Snow Falling on Cedars
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Movie Reviews of Snow Falling on Cedars
Movie Review: layers upon layers of ghosts
Summary: 5 Stars
The movie is about ghosts.
First, the ghost of the dead fisherman and the trial of the Japanese-American accused of his murder.
Second, the ghost of a long ago childhood forbidden love affair between the small town newspaper editor/publisher's son and the now-wife of the accused.
Third, the ghost of Pearl Harbour, WWII and the racial prejudice that resulted in the concentration camps for Japanese Americans.
The three ghosts are completely twisted together, the newspaper editor can't move on from his childhood love, the community can not rise above the racial profiling it engages it.
It's a depressing, period piece, sad with the quiet street full of Japanese-Americans, now war hysteria internees walking down the small town's mail street to be ferried to Manzanar for the duration of WWII. The movie is at least 75% flashbacks, it is very non-linear, very literary, not your usual movie fare. There are two heroes, the defense lawyer and the small town publisher, but they are completely overwhelmed by the masses of people demanding that something be done. But the story is not about them, it is about the two main characters, moving on and letting go of their old ghosts.
This movie, like movies such as Farewell to Manzanar, are necessary to dispose of our society's old ghosts. Showing them in the light of what happened, and hopefully why it happened, in order that it won't happen again. Ghosts don't seem to die if you just ignore them, bury them away and try to forget. Just as he has to forget his childhood love, understand that she is married and has a life of her own without him, the island people have to come to grips with the fact that they transported their friends and neighbors to camps in the hysteria of the moment. Every WWII movie i see, i ask the question of "how could the good Germans not know, not fight the evil around them?". This movie partly answers that question with the answer of "it happened here and very few spoke up", the scene of their transportation by ferry will be as rememberable as all those scenes of German Jews marched to their death. This scene is the climax of the movie, moving, saddening, and i'm afraid all too true and prone to be repeated each generation, only with different faces and different "reasons".
The music, the cinemagraphy, the plot and literary basis, the acting, all well above average, very well integrated and deeply moving.
Movie Review: Film collector's "must have"
Summary: 5 Stars
This exquisitely produced and directed film is designed for those who watch movies many times. The story of a trial for murder of a Japanese-American man living in a community not
yet shed of its wartime prejudices remains a compelling reminder of how easily justice is cast
aside. The plot, however, pales into insignificance in view of the captivating filming
techniques used. A low-key presentation, every scene gives but hints of content, letting the
plot build with almost infinitesimal steps. The viewer will remained glued in place, fearful of
missing a vital element. Not a fast-paced adventure story, Snow Falling on Cedars is
exemplary of the minor steps each life takes in its progress toward some fulfillment. The
resolution may not be palatable, but it's unquestionably realistic. The director deserves the
highest praise for what he's given us.
Fans of Ethan Hawke, if such there be, may be disappointed in this role. He remains merely a
face glimpsed in passing as the story unfolds. Any pretty, love-sick Hollywood boy could
have performed this role adequately. He merely observes his surroundings and his past.
Perhaps that's just, given that he inherited the town newspaper from his father. Sam Shepard
as the father, outshines Hawke in the few scenes he's given appearance. The real star of this
film is, of course, Max von Sydow. Von Sydow simply walks away with it as the accused
man's lawyer. It ought to be an easy role to play. He simply has to defend justice as an ideal.
Von Sydow, however, forcefully brings a sense of exceptional humanity in his performance.
He's never been better. Were there not other elements of such fundamental importance in this
film that must be covered, von Sydow might have had a larger role. No matter, the
presentation of this film is so overwhelming, individual actors' preferences are of little
account. The "bigger picture," the story and its presentation, have given us a jewel of a film.
Movie Review: The Architecture of Racism
Summary: 5 Stars
I grew up in Maine where everyone takes pride in having "clean hands" on racism, slavery and other "unfortunate regional problems" ( even though almost every household most likely still has at least one book on the very popular eugenics movement of the 20's and 30's). I was 20 by the time I even heard of the holocaust..and a few years older than that whe I first heard about the internment of Japanese Americans after Pearl Harbor.
This film tells that story as it unfolded in a small fishing village in the San Juan Islands..through flashback in connection with the trial of a young Japanese American fisherman for the murder of a fellow non asian fisherman in the fleet. It includes the classic "Romeo Juliet" story of a youthful love affair between the defendants wife and a local reporter following the trial.
I have always wanted to know more about the internment of Japanese Americans..not just what happened but how it happened, how it emerged from American culture..how Americans could have done that to other Americans. And this film answers my hearts questions so beautifully, so simply, so compassionately giving us room to form our own understandings of what happened and how it happened in very human terms, in the terms of ordinary life in a small village.
As with many stories told with flashback it is not a clear simple unfolding but then again the culture, traditions and humanity that combine to create this kind of narrative are not themselves a simple unfolding. The film, in my opinion, does a wonderful job of helping us to understand the subtleties of racism..perhaps even to see a little more clearly the biases within us to which we are blind and which we carry unknowingly into the world.
My five stars are not so much for the cinematic art of the film ( it's direction, screen play, acting, cinematography etc.) but for the grace and simple openness with which it tells this story tgat is so important for all of us to visit historically..and within ourselves now.
Movie Review: Spellbinding Mystery Gorgeously Photographed!
Summary: 5 Stars
Although this movie unfortunately opened to mixed critical reviews, after seeing I have to conclude that it is a film that (in my estimation, at least) comes very close to cinematic perfection. Seldom does one see such a powerfully depicted drama that also features the level of artistic accomplishment in terms of cinematography, accomplished acting, and general story line. Taken from the best-selling novel of the same name, this spellbinding tale of love, mystery and intrigue is set in the Pacific Northwest in the time period right after the end of World War Two, and deals with the undercurrents of deep-seated racism against a group of ethnic Japanese who had made their home for decades on the island depicted in the movie, and who were in many ways the most terribly and unjustly mistreated group within the United States during the war. The movie version of the story is extremely well-told, and Ethan Hawke shows he has the chops to be a major star in his brilliant portrayal of the central figure in the unraveling of the mystery. Likewise, Sam Shepard and the rest of the cast does a sterling job in presenting this drama in a magnificently photographed and choreographed depiction of life and death in the sleepy little harbor where it all unfolds. One of the other reviewers mentioned the way in which the director has used his ability to interweave various elements such as the photography and the acting to spin his tale masterfully, and I have to agree the sum total of this effort is certainly much greater than the parts; the net result is simply terrific. This is a movie that deals with a painful aspect of American history quite well without either looking for easy answers or contriving convenient solutions, but it does manage to let us know that the only way to end such prejudice and fateful discrimination is through individual effort and personal growth. Two thumbs way up in this aisle seat for "Snow Falling On Cedars".
Movie Review: An absorbing story!
Summary: 5 Stars
After the emotional wounds inherited from the WW2, there's a painful fact. A dead man emerges from the sea and rescued by two fishermen. The initial investigation will be the sparkling nerve of this mature story, in which a warmth love story will fade due a crucial decision: imposing wills with racism backstage dictating behavior codes; a sad story about two farmers who will negotiate seven acres of a productive land will converge by those random aggressions in a trial.
The confrontation goes far beyond a simple scheme of guilty or not guilty: the unobstructed passions will rule the scene till ...
Ethan Hawk makes an impressive role, his best achievement to date, with brilliant supporting characters such max Von Sydow as the defense attorney and James Cromwell as the Judge. The rest of the cast is splendid too; the dialogues are polished and concise; there is not excess of any sort.
The travellings in the forest are top notch ( you may realize a slender but visibly warmth homage to Kurosawa's Rashomon ) and the flash backs are simply sumptuous. This brilliant work once more is supported by a Judgment as dramatic device, follows the traces of exceptional previous films such Anatomy of a murder, Judgment at Nuremberg, To kill a mockingbird or Paths of Glory.
This is a genuine artwork. The handle of camera is ravishing as well as the lighting, edition and cinematography
There was an antecedent in a almost forgotten film of the middle fifties: John Sturguess' Bad day at Black Rock , dealing with the Anti Japanese phobia in an isolated town in the map. Spencer Tracy and Robert Ryan were in top form with this picture.
Scott Hicks made an admirable movie