By Guy Logan
ORDINARILY, violence is justifiable against someone using their phone in a film screening, whether they’re making calls, receiving text messages or distracting you with bright lights as they check various sports scores.
But 2012 has seen a new trend emerge: Tweet-a-long interactive film screenings for the DVD and Blu-ray release of films like Drive, The Adventures of Tintin and — as of last week — Snowtown, Australia’s most successful based-on-a-true-story serial killer film since Wolf Creek. Which, if you want to feel old, premiered seven years ago.
Given how popular Twitter has been for discussing television as it happens, it makes sense why film companies are giving it a go as well. After all, the only real problem is potential spoilers from inconsiderate sods who have seen it already. It’s a serious concern though. Imagine watching Memento, The Usual Suspects or The Sixth Sense with someone who can’t keep their mouth shut.
But unlike Drive and Tintin, However the plot of Snowtown is well known. The ‘bodies-in-the-barrels murders’ both horrified and fascinated an entire nation with tales of horrific torture, vigilante justice and extremely dysfunctional families.
But does this event work for a film described as “impressive but exceptionally disturbing” , “unrelenting nastiness” and infamously by Today’s Richard Wilkins as “the most disgusting, horrific, depraved and degrading film I have ever seen”?
Audiences seemed to think so, both those at the London screening by Revolver and those who joined in from home using the #SnowtownLive tag. Even the film’s director Justin Kurzel — who holds a healthy amount of cynicism for Twitter — was impressed.
“I must admit, when it comes to registering a mood for something like Snowtown, I found Twitter enormously helpful. You need to debate and dialogue about your work, and Twitter’s great for that,” Kurzel told Australian Times. “My biggest concern with the Tweet-a-long was that there would not be a level of discussion or input that was sensitive to the film.”
And rightly so. Kurzel’s desire to present the human element largely ignored by the media during the “macabre, ghoulish spectacle” meant going to sometimes extreme lengths to protect — or provoke. The director met with critics early in the film’s development, inviting them to private meetings to discuss the plot, and even filling lead character roles with locals found in shopping malls as— some of whom had even met the infamous killer John Bunting.
But is the openly anti-Twitter Kurzel willing to defend a Tweet-a-long interactive screening for a film as dark and brutal as Snowtown? Apparently so.
“It’s very similar to a director’s commentary, so in that context it works. Likewise if you want to watch the film with a bit of distance,” he says. And given the number of people who walked out of cinemas over the brutal killings of both humans and animals, that distance is a welcome addition to some.
Kurzel spent a year in London in 2004, unemployed, watching hundreds of films, and trying to find his identity. Ultimately, he found it as a director.
“Muscular Australian films like Chopper, Wake in Fright and Animal Kingdom all deal with a search for identity — sexual identity, masculinity, etc. It’s a preoccupation of Australian directors and has a lot to do culturally where we’re at,” he says.
While the discussion surrounding masculinity in the 21st century is sure to run and run, debate over the benefits and drawbacks of interactive film screenings probably won’t. But whether or not you take part, be sure to avoid Tweeting any spoilers, or society may find itself plagued by further vigilante justice.
The Snowtown film experience via Twitter:
0:00 – @JackKirby: The film begins! A delightful comic romp, right?
0:15 – @FrankieClarence: First ice cream now a kangaroo’s head. I’m loving it 🙂
0:25 – @DogAteMyWookie: Cricket and brotherly love, who said Australia wasn’t a very good holiday destination?
0:35 – @JackKirby: They’ve shaved their heads. Never a good sign. See also: The Divide
0:55 – @EyeforFilm: If it wasn’t for the vigilante murdering streak, John would be a charmer. Such twinkly eyes. Henshall nails the nuances.
1:10 – @Charmarh: Can’t watch this bit.
1:25 – @DannyJGraham: Horribly good, the bathroom scene made me almost stop watching!
1:40 – @TomMimnagh: Not sure where the climax of this is going. Assume it’ll be violent.
End – @theraygun: Hope no one was expecting to see Downton. They might be a bit shocked.
Have you participated in a Tweet-a-long? What are your thoughts on the new craze? Tell us now below: