Snow Angels

source: Snow Angels

SNOW ANGELS (2008) ***1/2 Sam Rockwell, Kate Beckinsale, Michael Angarano, Olivia Thirlby, Amy Sedaris, Nicky Katt, Griffin Dunne, Jeanetta Arnette, Gracie Hudson, Tom Noonan. Heartbreaking yet consuming slice of American tragedy. Based on Stewart O'Nan's novel, indie filmmaker wunderkind David Gordon Green delivers his best effort yet in this examination of the American Dream and how two relationships dovetail with heartbreaking consumption. Set in an atypical American small town in all its wintry charm, Arthur (Angarano), is a high school student who is having a difficult time with his parents' recent separation after his instructor father Don (Dunne) simply decides to leave for no real good reason and his mother Louise (Arnette) seems to not be fighting it since she can only feel rejected. Ultimately this will cause to dig deep under the surface of Arthur's angst he has kept to himself in spite of a lovely, budding relationship with cute new schoolmate Lila (Thirlby) who also sees Arthur as a wonderful being altogether and frequent subject of her creativity, photography. Meanwhile Arthur's co-worker at the local Chinese restaurant, Annie (Beckinsale) – who used to baby-sit for Arthur (who harbors an unspoken crush on her still) – is trying to get by in the aftermath of her husband Glenn's (Rockwell) suicide attempt gone awry leading to their painful separation, and their young daughter Tara (Hudson) caught in the middle. What transpires is a terrible tragedy that unites the community yet causes further chasm-like distance between Glenn's futile attempts to keep a job and his sobriety while Annie's fleeting affair with her best friend Barb's (Sedaris) husband Nate only fuels the fire that will ultimately lead to a devastating act. Green sublimely creates a tense yet believable environment for his principals and his quiet yet penetrating mood gets under the surface once the film begins to quicken its pace to its climax. The gorgeous cinematography by Tim Orr underlines the natural beauty corroded by its characters' basic instincts. The ensemble is first rate. Relative newcomer Angarano is a true natural find and his chemistry with Thirlby (last seen as the snarky sexy second banana to Ellen Page in "JUNO" ) is one of the most excellently realized depictions of contemporary American teenagers I've ever seen committed to the screen and their fragile forming love is truly hopeful and palpable. Beckinsale gives her finest performance to date making a somewhat unlikable character empathetic while Rockwell continues his journeyman-like career as the truly flawed and desperate Glenn's failure-upon-failure to restore his marriage by becoming a Born Again Christian yet losing the battle of faith with the bottle ; it is a truly shattering and brilliant performance. The film overall is easily the best I've seen so far this year and it is a shame it will likely be looked over come Oscar time; it's that good.

A fine effort from the maturing DGG. It's strange to see him working with "name" actors - and maybe a bit sad. On the other hand, it's great that the actors want to work with him. KB did a find job of acting, but I'm not sure that she was the best person for the part. She's a little too pretty, maybe. And, dare I say it, she doesn't class down that well (even compared to Nicole Kidman). It hurts me to to say that. The walk in the woods is a nice reference to the short that DGG found (see George Washington - DVD for more) as a film student. And Nicky Katt. There should be some sort of alert. To all who enter here, beware Nicky Katt resides. I don't trust that guy. Class-wise, I think that it's important to look at all of DGG's movies before making any conclusions about his feelings about the blue collar. George Washington had a surfeit of promise. This movie is well made, but it's not living up to the original potential.

Kate Beckensale can make almost any movie worth seeing. Her 5'7" frame must weigh in at something like 110 lbs. Truly beautiful, any Real Man who's ever had a woman like that in his arms won't soon forget it. Cute chicks can help make a movie; but...... Snow Angels is a Valentine-of-Contempt for Middle America. A film truly worthy of the godless Obamanack liberals who pollute the film industry in 2007. A collection of born losers and born loser wannabees seem to make up the entire town. The biggest loser is Kate's estranged husband, who has turned to God (hollywood style) and will soon make the jump from God to rifle-power. Meanwhile, when an emergency strikes, Kate's ;ittle girl disappears, what better way to go on a search party than by first getting whacked-out on weed? This is what the Nice Young Boy in the film does; and is soon rewarded with a Full Lewinski from his underage girlfriend. There is virtually nobody in this movie with an ounce of sense, or character, or backbone. However, the scenery is good. Kate and the scenery score a 2/10. Skip this flop.

David Gordon Green is, to my mind, the best up-and-coming director we have working in the general realm of realism. This film, based on a Stewart O'Nan novel I've just begun reading, explores the interests, concerns, relationships (family and romantic), and local dramas of believable well-drawn characters. Among movies I've been aware of coming out this season, this was my most-anticipated one; and I felt my trust was very well rewarded. Not to be pushing realism as against script self-reflexiveness, trickiness, irrealism, surrealism, and so on -- I can get into any of those, too, when well done. But looking within the traditional alternative of character-based stories, convincingly and movingly told, who is more exciting than Green in his first four features? Only Nicky Katt was a bit disappointing among the players in sizable roles. Amy Sedaris, a little to my surprise, was really spot-on as friend/co-worker Barb, admittedly a somewhat comic part, but with dimensions of outrage and sympathy well beyond what I had thought Sedaris capable of. I've just begun the novel, but can note already that the screenplay (and realized film) completely solves what looks like a narrative problem in the novel -- Artie is a first-person narrator, but allowed to dramatize scenes he did not witness. The screenplay does put him in the center of the narrative, but without any sense of magic or violation when we are shown scenes outside his ken. The young romance between Artie and Lila is handled perfectly in the screen writing, direction, and acting, and is essential to the movie's feeling of full-spectrum life in this small town. (A preliminary scan through the novel suggests that the adaptation has somewhat sexed-up this relationship, but it's all good!)

The underlying novel and this film stole my planned novel! I live in Northeast Pennsylvania (the film is set in Southwest PA). I'm one of those who threaten, promise, etc., to write a book someday but probably never will. But my main idea was to write about one of the ancient defunct communities that dot the old coal and oil regions of the state. SNOW ANGELS does a great job at depicting lives in such communities. Especially during that part of the year when the landscape is barren and suicides spike. The profound sense of hopelessness is evident in many of the characters. Those without resources fall into profound despair. Those better off look into themselves. The result is always tragic or counter-productive. Only youth sees promise, has hope, etc. The film was far from perfect: Rockwell and Beckinsale's story line so dominates that the lives of the other characters become almost a distraction. I doubt that's what the author intended. The climax pays off in intensity but is predictable. But the acting and script are exceptional as is the pacing and mood. For those who think the film lacks plot, the simple depiction of setting and life are story enough.

I saw this movie today, 2 days after it opened here in Tulsa. And on the whole, I didn't like it. This movie does have some good features IMHO, but mostly it seems to belong to that genre of misogynistic movies in which misery is the main, though uncredited, character. Just not my cup of tea; but to each his or her own. The acting is on the whole fairly good, with a special standout performance by Sam Rockwell as Glenn. But the characters are drawn so unpleasantly that it's very hard for me to feel much sympathy for any character over the age of 17. When I think about it, that's an interesting datum: but that age-divide doesn't seem to be a theme to be explored at all in this movie; it's just a coincidence. But generally the movie seems to be driven by a desire to depict any and all adults as unappealingly as possible. That to me doesn't make for a very engaging movie; and does make for a very unpleasant script. There are some nice scenes, and some interesting camera technique ... such as focusing on a face and then slowly drifting left or right till the face is out of the picture, even though the character is still at the center of a scene. I think that makes for some interesting camera work, but of course the execution really reinforces the generally misogyny of the movie ... and if the movie doesn't "like" its own characters enough to treat them with greater respect, why should I? I do think there's much to be said for tragedy as a genre ... but this almost seems the opposite, in a way, because tragedy always treats the tragic hero or heroine with some sense of honor, decency, and respect. This movie depicts largely self-inflicted misery and seems intent on an absurdist treatment of such misery that is far from respectful or humanistic, but rather dystopian and disrespectful. To anyone thinking about seeing this movie: unless stories about unappealing people wallowing in self-inflicted misery is inviting, I would recommend a pass on this movie.

The first thing I said to my friend, who has worked in the movie business for 30 years, after we exited the theater, was "What was this movie about?" I still don't know. Here's what I do know. You won't see a more depressing movie this year and, as the film lacks any meaning, you won't find a more fatal combo. This ensemble piece would have us believe that every adult living in the small town in which the film takes place, has nothing but problems causing endless unhappiness. Story primarily follows Beckinsale and Rockwell, high school sweetheats, who are now separated. Rockwell is a totally unlikable character who moves between alcoholism, depression, self-hatred and religious foibles. I could never figure out why Beckinsale was with him. She's the type of girl who always escapes this small town dreariness and winds up in LA or NY, usually on the arm of some millionaire. That being said, anyone paying the slightest attention could even see the tragic end coming from the first or second scene. Also, the happy relationship between the two teenagers gives us a hopeful ending that contradicted everything else in the film and was dishonest. The only thing we could reasonably expect is that they, too, would wind up as unhappy as every adult in this picturesque, yet miserable town. The acting was the only thing that saved the film from being a total disaster. Sometimes I wonder whether the indie film movement exists so that films like this can get made. While it is true that some of the great films of the last 20 years have come out of the indie scene, there needs to be some limits on uber-depressing films that illuminate nothing more than misery. Don't be misled by some of the comments that you've read on this site and elsewhere. A total bummer.

In neither the promotional description -- "a story of love lost and found....a heartrending portrayal of three couples in various stages of life" -- nor in some of the love letters disguised as reviews would a viewer have a sense of what an unrelenting and monotone descent into tragedy something as innocently and mysteriously titled as "Snow Angels" is. This is a film not to be watched but endured. What is far more glaringly apparent and transparent is not the muted themes of age or love as much as it is the story of how problems do or do not work out, depending on where you fall in the food chain. These are not just couples distinguishably different because of their ages. Making an equal comparison to the a single, working class mother who waitresses at a family restaurant and the unstable, unemployed working class man she is married to the young boy she babysat and his parents who reside in quite a different social status with a remarkably different home, lifestyle and set of choices, is simply myopic. At the end of day and the end of the film, there really is only one "heartrending" message in this bleak and didactic lecture on the "misfit toys" who populate the working class: that the "White Trash," single parenting contingent caught in the cycle of meaningless service jobs with no opportunity for real mental health and counseling intervention other than what comes in crisis as during an arrest) must dutifully accept the ineluctable Jerry Springeresque set of consequences they deserve and let the Greek tragedy of their lives run its course. Meanwhile, the affluent are afforded slow motion long shots and wide smiles and the fulfillment of their desires complete with the soundtrack and dramatic (stadium) lighting of a Hollywood ending. Green's statement on class and consequences is either an intentional transmission or an inadvertently overt broadcast signal to the viewer. Whatever the case, I'd like to believe some other set of possibilities and some other message about the consequences of class than this film so subversively and dangerously proffers like a morality play.

After reading about this movie, and others comments I was very keen on checking it out. Unfortunately after doing so I have been strongly disappointed. There are several comments about the strong performances and how people connected to these characters... The entire movie I kept asking myself, "when I am going to start caring?" The movie ended and I couldn't wait to turn it off, I was inclined to fast forward just to see what happens. But painfully watched it to the end. Although there was some decent performances from Beckinsdale and Angarano, there was utter weakness from Rockwell who seamed more like an confused infant than an ex violent alcoholic. On top of that, the scripting and acting of Tara was nail biting, and overall I felt as if I was in another world where the rules of communication no longer applied. I could go on, but I strongly feel that this movie does not deserve the 7.2 that is currently listed and that you be careful before spending your time with this one.