Product: Snow Falling on Cedars (2000)
Rating: 3.0
Old-fashioned drama with sociopolitical subtext
Scott Hicks' stunningly beautiful film version of David Guterson's best-seller comes off as an unabashedly old-fashioned courtroom drama with a sociopolitical subtext. The accused, Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune), is charged with the brutal murder of a fellow fisherman in the Pacific Northwest island town of San Piedro. Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), the defendant's wife, fears her husband can't get a fair trial in a community that, in 1954, remains divided by the anti-Japanese sentiments that flowered during World War II. Meanwhile, local reporter Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke) observes the courtroom proceedings with an acutely personal interest: Long ago, he loved Hatsue. The aptly claustrophobic trial scenes are arrestingly intense, especially when Max Von Sydow is on camera as an elderly yet quick-witted defense attorney. But "Snow Falling on Cedars" wisely spends most of its time outside of the courtroom, as `40s flashbacks reveal the connections and conflicts in a close-knit community where a far-off war brings out the worst in friends and neighbors.