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SNAK : Sensitive New Age Killer

Reviewed by Keaton Martino

CAST

Paul Morris - Paul Modor
Helen Morris - Helen Hopkins
George Hartly - Kevin Hopkins
Matty McKlean - Carolyn Brock Colin Adder (The Snake) - Frank Bren

Gary - Adam Batt
Bob - Dan Bridges
Eva Drucker - Dawn Klingberg
Chang - Hung Lee
Cheung - Lawrence Mah
Unstoppable BodyGuard - Colin Savage (brother of Mark)
Big Bazza - Arthur Serevetas

CREW

Director - Mark Savage
Producer - John Brousek
Screenwriter - David Richardson and Mark Savage
Editor - Anthony Egan and Robin Brennan
Production Designer - Ralph Moser
Director of photography - David Richardson
Composer - Paul Jamieson
Wardrobe designer - Paul Warrren

Running Time:
84mins

Rating:
MA there is also an uncut director's version that's rated R

Australian Distribution
TIDEPOOL FILMS AND SAVAGE FILMS

Video Distributor
20th Century Fox marketed with the assistance of the AFFC

Release Date
January 4th 2002

Box Office Figures

The Box office figures for SNAK – Sensitive New Age Killer I was unable to find. Because it is a small budget film and also Mark Savage's first Cinema release I do not think a big Box office smash was to be expected. I did find figures for the highest grossing of Australian films on the Age website at http://www.theage.com.au/articles/2003/01/29/1043804405298.html
Top of the 2002 grossing list was the Mick Molloy comedy Crackerjack, which raked in $7.7 million.
It was followed closely by Rabbit-Proof Fence at $7.5 million, and Dirty Deeds at $5 million.
Ten titles in 2002 took more than $1 million, compared to six in 2001 and there were 22 Australian releases, 19 feature films and three documentaries. Another significant factor of low box office takings was that 2002 saw the release of Lord of the Rings Fellowship of the Rings that swallowed all other films that year with gross earnings of more than $400.000.000.
I visited the AFC website at http://www.afc.gov.au/gtp/mrboxaust.html and saw the top 100 Australian film gross earnings unfortunately SNAK didn't make it into these figures.

Snak Sensitive New Age killer has not won any awards or at least I was unable to find any records of nominations and takings. This was a low budget film. Even the official website for the movie www.snak-themovie.com is no longer living, which made it a little more challenging in finding figures for the movie. However I did manage to find some sites with interviews and transcripts written by the cast and crew including Director Mark Savage.
These included :

The Age
www.theage.com.au/articles 2003/01/29/1043804405298.html

Movie Marshal Page
www.moviemarshal.com/box/aus2003.html

Ronin Cinemas
www.electricshadows.com.au/film./

IMDb
www.imdb.com.Title?0256375

The Heaven and Hell Sensitive New Age Killer
www.sensesofcinema.com/contents/01/14/SNAK_Savage.html

AFTRS Newsletter
www.aftrs.edu.au.Newsletter/0106.html

Movie pages feature SNAK and Internet impact
www.impactservices.net.au/movie_list/snak.html

Movie Reviews
www.bestofulsa.com/movies/sensitive_new_age_killer.shtml

I was also surprised to notice that overseas viewers were reviewing the film. Which must be an example of our ever-growing Australian Film Industry, with faster and more powerful technology films that are made in Australia can be viewed almost immediately and in some cases even before Australian Distribution.

Critical Review

SNAK Sensitive New Age Killer has been both loved and loathed by Australian critics. Paul Morris (Paul Modor) is your average suburban Husband and Father who desperately wants to please his family by succeeding in his occupational field, that being a Hitman. Unfortunately not everything goes right for our sensitive new age killer a blame that can easily be laid on the shoulders of his best mate and partner in crime George Hartly played by Kevin Hopkins. Who orchestrates these bungled up jobs by supplying Paul with malfunctioning Guns and giving early tip offs to the intended targets. All Paul needs is to pull off the one big job to earn him respect, money and the title he so deserves. However he must first face his inspiration Colin Adder aka The Snake, in fact Paul keeps a tribute album of the famous Hitman (Frank Bren) like an adoring fan containing newspaper cut outs of his Hero.

Its Director, Writer and Co - producer Mark Savage as a metaphor of his own struggles and those of other independent filmmakers, described the film in an Interview the "Heaven and Hell Sensitive New Age Killer."
In Sensitive New Age Killer, a hitman needs to do one big "hit"; that "hit" will then be proof that he can efficiently terminate a bad guy. Local crime barons will then know that our hitman isn't a complete screw-up. Out of this semi-biographical scenario emerged a tale of thwarted ambitions. In order to become a hitman, our hero needed to be a prick. Since our hitman isn't a prick, his road to success becomes a troubled one.
After his "Third fuck up in two months" Eva Drucker Paul's employer threatens to terminate the relationship, the only reason she keeps him on is because Paul's wife Helen is her niece.

SNAK uses Carnival like merry-go-round music, like something you would expect at a circus over Paul's Narration at the start of the film where we discover the motivations for his chosen career. From the very first words of the film we can tell the dialogue is a tongue in cheek spin off of Hollywood , Hong Kong and other Asian films. In these overseas action genres of which Savage is a fan, numerous gun battles and heavy narration are of heavy significance.

At the start of the film we also encounter Matty (Carolyn Brock) a nymphomaniac female police officer that black mails Paul for sex as a trade for her silence in his criminal activity. Matty has been handcuffing Paul to her bed for over a year when she informs Paul about the Big Hit. Matty turns out to be the best shot in the movie when after unleashing a full barrel of bullets between Paul's legs he lives to tell the tale. This is quite surprising after viewing the film were you see people shooting each other and missing from less than two meters away. Another spoof on the Hollywood shoot 'em ups

The Snake appears in the opening scenes where he saves "Ms Lucy" and kills one of "Big Bazza's" thugs. Paul as a child is seen hiding out of sight and photographs the Snake in action saying "I knew at that moment I wanted to be just like him, mysterious, lethal and above all caring!" This is followed by the opening credits with flashy James Bondish photo cutouts and a menagerie of gangster figures floating across the screen. Following this are family photos each person holding a weapon and smiling widely. Even the two month old baby! The background music is a deep and funky sax and trumpets both high tempo in the action scenes and almost soft porn like in the sex scenes between Paul and Matty.

Paul has moulded his career and life on the Snake never meeting him only learning from the backstreet rumours and Newspaper reports. However Paul decides to confront him when he learns the Snake has come to town to do his job. It is here the Western like shoot out occurs with both Hitman eyeing off the guns on the bed before deciding who's better, a steely silence waits. Paul is the obvious victor with uncanny amounts of blood being splurged out of the Snakes body as the bullet pieces his belly and throws him against the wall. This scenes brings to mind the New Zealand Gore movie Bad Taste that also uses enormous amounts of blood with cheap effects and fits in with the same genre with SNAK. Paul in his conversation before hand realises that his impression of the Snake was wrong he is not the sensitive caring guy thought to be, but a self-confessing mad killer, "if it has a heart I will kill it." The Snake then listens to the dying beats of his own chest -something that he does to all his victims. After killing the Snake and proving that he was better than him Paul indeed becomes the SNAKE minus the E for Evil!

The Film cannot be taken too seriously and indeed Savage's choice of shots, dialogue and music quickly allow the auidence to recognise that this is a black comedy action spin off. It takes rips from many a movie, some critics commented that the opening credits resembled those of another Australian film Two Hands. It has rich and colourful characters with cleaver dialogue and sensitivity. The main aim of Savage and his crew was to have fun making this film. Enjoy the grandness and sometimes the over theatrical reactions of the cast such as the obsessions each character seems to possess. SNAK is a black humour film that's about "having lots of fun, barrels of laughs and a bloody goodtime." AFTRS Newsletter.

Each character appears to have obsessive motivations behind their actions, some more vile than others do. Paul is driven by his obsession for the Snake, a man he truly respects and shares the same philosophy of the game that he does. Or so he thinks. Matty has simply one obsession and that is to have sex. This girl is a crazy nymphomaniac that would prefer having sex with her alleged criminals rather than arresting them. The Snake has an obsession with heartbeats. Everybody that he kills the Snake listens to their dying heartbeats by using his trusty doctor's stethoscope.

George, Paul's best mate who would at the drop of a hat quickly ditch the friendship between the two to get into bed with Helen, Paul's wife. (Who is the real life wife to Kevin Hopkins "George") George blackmails Helen for bizarre sexual acts. His leverage is to threaten to tell Paul that his daughter is really the result of an intimate night between Helen and him long ago or in Helen words "the worst mistake of her life." George has the Oedipus syndrome and in true Savage style it is at the extreme and almost ridiculous. He sniffs his dead mother's ashes and repeatedly watches his father suicide recorded on video and whose words echo over and over "mummy loves you boy she doesn't love me." Because of her resemblance to his mother George dresses Helen up in his mothers wedding dress and video tapes his bizarre sexual exploits. All this mostly goes on unnoticed by Paul and he comments to Helen " You know you've had a really bum up your arse about George lately what's he ever done to you?"

Although the content of the movie is bizarre and somewhat out of the ordinary, Savage places the action in the ordinary. This story could take place in any suburban town in any norm. The family scenes emphasises the natural feel of Paul's job like it could be any office job in any household where the father just wants to do his family proud. SNAK is also noisy with street suburban background sounds such as dogs barking, birds chirping and cars driving past putting these extraordinary events in ordinary situations it is as if Savage wants you to think that your neighbour could be a hitman and we would never know the difference. It is also about family values as we see when Paul takes his daughter fishing and does what any dad would do promises to buy her pony after the Big Job is done.

Cast and Crew History

Mark Savage is an Independent filmmaker with over 15 years experience SNAK is his first cinema release. He is a devotee of Hong Kong and Japanese action films, as well as Spanish and Italian thrillers by directors such as Mario Bava. Savage became a prolific filmmaker in his 'teens, producing many short Super 8 films, Savage went to the US for experience in the film business and returned to direct a number of ultra-low-budget action movies including a documentary on Jackie Chan. His other early works include Marauder made in 1986. In 99 he directed a Japanese feature Masked Avenger Versus Ultra Villian in the Lair of the Naked Bikini for which he won the Best Director Award at the Melbourne Underground Film Festival. He has also written extensively on film, lectured on filmmaking at university level, and directed commercials and music videos.

SNAK had a budget which was cut by 3/5 halfway through shooting, but because of his devotion and somewhat obsession with independent films Savage decided to push on. The original budget was never disclosed but according to Savage everyone was paid the minimal wage and stayed on because of their love with film. Colin Savage the brother of Mark appears in this film as well as in other films directed by his brother including The Masturbating Gunman. Using close friends and family Savage can get the desired result by working with a familiar crew also at an affordable price.
David Richardson who carried out the other half of the script has had numerous experiences on other projects both here in Australia and Hollywood. These include Oceans Eleven (2001) Wog Boy (2000) The Haunting(99) and Phoenix (98), The film was Produced and Distributed by John Brousek who is a graduating student of Film Production at the AFTRS in 1989 and has also worked on the Wog Boy The two film's share a similar dialogue as both main characters struggle their way through Australian life. SNAK is a parody of Hollywood films and the romantic existence of the action hero that Paul desires. Yet we see this in an ordinary Australian environment such as those used in The Castle, Bad Boy Bubby and other Urban Australian Films.

Paul Moder who has appeared in a number of "underground" action films, as well as many episodes of mainstream TV series leads the cast. He has worked with Savage on a number films and other low budget Australian productions such as Bloodlust (92) alongside Richard Wolenstencroft and John Hewit. He was also had the lead in Razor Eaters. Kevin Hopkins ( George) has appeared in many theatrical productions for the Melbourne Theatre Company, as well as episodes of popular TV series. Helen Hopkins has worked with many of Melbourne's leading theatre companies, and also appearing in episodes of Neighbours and Blue Heelers.

Wrap Up

Sensitive New Age Killer is light entertainment and easy to watch. I don't think that everybody would appreciate it because the selected genre of the film is a dark action comedy. It is obviously a black comedy with influences from global cinema. The final Gun battle is the first time Opera music is played in the film this brings to mind the classic Opera Chinese Kung Fu showdowns with elegant twists and turns dives and ducks in slow motion with debris being blasted about everywhere. This is the first of three different styles of music used in the film, for the majority of it uses the carnival like fast bass and saxophone trumpets, but it is here in the last shoot out that Opera is heard. Finally the closing credits are accompanied with a John Wayne Wild West theme song singing the "man with his gun". Capping off with a Spaghetti Western theme.

Australian cars such as Paul's Red Valiant, and the shots of dirty aspects of Melbourne's city like polluted harbours and dis- used train stations, warehouses and the like all give the film a gritty feel with a juxtaposing of Paul sensitivity. The film probably couldn't have lasted more than its running time but Savage has managed to pull a kooky masterpiece that will be remembered for years. His uniqueness in bringing foreign elements of cinema and mixing them all together to point a finger at the features of mainstream films that the contemporary audience is enjoying, in a darkish almost comical fashion is his talent.

The Movie Pages feature SNAK http://www.impactservices.net.au/movie_list/snak.htm quotes critics from the Melbourne International Film Festival "A genre spoof par excellence." And from Adrian Martin at The Age "A fantasy about hitman, kinky villains and insatiable nymphos." I concur with most audiences in agreeing that SNAK is classic Australian perspective of overseas films while at the same time making fun of our own. It is a spoof movie not to be taken seriously but to make the viewer think what it is he is watching and why. As Andrew Dodd writes in the Australian that SNAK "features one of the most gratuitous shoot out scenes you are likely to see." I simply must agree.