Both brutal and lyrical, it's about an odd, seemingly handicapped kid who is stuck between a rock and a hard place, there being little else on offer in his harsh, aching-ly poor landscape. Through helping his mom's boyfriend set up illegal boxing matches, Schizo learns all the wrong things about survival.

It's how he balances that with his own sweet nature that makes "Schizo" such an eloquent little story. With a cast of mostly non-actors, the film seems roughhewn, like something you'd find rusted along a road. But it's actually a sophisticated blend of crime thriller, comingof-age story and social realism. J.B. AtAMC Empire, Landmark Sunshine.

(1:46) PG-13: Action violence. Katsuhiro Otomo's "Steamboy opens 17 years after the animator's ingenious sci-fi "Akira," but this battle between the good and evil uses of science needs batteries. The apocalypse this time is a "steam ball" invented by a family of scientists with dire military applications as it reaches Victorian England's World Expo. In the English-dubbed, shortened version, Anna Paquin provides the voice of the boy, Ray Steam, who must choose between the philosophies of his father and grandfather (voices of Alfred Molina and Patrick Stewart). The weak story and bland hero are no match for the increasingly exciting visuals, while the score by Steve Jablonsky should be on exhibit in the Hall of Lead.

J.B. THE RIDER NAMED DEATH v2 At the Quad Not rated: Violence. In Russian with subtitles. A timely story of revolutionaries who believe terror is their best weapon, "Rider" is a visually lavish but FACE somewhat sterile adaptation of Boris Savinkov's 1909 novel "The Pale Horse." In early 20th-century Russia, regular assassinations and bombings are planned by Georges (Andrei Panin), a stone-faced madman who leads a crew that includes an intellectual, an idealist and the two women who love him. The period details are opulent and impressive.

But there are few real revelations to be found among these curiously dispassionate radicals, making the overall experience sort of like seeing the movie, instead of reading the book. E.W. HOLLYWOOD BUDDHA v2 At the Village East Not rated: Nudity, adult themes. The semi-fictionalized story of an unemployed filmmaker, this off-putting satire is a jumble of misguided ideas that gather like lint in the navel of self-obsessed director Philippe Caland. Best known for the having written the story for the odious "Boxing Helena," Caland plays a version of himself, a director who can't understand why no one will buy his necro-philic love story, "Dead Girl." Most of the humor comes at Caland's unwitting expense.

He sets himself up as a martyr and a saint, without realizing how thoroughly obnoxious his character is. Believe it or not, he actually made "Dead Girl' in real life, and couldn't get it released. Perhaps it's time for him to take the hint E.W. At Village East Unrated: Some language, brief nudity. Good acting and dull dialogue mark'Face," about three generations of Chinese women juggling tradition and cultural expectations in Queens.

In flashbacks and flash-forwards, Bai Ling plays a shy 20-year-old forced to marry the man who raped her and the 40year-old who returns to see the daughter she left for her mother to raise. Kristy Wu plays the rebellious lack-of-love child who is sticking it to her mother and grandmother by.