Snakeskin
Snakeskin
| 01 October 2001 (USA)
Snakeskin Trailers

A hitchhiker takes two kids on the ride of their dreams, but they soon learn that their newfound hero is just as capable of delivering nightmares.

Reviews
AboveDeepBuggy Some things I liked some I did not.
Borgarkeri A bit overrated, but still an amazing film
Grimossfer Clever and entertaining enough to recommend even to members of the 1%
Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows
Michael O'Keefe This New Zealand product slowly grabs you. Alice(Melanie Lynskey...Rose on Two and a Half Men)is a young women who craves excitement. She admires most all things American; you know...threat of danger, drugs, sex and in her mind anything resembling a cheap thrill. Her bedroom walls are covered with photos of James Dean and Elvis. She also has a fetish for snakeskin boots. Her ideal weekend is going with platonic friend Craig(Dean O'Gorman), who wants to be called Johnny because it is sexier, hitting the highway and picking up strangers. With each stranger there is the chance of adventure. Johnny being in love with Alice would go to the ends of the earth for her. What Alice wants...Alice usually gets. When these two adventurers pick up an American hitchhiker Seth(Boyd Kestner), the road trip becomes a thrill ride. Seth appears to be a rough cowboy packing a gun and wearing snakeskin boots; and he is trying to hide the fact he is running from drug dealers, who he robbed...he has their product and their money. This being known, small town Alice and Johnny become characters in the adventure of their lives. Lynskey has what it takes to carry the movie. She is vibrant and adaptable. Others in the cast: Oliver Driver, Jode Rimmer, Jacob Tomuri and Paul Glover.
auslite I'm getting tired of NZ films like this. They have poor stories, the scripted dialogue is ridiculous and they are badly acted. Six years on and this type of NZ film is still being made. How did the Australians make the giant leap into quality film and somehow the Kiwis are still fumbling around like a High School Play Group? This film reeks of the liberal ideas and attitudes that are coming to a close in NZ. The story is desperate to attack traditional NZ culture and values, yet instead of actually telling the truth -which would do it better- they present common ignorant liberal assumptions.There is so much kitschy rubbish throughout it: scenes constructed from what the filmmaker must imagine rural NZ is like instead of what it actually is. It gives the impression that NZ culture is stuck on top of the people like a cheap plastic toy on the dashboard of a car. If you live in NZ or are familiar with it's people you'll laugh at some of the sanitised characterisations.Why was it even necessary to drift off into sci-fi? Is the truth really that hard to face? Or is it because the filmmaker really had nothing to say outside of proclaiming they, personally, imagine themselves to be "badass."
icequeen300 As the film opens there is a song playing, the lyrics are something along the lines of "there's a dust cloud out there, and its bigger than Texas.." I have searched high and low for what this song is and who sings it on the internet but to no avail. If anyone has the slightest idea about it I would really appreciate it if you let me know. It plays just before Melanie Lynsky starts narrating and listing her heroes, various movie characters including Thelma and Louise. I think the lyrics in the song represent her desire for the adventure she has always lived for which is about to finally happen to her, though she doesn't yet know it. What is before her is elusive and hidden, behind a giant dust cloud. Lol even if you just liked the song as well I'd love to know i'm not alone and the song actually does exist!
jacob thomas I went to Snakeskin not expecting much, perhaps something along the lines of "Stickmen" a NZ version of a successful overseas production, with a focus on Kiwiana and gimmicky NZ references. Too a large degree I was not disappointed. Oliver Driver plays yet another weirdo (although this time a skin head speed freak) which he does well, however, his appearances are becoming a little too familiar. While the acting and actors are excusable the writing is not, the first half of the film is nothing particularly new but works, but, by the second half the writing is completely incoherent. At one point towards the end it seems as if too many characters have been introduced and writer/director Ashurst just gets rid of them, they walk off, get shot etc. etc.... More noticeable than their demise is the increasingly strange (dare I say quirky) mishmash of ideas thrown in to try to hold the script together as it winds down towards the end which is neither a surprise nor original. (In fact for all you B-grade film viewers, very "Tales from the crypt" type thing). The whole film is very New Zealand on the surface and should be praised for being true to "NZ", those of you who liked "Stickmen" will like this film, but for me it does not compare with "Goodbye pork pie". Go and see it if only for the landscape.