Review of Snow Angels (2007) by Aaron N — 12 Dec 2008

Band Leader: Are you ready to be my sledgehammer?

A well acted film that fits itself very firmly in the drama category, but doesn't resort to a predictable plot line. This doesn't mean the film constantly throws curve balls at the audience, but it certainly portrays a series of events in real, awkward, and sad ways throughout.

There are two main stories going on in this film. One involves a woman, played by Kate Beckinsale, working a waitress job and caring for her daughter. She is estranged from her former alcoholic husband, played by the great Sam Rockwell, who is doing the best he can to get a job and live by the bible after a suicide attempt.

The other story involves a high school boy, played by Michael Angarano, who is a part of the school marching band, has a budding relationship with a new girl in school, played by Olivia Thirlby, and has just seen his parents separate.

The lives of many of these characters are intertwined in various ways, as they all live in an unnamed, snowy town.

Various events and one in particular eventually bring the characters to new points in their lives causing various degrees of turmoil or new connections. This is me trying not to give away to many specific plot details.

Louise Parkinson: Its easy to block out the things that upset us. That's what most people do.

The movie relies mainly on individual scenes, connected of course by the fact that the characters remain the same, but many scenes seem to easily work as ones that would standalone. This is a credit to the fantastic cast, portraying these characters in a very realistic (and at many times awkward) manner.

Beckinsale and Rockwell in particular. I'm certainly warming up more to Beckinsale as an actress (opposed to just a very hot woman) the more I see her in actual acting roles and I've been a fan of Rockwell for a long time.

The movie is also filled with a number of supporting character actors who all play there roles very well.

Complete with a good score and wonderful cinematography to capture the snowy atmosphere, this is a very well made movie that unfortunately hits pretty hard with its drama at some points, which doesn't hurt the film necessarily, but certainly drags one into the sadness seen by the characters.

Glenn: You think your bad cause you have a baseball bat. I'm bad man. I'm bad.