WRI/DIR: Carmel Winters • PRO: Cathleen Dore, Alan Maher, Martina Niland • DOP: Kate McCullough • ED: Mary Finlay• Cast: Aisling O’Sullivan, Eileen Walsh, Stephen Moran
Intelligent, skillfully made and quite unsettling, Snap is the debut feature from talented writer/director Carmel Winters. An amiable and charismatic woman, I had gotten the opportunity to see her speak earlier at the Screenwriting Panel organised by the Jameson International Film Festival.
While watching Snap that evening, it was hard to imagine that the humorous woman who had delivered some brilliant advice to a rapt audience earlier, had created something so dark and fundamentally disturbing. It was equally as hard to picture those formidable characters flowing out on her keyboard during a writing process which the lovely, Cork woman herself describes as: ’gorgeous’.
The film carefully weaves through three narratives, one focusing on the unlikable mother Sandra (Aisling O’Sullivan), a cold character who’s setting her story straight to a documentary crew. The second timeline takes place three years previous, around the event she’s addressing; when her 15-year-old son Stephen (Stephen Moran) abducted a toddler and held him captive in his grandfather’s home. The final timeline is a mix of home movies, which give insight into the character of Sandra’s own father.
As the three stories progress details of the character’s lives are carefully revealed, painting a much bigger picture about the events leading up to the abduction and the troubled Stephen’s state of mind. The skillful actors bring depth and humanity into a frightening world, with the young Stephen Moran completely stealing the show.
It’s hard to go into detail about what makes this film so dark and excellent without revealing too much of the plot. It’s a must-see...I’ll put it that way.
Gemma Creagh
Snap Screened at Dublin international Film Festival in Cineworld on Sunday 20th February.
