Review of Snow Angels (2007) by Sean C — 08 Aug 2014

Seriously. There has to be a limit on how horrifyingly sad a motion picture can be. Seriously.

Not that this torrent of sadness is undeserved, or out-of-place-- the prologue even hints at a dramatic finale-- but I caught myself wondering : did those final events REALLY have to happen for the film to have its impact? It's a tough thing to discuss without spoiling those nail-biting turns, so I'll leave it at that... but it can get hard to watch, and eventually turn into some sort of burden to wear rather than a reward.

Honestly, I had a bit of a tough time sleeping once I finished Snow Angels (yeah, it was past midnight). I really couldn't call this film 'manipulative' if I tried, because David Gordon Green has such a strong grip on its characters that the events they go through never come across as 'phony'. But what starts out as a an organic story that draws us into the lives of a quiet American suburb during the winter eventually turns into a flat-out tragedy-- and let's say that the shift is more traumatic than compelling. Still, for all the misery and emotional mess of Snow Angels, Green finds resilience and hope in the younger characters and even in some of the grown-ups.

But enough about the downwards spiral. In parts, the film works just as well, too. Intertwining a coming-of-age story with a sad motel-room affair and a broken household drama might feel heavy as a whole, but each of these scenes are very well executed, thanks a lot to the extremely natural flow of the dialogue that is delivered by very talented performers.

Green's camera is also remarkable when it captures the chilly exteriors of the town. It at feels very poetic, and the framing and editing choices are just as expressive. In short, his ice-cold approach is just as strong as the hazy atmosphere Todd Field gave Little Children a year before-- too bad his message gets a bit diminished by trying to explore each character truthfully. For a hundred-minute film, Snow Angel eventually tries to cover too much stuff-- heavy, heavy stuff, that is.

The actors still remain spellbinding. There's nothing else to say : this has to be one of the best ensemble casts of the year. Beckinsale and Rockwell are the obvious stand-outs, channeling their character's devastating sadness with much, much passion, but the rest of the cast playing quieter minds, including Michael Angarano, Olivia Thirlby and Amy Sedaris, succeed just as well in expressing what those people go through.

Still, I can't help but feel weighted down by the intense dysphoria of the final result. As much as it feels real, I personnally reminded myself a lot of times along the way that Snow Angels was *still* a movie, and despite what anyone would say, I don't think that this avalanche of dolefulness is worth the payoff for every viewer.