Irish director Carmel Winters has arrived and her debut feature, a demure little film titled Snap, is a marvellous achievement from a woman who clearly has a sense of the art of storytelling.
Adapted by Winters from a scene she wrote and later developed into a one woman show, her feature film debut is a further extension of the original idea which tackles issues of family and media, creating a fascinating document on how individuals act and interact both in front of the camera and behind closed doors.
Intricately built with layers of information revealed at every turn, Snap is a film taken in with little previous knowledge as part of its winning formula is the way in which the mystery unfolds, adding a new layer to the story with each passing scene. What at first appears to be a story of a mother dealing with the fallout of her son being charged with murder slowly morphs into a tale which extends much deeper than that, revealing a family history which is perhaps more damaging than any accusation thrown at the mother.
Irish actress Aisling O’Sullivan delivers a performance of intensity and raw emotion which shows her in varying degrees of emotion, each more powerful than the previous.
Winters makes the transition from stage to film successfully with powerful, fully rendered story which lives well beyond its running time and which marks her and cinematographer Kate McCullough (who shoots the feature in a variety of formats) as two women to watch. Snap is a brilliant debut.
See VIFF screening schedule for show times.
