Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: THE SNAKE [SXSW Film - Austin,Texas]
The aspect of living life like there is no tomorrow, even though one might be getting on years, is the basis for "The Snake" [Narrative Feature Competition] written and starring Susan Kent as Jamie, a 40-something lady still stuck in rocker mode, living one drink to the next, hooking up with her smarmy boyfriend in the back of a van and generally just working everything around her. What makes the movie is Kent's maddeningly brazen performance as she bulldozes through every facet of her spiraling existence with the same gusto as if everything was bathed in roses. The great thing about her dialogue is that all the characters are clueless and yet totally themselves. Jamie's mom wants to love her but her tough love feels more like punches in the face as if Jamie is stealing her thunder and Jamie simply punches back with a closed fist. And this is all done with humor. The humor itself is a bit masochistic but it is done in such a tongue-in-cheek way that it always lands with a smirk. Jamie's intrusion on her best friend, who is just as nuts as she is, with a castrated husband she treats like crap and 20-year-old son that wants to sleep with Jamie, is just a powder keg waiting to explode in a certain way...and it does because Jamie has no impulse control. The meandering yet razor sharp dialogue is indicative of this. Kent knows what she is doing.
Like "Ready Or Not", Jamie is also always looking for a cigarette and for her, sex is fun, even if certain repercussions she doesn't think of until too late. The main driving force for the film is that her mom throws her out of their house. Jamie thinks her grandma left the house to her...and that thought motivates the entire progression of the film. The men is the film are all crazed fiends or blathering messes, which is actually right on in many cases, especially in the world Jamie lives in. The men are either miserable or oblivious. But the same thing can be said of the female characters. They are all best friends until they are not...and that is alright too. What redeems Jamie in a certain way is a cathartic experience she has later in the film. But the reality is that she also might be lying to herself to end up right back where she started but with a slight boost in confidence. Again the film's strength is in its dialogue and Kent as its pistol whipper. Jamie is the forward progressing shield simply bashing everything in her way. Even when she is being vulnerable there is that devil on her shoulder pushing her to do something she shouldn't do (or at least think twice about). Director Jenna MacMillan keeps the balance but Kent is simply a powerhouse, albeit in this specific world. Jamie is a mess and on the verge of being quite pathetic but she never sees herself in that light, even when all her chips are down. She messed up but damn it she will live her life with a party always in mind! B
By Tim Wassberg
