Product: Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)
Rating: 3.0
A potential beauty falls short
David Guterson's enigmatic beaut is perhaps not meant to be caged, so it may be futile to blame Scott Hicks' scattered focus in this movie, his follow-up to the much lauded Shine. The narrative in the original novel vacilliates through time, space, and race. So no wonder those who have not read the novel may be befuddled by the frequent shifting localities and moods in the film version. The story evovles around the murder trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, a hero from the WWII battlefields, who is accused of murder in a place where generation of Japanese and whites have lived in tensile harmony until Pearl Harbour. Most notably, the trials are brilliantly shot and paced with a reminiscent touch of To Kill a Mockingbird. Max Von Sydow as the defendent's lawyer, is rhetorically dazzling, very much like Patrick Steward in his famed role as Atticus. Other members of the cast (especially Ethan Hawke, not his best here) often drift into the complexity of the script, and they are not given enough room to grow as individuals. The tender touch on individuality is certainly missing from the film version as Hicks glides from one frame to the next, as there are much of the mystery to be covered and elucidated. The question of inter-racial relationship is presented with care, but not enough clarity as the audience is simply not informed enough about the characters to be touched.But this film does impress with its cinemotagraphy, the ficticious San Pedro island off the coast of Washington is so breathtakingly portrayed that the draping snow stands alone as a silent witness through out. And as the book did a fabulous job at creating suspense, Hicks is able to weave through the drama with the lush visual aids. And it's also to Hicks' credit to filter out the substances that could have easily made this film R-rated. Over all, it's an enjoyable film, but mostly to audience prepared by the novel first. The story is a gorgeous one, with rare touches of racial indifference and nature of hate.