Snap (2013)

First published as part of EyeforFilm’s Undistributed Gems

If its title evokes both a sound and a psychological crisis, Youssef Delara and Victor Teran’s film combines these themes in the divided personality of Jim (Jake Hoffman), an unstable loner who tries to block out the voices in his head – and the traumas of his past – though the raucous dubstep pieces that he composes on his computer at home. Yet when a tentative relationship with social worker Wendy (Nikki Reed) turns toxic, it seems that nobody can escape the darker side of their personality.

Edited, like one of Jim’s musical tracks, with a violent percussiveness, Snap builds to the explosive conclusion that its title promises while always treating mental illness with sympathy and sensitivity. presumably in a bid to make the film a more commercial prospect, Snap has also subsequently been retitled Enter the Dangerous Mind, which is as blandly generic as titles come – and yet, apart from a screening at 2013’s Film4 FrightFest, this has yet to be released in the UK.

Would appeal to people who like: Taxi Driver; Clean, Shaven; Spiral (2007); Afterschool; Fight Club

Anton Bitel