Review of Snow Angels (2007) by Tatteanyna S — 30 Mar 2008

The fourth feature film by D.G. Green is a good and interesting portrait of ordinary people and relationships in a small town where the sky is gray, the weather is very cold and something terribly bad seems to be looming around the corner.

I liked this movie, I didn't love it. Actually, I did love the relationship between the two high school teens, as I felt that it was one of the best and most sincere portrait of how boys and girls behave at that age. One dialogue specifically I thought it was absolutely perfect.

Very good cinematography, good score and very good acting. For a change, I was glad to see Kate Beckinsale given a chance to show her acting skills, that she has, even though I sort of felt she was somehow too good looking for the role. Nicky Katt gives another A-performance.

My problem with this film was the editing choice adopted in order to emphasize Sam Rockwell's progressing delirium. I felt that that decision did unbalance the film, as I wanted to see more of the high school lovebirds or of the father who ends up trying to reconnect with his family, rather than being hit over the head with several redundant scenes where we already know what's gonna happen in the end and where this road's gonna lead us. There was just too much screen time given to Rockwell, who was great by any means, but it just shifted the movie in a direction where in the end it made me feel like the story never really worked as a coherent piece of narrative, and where its traumatic climax left me with a few open questions rather than move me in an emotional, dramatic way.