Product: Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)
Rating: 4.0
Satisfying, But Doesn't Linger
Snow Falling on Cedars is like an incredibly rich dessert; it satisfies and satisfies sublimely, but only for the moment. Not that there is anything wrong with dessert. There isn't and Snow Falling on Cedars was surely an incredibly complex dessert to make. It is a complicated multi-layered set of stories that shift back and forth in time and place.The plot, adapted from David Guterson's novel of the same name, concerns a Japanese-American war hero (Rick Yune) who, upon returning home to the United States, finds himself arrested for murder. This is the main plotline, however there are several emotionally-involving subplots. One involves a love affair gone wrong between the town's one-armed journalist (Ethan Hawke) and the war hero's wife (Youko Kudoh). Another centers on a land dispute that has been raging for generations and yet another on the horrors of war and post-war racism. All in all, Snow Falling on Cedars is a variety of ingredients that don't immediately gel into one perfect mold.Director Scott Hicks (Shine) lingers on some aspects of the story while letting others simmer on a back burner. The film operates within a frame, of sorts, beginning and ending with a court case, but between that frame we move through World War II, the interment of Japanese-Americans in camps and the pain of young love gone wrong.Hicks and co-screenwriter Ron Bass do manage to linger on the most pivotal and emotionally-riveting moments, positioning them in relative isolation so that each has enough time and substance in which to make an emotional impression on the audience.There are "side trips" in this movie though, that just don't manage to fuse and integrate with the whole, the most glaring being one showing the town's young, one-armed journalist swimming through a sea of naked, dead bodies--presumably during the D-Day invasion--but we really never know. This is too bad, because this is an important scene and showcases the theme of Guterson's book, i.e., that we kill and maim one another at every twist and turn for no good reason at all.Unfortunately, this pivotal moment came a little too late in the film to engage the audience emotionally. We needed closure but we felt rushed, especially after the lengthy and sometimes laborious buildup.The movie was shot in British Columbia and the scenery is gorgeous and very evocative of the emotions portrayed by the characters. Visually, Snow Falling on Cedars is just about as good as it gets.Snow Falling on Cedars is a wonderful effort and it does contain some tremendous moments of great beauty and emotional intensity, but it just misses the mark of emotional coherence to fully engage the audience and make a thoroughly lasting impression.