Review of White Bird in a Blizzard (2014) by Axgrinder — 25 Oct 2014

Right about now, Shailene Woodley is no doubt wishing the studio (Magnolia Pictures) had lost this film in a blizzard. Ms. Woodley plays Kat Conners, a teenager on the brink of graduating high school when her mother, Eve (Eva Green) disappears.

Kat doesn’t seem to have any idea what could have happened to her mother, and claims she doesn’t care, but keeps having snowy dreams about her. Kat’s friends and everyone else seem to think they know what happened.

The movie is supposed to be a mystery thriller, but is totally devoid of any drama. Instead of getting caught up in a blizzard, we are left watching snow melt. The movie is mostly about the two years it takes to Kat to wake up and smell the coffee and then, in the last five minutes, everything is explained via narration.

As a result, the movie is both dull and irritating. The pace is very slow and the dialogue is horribly lame, awkward, and stilted. The film allegedly takes place in the 1980’s, but director Gregg Araki doesn’t seem to have a clue about life in that decade.

He introduces a mishmash of elements from decades both before and after the 1980’s. There’s lots of nudity involving the very good looking Ms. Woodley, but the scenes are so contrived one is left thinking that everyone but her knew this bird was dead on arrival and were trying to do something/anything to keep people in their seats.