From Subversive Films comes the Four Disc “Savage Sinema” box set, three films from the little known Australian director/writer/cinematographer Mark Savage. All of them are creative, sexually charged, feature bloody revenge! Here’s how they break down:
Marauders (1996)
A very slick shot on VHS revenge flick (in the vein of “I spit on your grave) that fails because it’s interesting look at but un-involving in every other sense. Three young punks kill some people to start the day to them and go on a rampage of death, fisti-cuffs and destruction. They’re eventually killed off by a crowd of irritated villagers in exceedingly brutal to eye rolling lame ways. If you split the film into a few choice parts is a perfect reel for Savage’s directorial and cinematographer skills but doesn’t work as a film at all. It has no plot, the characters are loathsome and with it’s dead serious air it isn’t any fun to watch. The final credits rolled and all I could think of was ‘That’s it?’
Sensitive New Age Killer (2000)
A schizophrenic chemical cocktail made up of the used shells from a John Woo Heroic Bloodshed gunfight and the viscous juices of a Japanese Pinky opus (A genre dealing with Sexual Exploitation, usually of the weird “She fits it all in and SNAPPED it in half?” variety) Our hero is a failed hit man that can never get a break. His wife’s thinks he’s distant, he’s abused by a dominatrix on a daily basis and his partner’s a backstabbing bastard. It a head when the most famous killer of all time comes to town. It’s the heroe's perfect opportunity to show off his stuff and make a name for himself. And hopefully, not have his head blown off in the process. S.N.A.K is an interesting mix with a few high points and lots of lows. The film stretches it’s low-budget in a few areas (The Two Gunfights are creatively choregopr) but falters at almost everything else. We have an interesting lead and the supporting cast give their over the top all, but it’s not enough to redeem the sluggish long parts and unnecessary sexual tinged sub-plots.
Defenceless (2004)
Once again, Savage crafts a meticulously shot and framed film. He even has a clever gimmick this time to back his visuals up: It’s a female revenge (Woman is left for dead for being an environmentalist, wakes up as a cannibal, kills some people in the last 10 minutes) film that contains absolutely no dialogue. Everything is told through visuals, music and editing. The problem this time around is that no dialogue can easy fall into the trap of being BORING. Out of all three films, this was the hardest to get through, because while it had the token violence, rape and out of nowhere weirdness of Savage’s previous efforts, it also felt like watching molasses roll down hill - in slow motion The number of fades to link scenes doesn’t make something “poetic”, it makes it annoying. Interesting on paper. Failure in execution.
DVD
Mark Savage is EVERYWHERE in this DVD set. Rowdy commentary tracks, mini documentaries (Of the talking head variety) and a grab bag of deleted scenes are included with every disc. There’s also a bonus disc containing all of the films he made from 14 onward and a made for tv docu-drama he shot about an Australian Crime. There’s even a thick booklet with diary entries written during the pre-production, production and post of each film!
No comments:
Post a Comment