Snap

Colour, HD CAM
Ireland, 2010, 86 min
EP – European premiere
Section: Variety Critics’ Choice

Synopsis

A fractured narrative and some equally fractured characters make Snap an engrossing, bitter and even bittersweet journey into crime, remorse, dysfunction, abuse and nervy, audacious filmmaking. This often-scathing Irish meller begins with a documentary crew invading the home of Sandra who has agreed to be interviewed despite her caustic tongue and what seems like a burning desire to antagonize the filmmakers. She is one angry woman: sometime in the very recent past, her teenage son kidnapped a toddler and created a national panic/sensation. Both Stephen and Sandra have become public enemies, with Sandra having been all but crucified, made into the kind of media scapegoat tabloid readers love to loathe. In its unorthodox structure, playwright Carmel Winters’ directing debut mirrors the deeply troubled souls at the heart of its story.