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Snowtown - 16/11/2011 4:55:51 AM

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Post #: 1

It's OK - 16/11/2011 4:55:51 AM

Squidward Hark Bugle

Posts: 9386
Joined: 17/10/2007
From: Laurel Canyon

It's an interesting insight into the minds of these people, and it doesn't overdo the violence, but it falls victim to the trap that many Australian films fall into, to be grittier and far more grim than any previous local release.

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Post #: 2

RE: It's OK - 16/11/2011 10:50:30 PM

nhassell

Posts: 237
Joined: 23/8/2009

Just got back from seeing this. A hard watch, but a very fine piece of film making. Great performances from all of the first time actors, as well.

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Post #: 3

- 17/11/2011 1:46:28 AM

crimsonfire

Posts: 2
Joined: 13/3/2010

A slow-burning and confronting watch. Takes a while to get going but I guess that's the point. It wasn't until it was finished that I realised I'd enjoyed it. It told you me story without me realising I'd been told one. Excellent.

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Post #: 4

RE: - 17/11/2011 10:25:42 AM

Herr Schnitzel

Posts: 205
Joined: 1/2/2009

I thought this was rather dull. The film never managed to establish the relationships between many of the characters. The actions and motivations of secondary characters were unclear and only when I read the wikipedia entry on the case, a much more interesting and devastating story emerged.

This had a quite a few of the same crew that worked on Animal Kingdom, another Aussie true crime story to which this bore some stylistic similarity, but that was a far better film about a family involved in crime.

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Post #: 5

Disturbing - 17/11/2011 12:31:12 PM

TomBowler

Posts: 31
Joined: 4/2/2010

is a good word to use here. Cerebral, creeping, brilliant, all good words. Daniel Henshall's performance is the most lightning in a bottle thing you'll see for a while. I'm an Australian, and I approved this movie.

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Post #: 6

Incredible film - 19/11/2011 9:06:36 AM

ChicksHands

Posts: 19
Joined: 15/12/2008

Definitely four stars, a very tough watch. Can't believe Empire only gave it a one paragraph review.

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Post #: 7

RE: Snowtown - 22/11/2011 10:40:08 AM

ChudMonkey

Posts: 53
Joined: 29/7/2007
From: your mum

Unrelentingly harrowing, outstanding performances, tension built up brilliantly by only slowly revealing the nature of the brutality over the course of the movie and by using an absolutely immense soundtrack. I can't believe at least 6 people walked out of the screening I went to last night - fools!

5 massive stars - absolutely stunning

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RE: Snowtown - 22/11/2011 10:41:33 AM

ChudMonkey

Posts: 53
Joined: 29/7/2007
From: your mum

forgot to put me stars on there mate

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Top 10 of 2013 so far

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9. The Place Beyond The Pines
10. Stoker

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Post #: 9

RE: Snowtown - 28/11/2011 1:39:30 PM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3143
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh

A largely ambigious, deeply horrifying and hugely impressive portrayal of one of Australia's darker chapters in it's recent history that is as effective as any horror film you're likely to see this year. It's not so much a film about the crimes of John Bunting (an utterly terrifying Daniel Henshall) but more so in the human tragedy experienced through the eyes of teenager Jamie who through no real choice of his own is trapped and coerced into a path of appalling cruelty and extreme violence (most of which occurs off screen) resulting in devastating circumstances for virtually all concerned. Much like Ben Wheatley's Kill List, the world of Snow Town is intoxicating and immensely uncomfortable, with many scenes invoking an impending sense of relentless dread. Unlike the low-key British chiller though which takes frequent flights of fancy, this is very much grounded in stone-cold realism (it would have to be anyway given it's based on a notorious true story) which makes proceedings all the more powerful and stays with you long after the final shot of a closed door. By no means for everybody but essential for anyone who admires challenging and harrowing cinema.

4/5

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10. In The House

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Post #: 10

RE: Snowtown - 12/1/2012 8:17:03 AM

jonson

Posts: 8057
Joined: 30/9/2005

Thankfully the excellent Phoenix cinema in Leicester brought this back for a week, so I went to see it last night. Very curious really, I wasn't sure is I was enjopying it at all until it finished, then I realsied what a brilliant bit of filmmaking and acting I had seen.
Great performances all round, very dark, very disturbing, I thought the 2 guys playing Jamie (who is really the character we see the film through) and of course John Bunting (played brilliantly by Daniel Henshall - a truly terrifying character) were excellent, they filled the screen every minute they were on.
To be honest, I am hard pushed to remember a bad performance throughout the film, it was dirty and grimy, almost as if we were hovering over a disfunctional event.
The filmmaker even managed to throw in a couple of vaguelly amusing scenes, but no sooner had I chuckled, something appeared on the screen to make me feel like jumping into a large hole.

It's a tough film to recommend but I will.

4/5

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Post #: 11

Incredible film making. - 3/3/2012 2:03:09 AM

Coyleone

Posts: 480
Joined: 13/10/2008

I just watched it and thought it was incredible. Extremely disturbing intense and harrowing, but really powerful stuff. The violence wasn't really shown, more so insinuated. Saying that though there was one scene that was insanely hard to watch, but even then the violence wasn't necesseraliy gory, just extremely disturbing. The acting was amazing from everyone involved. I wouldn't recommend this to everyone because of the nature and tone of the film, but I thought there were moments of absolutely amazing film making. The downfall of Jamie was very hard to watch and the way he was drawn into this world was very well done. Again, I thought this was pretty amazing and a lot better than Animal Kingdom.

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Post #: 12

RE: Incredible film making. - 23/5/2012 1:22:13 PM

Vitamin F

Posts: 557
Joined: 6/10/2005
From: Norn Ireland, so it is

Grim, nasty, powerful and more than a bit scummy - almost felt the need to wash my hands after watching this.

A very intense serial-killer true story told primarily from the point of view of the teenager that gets sucked into a horrific cycle of events. Watching his life go from bad to worse to "holy shit!" is harrowing.

I would recommend this quite highly, but am in no rush to watch it again myself, it's all just a wee bit too dirty to be classed as entertaining. The acting is outstanding at times, from Daniel Henshall as John Bunting especially. Guy knows how to stare and intimidate.

The quite similar Animal Kingdom is a much more entertaining (that's hardly the right word, but...) film and I found it more accessible, but there's no doubt that Snowtown is a great bit of film-making, even if it's tricky to keep track of all the characters that drift through it, be they victim, accomplice, acquaintance, extended family member, neighbour etc etc...

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Post #: 13

RE: Incredible film making. - 24/5/2012 1:53:51 PM

zenkovich

Posts: 5
Joined: 24/5/2012

Good one

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Post #: 14

RE: Incredible film making. - 24/5/2012 8:26:52 PM

Qwerty Norris

Posts: 3143
Joined: 26/10/2005
From: Edinburgh

quote:

The quite similar Animal Kingdom is a much more entertaining (that's hardly the right word, but...) film and I found it more accessible, but there's no doubt that Snowtown is a great bit of film-making, even if it's tricky to keep track of all the characters that drift through it, be they victim, accomplice, acquaintance, extended family member, neighbour etc etc...

That's a fair point as there's a lot of people who come and (particularly) go, but in my opinion it's the central relationship between Jamie & Bunting that makes it so powerful. For me, it's a film about the tragedy of elder influence, rather than just a grisly serial killer film.

Think I might watch it again soon.

< Message edited by Qwerty Norris -- 24/5/2012 8:29:03 PM >

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Qwerty's Top 10 of 2013 (so far)

1. Zero Dark Thirty
2. No
3. In The Fog
4. Good Vibrations
5. McCullin
6. Beyond the Hills
7. The Place Beyond the Pines
8. Wreck-it Ralph
9. Shell
10. In The House

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Post #: 15