![]() Set in Melbourne in the mid-1970s, Cut Snake tells the story of Sparra Farrell (Alex Russell), an ex-convict who is trying to make a new life for himself in a new city. Performances are uniformly impressive, with Stapleton guaranteed a place in the pantheon of creepily charismatic Australian screen criminals. Synopsis Cut Snake is a tense, psychologically driven crime thriller in which one man discovers his biggest enemy to putting the past behind him may be only himself. The director hangs the pieces together with such grace that the film’s evolution into neo noir, which is roughly where it sits, feels as true to form as the shaggy carpets and chunky shirt collars. Cut Snake opens with striking mega close-ups of a zippo lighter and a lit cigarette more splashes of visual chutzpah like these might have given the film extra spunk – though overindulging would rub up against Ayres’s unpretentious style. The polished cinematography of Simon Chapman is glazed with orangey lava lamp hues and production values excel across the board. That twist might have been better placed as the trigger for the second act – for some it will arrive too late – though the surprise does play a big part in making Cut Snake a strange and interesting beast. In that period he has gravitated towards genre television shows, including creating and producing young adult mystery-drama Nowhere Boys and co-creating and producing six-part supernatural series Glitch.Ībout halfway through Cut Snake there is a twist, which not only ratchets up tension in the plotlines but reshapes the entire perspective of the film. A little too familiar for Ayres, it seems, who takes what initially seems like a cookie cutter premise somewhere very different.Īyres is an influential voice in Australian film and TV, returning to helm a feature for the first time since 2007’s semi-autobiographical drama The Home Song Stories. This lends itself well to the feeling the story could take place in virtually any time.Īn ex-con resurfacing and lugging with him a cautionary tale about sins of the past, returning to haunt the present, is a familiar premise. ![]() The 70s period aesthetic comes together with a sense of restraint, or perhaps it’s more a case that many of the clothes are back in fashion or never entirely left. The title is Australia’s slang equivalent to the American phrase batshit crazy, and ex-con Pommie (Sullivan Stapleton) earns the appellation in spades. She knows little about his past and nor do the audience, though it doesn’t take long to ascertain that Sparra and Pommie used to be partners in crime and one of them is keen to return to business. He will soon disrupt the life of previous associate Mervyn “Sparra” Farrell (Alex Russell) who is engaged to Paula (Jessica de Gouw). The film tracks the relationship between Sparra (Alex Russell) and Paula (Jessica De Gouw) and the impact on their lives of the charismatic and dangerous Pommie. We first see Pommie standing by the roadside in short shorts sucking down a cigarette and carrying a gym bag. ![]() His character, Pommie, is the kind you don’t trust to take your eyes off he has a Chopper-esque quality in that we’re never sure what might push him over the edge. He is an actor whose expression can flick from a smile to a terrorising glare in an instant. ![]()
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