Snow Angels (2007)

A sad and a hard movie. And the full extent of its heaviness you will realize not during the watching, but after that. A heart heaviness doesn't leave fast enough. This film is mainly about human or family relationships, about giving another a chance to be forgiven, the ability to ask for forgiveness. About a bunch of things that come up from the relations between people. And those items we call 'life'. Sam Rockwell (my applause) and Kate Beckinsale did amazing performances (maybe the best roles too) and at their best, revealing a many-sided personality of the characters. Playing a his character Rockwell shows us his great acting talent and being a master of many-sided personality.

Fmovies: "Some will fly, some will fall.."

Snow Angels is an agonizing film to put yourself through, as it determinedly focuses on two people who are losing track of their path in life. Their emotional and psychological clarity is dimming, blinded by possible mental illness and lingering tragedy, mentally snowed in, so to speak, like the ironically idyllic Midwestern town they call home. Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell are Annie and Glenn, a couple wading through a bitter separation that is taking a damaging toll on their little daughter (Gracie Hudson). Glenn embarrassingly clings to Annie and what they had, leaning on the crutch of alcohol and making a pitiable fool of himself. Annie is lost and fragile, unsure of appropriate action at this particular crossroads in life. Their story is laced with that of other residents in the town, and you'll be pleased to know it's not all doom and gloom: a budding romance plays out with the talents of Michael Angarano and the wonderful Olivia Thirlby. There's also work from Griffin Dunne, Nicky Katt and the excellent Tom Noonan in an extended cameo that bookends the film's enigmatic emotional climate. Rockwell seeths with regret and heartache, lashing out passively at first until his behaviour becomes very destructive to himself and those around them. Beckinsale has never been better, downplaying Annie by bottling up her feelings, and letting them corrosive erupt in a third act of unimaginable tragedy that demands courage and compassion from the viewer. A highly complex, grounding story of lives gone off track and the not always so simple way in which we humans conduct ourselves with each other. A must see.

David Gordon Green is the most talented and consistently excellent American director to emerge this decade, making a splash he has yet to equal with "George Washington" in 2000, and gaining further recognition with the acclaimed, painfully true-to-life relationship drama "All the Real Girls". Sadly, his follow-up to "All the Real Girls", the outstanding "Undertow" failed to register with critics, and "Snow Angels", although better received, came and went without causing much buzz. Green's first major studio job, stoner action-comedy "Pineapple Express" was a big hit, and taken along with his unrelentingly grim "Snow Angels" shows the director attempting to move past his small-scale independent films which initially garnered so much acclaim for him.

"Snow Angels" is another drama from David Gordon Green, true, but it is also still different from his other films in the sense that it is his most tragic film and also his most narratively-focused (his previous films were far more lyrical). Here he's also dealing with sorts of characters he only touched on previously, and it's also (if you don't count his collaborative effort on "Undertow") his first screenplay adapted from another person's work. I have not read the novel "Snow Angels", but I doubt there is any detail, no matter how painful, which Gordon Green didn't unflinchingly transfer to the screen.

Although I enjoyed "All the Real Girls" a lot, I found that whenever the film was not focusing on the two leads it lost its edge and became a rather mundane, typical sort of film, with few truly interesting characters aside from the main two. "Snow Angels", perhaps partially due to it being an adaptation, doesn't fail to create interesting (although certainly not sympathetic) characters out of every last major player in this film. The story connects a teenager who is falling in love, his former babysitter, her estranged husband, and their daughter in an involving, focused narrative which is never exactly unpredictable but is always absorbing and deeply, deeply affecting. It's not an enjoyable film, exactly (at least the final hour isn't), but it is hypnotic, it is stunningly, stunningly well-directed and photographed by David Gordon Green and frequent collaborator Tim Orr, respectively (there are certain shots which are too beautiful to put into words), and I was absolutely transfixed for the entirety of this film.

Another film in what Nathan Lee (formerly) of the Village Voice terms the 'familiar turf of the Small-Town Midwinter Tragedy', which Lee insists the film transcends, "Snow Angels" is right up there with "The Sweet Hereafter" and Paul Schrader's "Affliction" (I was even surprised to find that Russell Banks wasn't the author of the novel this was based on), and for my money better than those two films. I quite like the Small-Town Midwinter Tragedy as a sub-genre, so I'm not going to say that this doesn't fall under that label, but I will say that "Snow Angels" achieves a sort of real, honest drama that can only come through true insight into the characters (in an interview with the Onion A.V. Club Gordon Green stated that this was a very personal project, and it shows), and a real understanding of them. In that sense it goes far beyond most tragedies (the vast majority are shallow, miserable, soulless tearjerkers, no matter how far back i

Snow Angels fmovies. SNOW ANGELS is a absolute gem! It is an example of a small scale indie that is as near perfect as I could have imagined. All throughout the movie, I was reminded of a line from the poet W. B. YeatsÂ…Â…Â…Â…"things fall apart, the center will not hold." The film is a complete recreation of this concept in visual terms. With the exception of the two young high school lovers, everyone's worlds in SNOW ANGELS is slowly but surely disintegrating, and ultimately it gets very dark. But all along the way it is so beautiful. The acting is superb, the photography is compelling, and the editing technique, I found, was expert, continually dramatizing the story by powerful visual cuts. I don't know why some reviewers have complained about Kate Beckinsale's beauty as being out of place in the film's setting, a criticism that makes no sense whatsoever to me. She is wonderful in the film and seemed so right for the part. The fact that she has a very natural beauty only enhanced her role both realistically and symbolically. Sam Rockwell's performance I found extraordinary. His past roles have always reflected a broad range and the character he plays in this film may well be one of his very best. This is a movie that carefully and honestly dissects dysfunctional lives in a small, insulated world. What was so amazing to me was the film's ability to create a combination of a storyline being so very sad and bleak while at the same time that storyline's expression being so beautifully and artistically realized. Also, I don't know when I have seen such a honest exploration of young teenage love as the portraits Green draws of the young boy and girl, Arthur and Lila. The two young actors are marvelous as well and their relationship gives the film the necessary lift above and beyond the despairing tragedy of the story.

Snow Angels is perhaps one of the most difficult films I have ever watched. This is almost a masterpiece that portrays realistic human emotions. Essentially this is a film that explores the ups and downs of human life and how people deal with them. This dialog-based film has some powerful but key moments that show the audience this. These scenes are genuinely emotional and may induce a tear or two. Difficult as it may be to watch, this film is a plus of cinema.

David Gordon Green's film explores several characters and their relationships with each other. We see a shy high school kid, his old babysitter, and her estranged husband and how their lives interconnect with each other.

The acting is nearly flawless. Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell deliver some of their finest and perhaps career-defining performances yet. Beckinsale proves that she does not have to be a vampire in the Underworld films to find out she can take these kind of dramatic roles just fine. She does have the emotional depth for these parts. We all know Sam Rockwell is a great actor and this is one of his craziest, but strongest roles.

Overall, this is the small-budget masterpiece you'd come to expect. David Gordon Green has a way with giving his characters an emotional core. You come to sympathize for them no matter their flaws. This is just outstanding art that explores characterization to the deepest. With a strong script and engaging story, this is a film every film geek should watch. I rate this film 9/10.

"Snow Angels" is a glimpse in time of several relationships, some simmering and ready to boil, others cooling down, and at least one whose flame has yet to be lit. It's also a thriller, with a gunshot that is heard as the film opens. The narrative is linear but writer/director David Gordon Green, adapting the novel by Stewart O'Nan, takes the couples' stories and interweaves them in such a way that we never quite know all the secrets at the heart of the mystery. The film flashes back as we try to see how we got from there to here. In many ways the overriding theme deals with the promise of what once was versus the reality of what could have been. The "reality" is embodied in the relationships which are falling apart, as evident in the older couples. The "promise" is represented by the young couple whose lives are just beginning.

At the heart of the film is the crumbling relationship between Sam Rockwell as Glenn and Kate Beckinsale as Annie. We watch Glenn almost literally disintegrating before our eyes as he tries to get a grip on who he is and why his marriage is failing. Glenn is one of the most frightening characters I've seen outside of horror films. Kate Beckinsale's Annie is breathtaking, in every sense of the word. We bear witness to a life in free fall as everything and everyone she loves seems just out of reach. You know those dreams where you can't quite get to where you want? You try to touch it but it stays at arm's length? That's Annie's world. We so painfully watch as the madness around her takes its toll, and she weathers the way rain erodes rich topsoil, leaving little but rocky dirt underneath. Amy Sedaris is Annie's best friend Barb. She has her own marital fires to put out, and the relationship between Annie and Barb progresses in a way nobody can imagine. She is a joy to watch. In the midst of the darkness there are some lighter moments as well, and Michael Angarano (Arthur Parkinson), Olivia Thirlby (Lila Raybern), and Connor Paolo (Warren) have the lion's share of them. They are essentially the light in the darkness that surrounds the rest of the film. It should be no surprise to fans of Angarano that writer/director David Gordon Green would have chosen him to play Arthur Parkinson. He's not yet comfortable in his own skin, a trait which could describe most adolescents. He's a bit shy, nervous, and even nerdy, yet he is charming enough that everyone else seems drawn to him even though he doesn't seem to be aware of it. As Arthur's muse, Olivia Thirlby's Lila is the female representation of those awkward teenage years and an almost equal counterpart to Michael's Arthur. Their tender tiptoeing around each other is one of the most touching depictions of first love I've seen in cinema. Connor, as Arthur's best friend Warren, provides some much needed comic relief. He is a smart-ass whose ego often backfires. He's funny and not quite as smart as he thinks he is. Among other standout performances is Griffin Dunne (Don) as Arthur's flighty dad. Or should we say father, not really the "Dad" that Arthur wants or needs him to be, but the boy clings to him in this critical time of life when he is most in need of a male role model. But he won't find one here. It's this failure to connect which climaxes in an exchange between them that gave me chills. It was a jaw-dropping moment.

So much of the film is frightening that, as Green said in the Q&A afterward, he had to find a