Snow Cake
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Movie Reviews of Snow Cake
Movie Review: Kiss of Ice
Summary: 4 Stars
Welsh-born film director, Marc Evans, who has given us HOUSE OF AMERICA (1997), and RESURRECTION MAN (1998), stepped back from the Thriller/Horror genre, and was lured to the wilds of Wawa, Ontario--a small Canadian town of 4,000 that is lorded over by a huge statue of a snow goose, by a very sensitive script written by Angela Pell, and a powerhouse dream cast. SNOW CAKE is a film about pain, retribution, angst, revenge, inner demons, middle-aged angst and sex, disabilities, small town idiosyncrasies and politics, acceptance, and love--that can rear its beautiful mug in the dangdest places at the weirdest times.
The poster tagline was, "sometimes stopping is the most important part of the journey." An ex-convict, Alex (Alan Rickman) was on a road trip, a painful and emotional odyssey, to Winnipeg. He harbored dark secrets and stress, and we are not at first aware of the exact nature of his "crime". At a truck stop diner, the reserved and taciturn Alex met a loquacious, bubbly, sweet yet eccentric young woman--Vivienne (Emily Hampshire). Reluctantly, Alex offered her a ride to Wawa.
Tragically, just as they pulled out onto the highway they were T-boned by an 18 wheeler semi. Vivienne was killed, but Alex emerged without a scratch. Traumatized, he decided to contact the girl's mother to convey his condolences and regrets. When he met the mother, Linda (Sigourney Weaver), he was confronted with a middle-aged highly-functioning autistic woman. She seemed to beguile him with her lack of emotion, and she invited him to stay with her until Vivienne's funeral--so that he could, "take out the garbage on Tuesday. Vivienne always did that. I don't do garbage."
Alex did stay for several days, and he found a gentle way to co-exist with Linda's eccentricities, her obsession with cleanliness, her fascination with "sparkling" things, her need to jump often on her trampoline, her love of eating snow, and her need to keep all hands and feet out of her kitchen. Soon Alex met the attractive next-door neighbor, Maggie (Carrie-Anne Moss), and they made an attempt to "start" a relationship. Before the funeral, we discovered Alex's pain-ridden past, and why he railed so emotionally against the truck driver (Callum Keith Rennie)--we met Linda's wonderful parents, who had raised Vivienne, and we learned to appreciate the relative independence that Linda had carved out laboriously for her self.
Sigourney Weaver was astonishingly good, just excellent, as Linda. She had studied Autism, and somehow found a way to deglamorize herself, and be emerged completely in the tic-ridden, quirky yet likeable Linda. The writer Angela Pell, has an autistic son, and so understands the bumpy emotional terrain she wrote about. Alan Rickman of the dour smirk, quick wit, and carefully phrased speech, found a character in Alex that was flawed and still redeemable, middle-aged sexy, very capable of terrible anger, yet equally capable of growth, of an epiphany, who at the end of his journey in Wawa discovered some form of acceptance and patience. Carrie-Anne Moss presented us with a Maggie who was outspoken, an outsider in a small town, sexually emancipated, fiercely independent, well read, well versed, needy yet giving, warm and real, yet still vulnerable, and of course incredibly sensual. She took what was essentially a "nothing role", embraced it and breathed life into it.
SNOW CAKE like other Canadian winter dramas, reminiscent of Atom Egoyan's THE SWEET HEREAFTER (1997), and Sarah Polley's AWAY FROM HER (2006), created a movie malleable microcosm of humanity and human nature--that touches us as it teaches, that provided a lively peek into the lives and hearts of several unique and "special" characters. It is a quiet film that nevertheless grips our shoulders firmly, a stern but patient tutor who had an interesting lesson to share.
Movie Review: thoughtful and thought-provoking
Summary: 4 Stars
"Snow Cake" starts off with a jolt of bitterly cruel irony, as a young hitchhiker, desperate to get home to her mother's, scans an Ontario diner to see which of its numerous patrons would be the "safest" person to ask for a ride. She quickly alights on Alex Hughes, a reserved, colorless, middle-aged Brit who's come to Canada on some undisclosed business and who seems to be covering up some deep dark secret from the rest of the world. Alex reluctantly agrees to take Vivienne with him, but before they can reach their destination, Vivienne is killed when the car they are riding in is sideswiped by a speeding semi. Wracked with guilt, Alex decides to visit Vivienne's mother, Linda, and apologize for his part in the girl's death. When he gets to the woman's home, he is shocked to discover that Linda is suffering from a case of autism so severe that she essentially lives in a world of her own, emotionally cut off from the people around her.
Lyrical and low-keyed, "Snow Cake" paints an intriguing portrait of a woman trapped inside a dysfunctional mind and of a man coping with the crushing burden of survivor's guilt. Yet, that is not the only problem Alex faces, for, despite the fact that he is in full control of his mental faculties, Alex is not all that far removed from Linda in his inability to make sense out of the world and to establish emotional connections with the people in his life. Alex carries his sadness around with him like a dark cloud, alerting all who meet him to the extreme unhappiness buried deep within his soul. Somehow, Alex and Linda establish a bizarre symbiotic relationship that few others in the movie can even begin to understand.
Angela Bell's debut screenplay boasts a fine blend of sadness, humor and warmth, and Marc Evans' artful, sensitive direction creates a richly melancholic tone throughout. Going far beyond the mannerisms of a mentally-challenged individual, Sigourney Weaver is poignant and touching as the woman cut off from the outside world, while the always wonderful Alan Rickman, with his hangdog expression and exasperated tone, conveys all the suppressed longing and world-weary resignation essential to his character. In addition, Carrie-Anne Moss makes her mark as a well-meaning neighbor who offers Alan more than the traditional tea and sympathy in his time there.
Movie Review: Could Have Been Average in Lesser Hands
Summary: 4 Stars
Some have commented that this film didn't quite do it. "It" being, I assume, the usual heart warming effect of a tragedy redeemed by human goodness. Well, I guess the plot might lead one to look for that effect in that is is essentially about a "full-of-life young woman killed senselessly and how those she had touched must deal with her loss."
But the real power of this film is that there is an organic unfolding of all the characters in gentle and satisfying ways. The Rickman character is "redeemed" in a slow and unremarkable way through his self deprecating courage, the Weaver character moves from a stereotypical persona to a complex human with her own way of grieving, and the Moss character evolves from an equally stereotypical persona to something almost sage-like. And all the supporting characters are equally satisfying in the way they start as "type-cast" elements and become real human beings by the end.
There are salient moments which are not sappy or saccharine, and there are true insights into loss and the way life moves on, and the hope there is in imperfect people who never the less want to help each other.
But the real wonder of the movie is the way these seasoned actors can take lines that could sound trite or cliche in the mouths of lesser actors and deliver them naturally and intimately and in so doing create a quiet dynamism that feels authentic and hopeful.
I was surprised to find so many Amazon reviews of this low tempo film but I guess the big name actors and the quality of the direction worked together to create a real winner that obviously speaks to some core needs in us videophiles.
I certainly need to hear/see more stories like this in which people, in all their ordinary uniqueness, connect and relate in a way that celebrates our humanity without being predictable and formulaic. I think that is what I liked most about the film. Numerous times I thought, "oh, here comes the scene were such and such happens," and it didn't, I was wrong. This refusal to be predictable was a big part of the film's success.
Movie Review: A Very Well-Written Small Film
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a film about a man with "reparable" problems who is unexpectedly sharing space with a woman who has irreparable ones. It is not as annoyingly virtuous as a descrption makes it sound: Man with baggage (or, as he says, "haulage") is accidentally involved in death of young girl and visits her mother, who has high-functioning autism, staying to help her with the funeral and learning life lessons in the process.
I thought this was a film in which the writing was good enough that the characters, rather than the actors, shone through. All of the acting was good but it was the clever, deft handling of the themes in the script that made this film. I have heard Sigourney Weaver, as the mother, faulted for being "actor-ish", but I am not sure that this is the case. It is true that her character does get some of the best and most perceptive lines. This may be unlikely but I was willing to suspend my disbelief for a positive, likeable film.
The setting, in Wawa, (Ontario?), Canada, was perfection.
Movie Review: "Your comments are interesting and tough to answer.",per Sigourney Weaver!
Summary: 4 Stars
My name is Andre Jonathan, and I had the pleasure to see the premiere screening with the Cast,Director, and Writer of this movie at the 2006 Tribeca Film Festival. In addition, I was chosen from a few to comment, and ask a question to Sigourney Weaver personally during the Q&A. Moreover, my comment and question,along with my presentation I guess,to my surprise, was the only one to get applause and laughter from the audiance;in which Ms. Weaver's response was "that's a tough and interesting question to answer",and then she began elaborating for at least three(3)minuets to my question/comment). I don't quite remember what I said per se, but it had something to do with her advertent and/or inadvertent comedic skills I thought she displayed in a serious character role as an autistic woman! By the way, I thought the movie was touching, moving, serious, semi-provocative, and at times ackwardly funny! Furthermore, the overall CAST was COMPLIMENTRY & GREAT!!
Thanks,
Andre Jonathan
ajonathan1@yahoo.com