Product: Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)
Rating: 3.0
Flashes of brilliance permeate flawed film
Halfway through Snow Falling on Cedars, I knew it was not a movie that would be easy for me to review. Writing is like most other tasks or crafts. Sometimes, you look at the job at hand and jump right in, knowing exactly where you are going. Other times, you don't know where to begin. So, let me begin with the easiest part - the story.Ishmael Chambers [Ethan Hawke] is a handsome man in his late 20s who runs the small town newspaper formerly published by his late father. The place is on a small island off the coast of Washington State. The main industries are fishing and growing strawberries.One night a fisherman is found dead in the water not far from his boat. At first it appears to be an accident, but soon the suspicion of murder arises. You might think this to be the only major event to happen to the islanders in years, but you would be wrong. The year is 1948, the young men have returned from fighting in W.W.II, and the large local Japanese-American population has returned from a California concentration camp where they were kept for the duration of the war. It is a seldom mentioned fact that almost every American of Japanese descent was imprisoned during that time. It remains one of the saddest chapters in American history.When a young Japanese-American fisherman is accused of the crime, Ishmael has a major story to cover. It is not a happy event for him. The possibility of an unprejudiced trial seems unlikely, considering the bitter feelings that remain everywhere. Harder for him yet, the accused's wife is Hatsue [Youki Kudoh], who is the only woman Ishmael has ever loved. They kept their love a secret from their families, neither of which would have approved, from the time they were 13 or 14 years old. Racial prejudice was hard enough for the couple to bear, but it was the war that destroyed their affair. Suddenly, Ishmael has a ray of hope. What if the husband is found guilty? And yet, isn't there evidence to prove he is innocent?Director Scott Hicks has proved that he can be excellent. He directed Shine, for example. Here, he is teamed with cinemaphotographer Robert Richardson. Together they have produced one of the most visually artistic movies ever made. It is like looking at a series of painting by the masters. Yet it is though they became bewitch by their own creativity. As a result, Snow Falling on Cedars is an intellectual work. The problem occurs when this approach meets the story. Its plot, which begs for a really emotional telling, is overshadowed by perfectionism - the perfect lighting, the perfect framing, the perfect background, etc. You can, of course, become too painstaking in an endeavor, and often this makes the results seem somewhat mannered, artificial, and, worst of all, slow. That's the result in this movie. It's exquisitely beautiful and very, very, very slow. This all brings me back to why it was so hard to write this review, for Snow Falling on Cedars is both brilliant and disappointing.