MOTHER AND A BANGLE TEAM UP FOR A MOVIE

“Our family’s kind of unusual,” explains Susanna Hoffs, who makes her acting debut in “The Allnighter,” a teen-age romance flick that also happens to be the first feature film directed by her mother, Tamar Simon Hoffs. Better known as the lead singer with L.A. pop sensation the Bangles, Susanna explains that “the thing that made our family what it is is our dad.”

“Actually, he’s my husband not my father,” Tamar corrects, as the two erupt into fits of girlish giggles during an interview in an office at Universal Studios.

Susanna’s Freudian slip says a lot about the mother-daughter relationship. More like buddies than mother and child, they share a solid friendship built on mutual respect and a shared sense of fun.

“My father instilled a sense of creativity and adventurousness in me and my two brothers,” Susanna explains, “but it was my mom who picked up on the fact that I loved to sing and dance when I was a kid, and she’s always encouraged me. I think we’ve always known we’d work together one day.”

Produced and directed by Tamar Hoffs, who co-wrote the screenplay with M. L. Kessler, “The Allnighter,” chronicles the lives of a group of students at a Pacific Coast college during the 24 hours leading up to graduation. The film exploits many of the myths surrounding Southern California youth culture and is populated with kids who spend most of their time drinking, surfing, dancing and flirting. Despite the fact that none of them appears to have jobs, they own video cameras, surfboards and Honda scooters, and live in apartments on the sand. Everyone knows how dirt cheap beachfront rents are.

“Movies are never 100% accurate because they’re one step away from reality,” Tamar comments, “but I think this is an accurate depiction of young people--and not just kids in Southern California in 1987. I went to Yale and the experiences depicted in the film are very much like experiences I had at school. In fact, the three female leads are loosely based on myself and my two roomates.

“There are certain stories you can tell over and over,” she continues, “and it’s possible to have enormous amounts of content buried in a film like this. Being in school delays having to deal with certain aspects of life and these kids are still a bit innocent, so on one level the film is about the end of innocence. It’s also about the relationships that develop between people when they live together at a certain point in their lives.”

Of course, that’s not the way the film is being marketed. Advertisements for “The Allnighter” feature Susanna Hoffs wearing a sly smile and a skimpy bikini as she sips a cocktail. “Who says you can’t do it all in one night?” snickers the leering ad copy.

Asked how she felt about having a poster of herself in a bikini plastered across America, Susanna replies, “I feel pretty weird about it--though there’s a side of me that thinks it’s kind of funny. I do a scene in the film wearing nothing but my underwear” (a scene prominently featured in the trailer for the film) “and I must admit that was hard to do. I knew if I had an incredible song blasting in the background I’d be able to do it, so I brought in a copy of Aretha’s ‘Respect’ and that did the trick.”

Ads for “The Allnighter” also point out that this is “rock star” Susanna Hoffs in her movie debut. However, Tamar Hoffs comments that “the success of the Bangles had nothing to do with my getting the opportunity to make the film. Obviously that’s true because the Bangles aren’t in it!” Nor is Tamar Hoffs a newcomer to film making. She’s made two award-winning shorts--one of them, “The Haircut,” starring John Cassavetes--and directed a handful of rock videos.

Susanna is equally intent on keeping movies and Bangles separate, and that’s one of the reasons she doesn’t sing in the film, nor is there any Bangle music on the sound track.

“This movie isn’t a musical,” she explains, “and it would’ve confused the audience if I’d sung in the film--particularly since that’s not what the character I portray is about. I play a vulnerable, cautious, self-protective girl--adjectives that describe me pretty well, by the way. I identified with this character quite a bit. On the other hand, she’s a beach girl and that’s something quite foreign to me. Even though I grew up at the beach and love it there, I can remember looking at surfers and surf bunnies and thinking ‘Wow! Who are these people?! They’re so cool they’re like creatures from another planet!’

“I’m satisfied with my performance in the long run,” she concludes, “but looking at footage from early in the 32-day shoot compared with stuff we shot towards the end, I can see that I learned a lot as we progressed. It left me eager to do more--probably because we all had so much fun. There was great cameraderie among the cast and I don’t think anyone felt I was given special treatment because I was the director’s daughter.

“And though I’m sure some people will assume that the rest of the Bangles resent my doing this, that’s not the case at all,” she adds. “The reason we’re able to stay together as a band is because we realize that we’re four individuals with different interests and we allow each other the freedom to explore those things.”

Presently living in the garage behind her parents’ house in Santa Monica (“because I’ve been on the road all year and haven’t had time to get my own place”), Susanna leaves in June for a monthlong Bangles tour of the States. The band will then adjourn to the studio to record the follow-up to its double platinum LP of last year, “Different Light.”

Back on the home front, Tamar Hoffs will continue working on scripts. She has three in the can and a forth in the works, all of which she describes as “relationship comedies focusing on a young woman in the world--which is a kind of storytelling I think I have a talent for. They’re all pretty different from ‘The Allnighter’ though, which is sort of a beach party movie intended for kids from 14 to 16.

“I’ve always loved beach party movies,” she admits, “because they’re optimistic and ask nothing more of the viewer than the price of admission and just hanging out--and that’s pretty much the mood of ‘The Allnighter.’ It’s a light, easy film about a moment in time when friendship really counts.”