Sam Shepherd has a few nice moments as Ishmael's father and Max Van Sydow has plenty of imposing screen time as the defense attorney. Hicks combines with cinematographer Robert Richardson for some beautiful images. Snow blankets the frozen North exteriors with blue light bathing the whiteness with a glow. These could have been captured as paintings with more power than as part of the static film. The DVD transfer of Snow Falling on Cedars is faithful to the original material, but much of that is dark, arty, and moody, and while it looks good on DVD, it lacks some theatrical punch.
Images are sharp, with reasonable shadow illumination.
Grain is delivered with perfect precision. The muted color scheme is accurate. Elements actually meld with the theater viewing area. Listening to Scott Hicks' audio commentary, it appears he was much more concerned with production design and photographic effects reflecting the inner turmoil of the characters than clarity of story structure. There is no question that Hicks has passion for this material.