★★★☆
Shame on me, really, for walking into a film with low expectations simply because it’s a rural Australian crime drama – i.e. the only films we make here, apparently. Cut Snake manages to surprise with its complex characters and distinctive cinematography, elevating it above your run-of-the-mill ‘Aussie’ flick.
Merv Farrell (Alex Russell) is settling into a new family and a new life in Melbourne, complete with his own home and an engagement ring for his girlfriend, Paula (Jessica de Gouw), when Pommie (Sullivan Stapleton) shows up. Brutish and charismatic, Pommie has just got out of prison, and is hell-bent on seeing Merv return to the world he left behind.
For yet another film set in small-town outback Australia, Cut Snake looks a treat thanks to Simon Chapman’s cinematographic efforts. Director Tony Ayres keeps the boil on from the word go, building tensions in unexpected places – there’s the classic hero’s dilemma of Merv choosing between his new life and the old, and another, more pressing question that lingers as subtext until bursting into the light.
As for characterisation, Russell’s turn as Merv ‘Sparra’ Farrell is often frustratingly one-note. His minimal dialogue makes him too conspicuous for one attempting to start afresh. And speaking of one-note, Robert Morgan’s copper is pure caricature, and a scene in which he threatens Paula is almost comical in its aggression.
The real surprise here is Stapleton – at first seeming like your average run-of-the-mill weightlifting tough-nut sociopath, there’s a true complexity to Pommie of which Blake Ayshford’s screenplay makes solid use. He has deep, compelling reasons for his behaviour, although occasionally he engages in momentary acts of brutality seemingly just to remind us of his violent potential. His attempted rape of a prostitute, for example, seems heavy-handed, out of character and unnecessary.
There are also scenes that dance between condoning and demonising natural impulses, and an ending which trips lightly away from forcing a moral stance from the creative leads. It’s a weak choice for an otherwise nuanced and bold screenplay.
However, there’s more than enough strength in the film to lift it above its foibles. Cut Snake is no Animal Kingdom, but it’s still got plenty of bite and blood, and will hopefully inspire more annoying ‘Aussie genre’ filmmakers to beef up their characters’ backstories.
Cut Snake opens in cinemas on Thursday September 24.
