Snow Falling on Cedars

Rating:
Summary: Cedars Sears
Review: Author David Guterson was distinguished with the 1995 PEN/Faulkner Award for a very good reason. He penned a heart-wrenching novel which covers many themes, some of which, we as Americans, do not wish to revisit. And now it is a moving film of deep provocation.

I was drawn into this tale of murder and illicit romance with richly connected characters. My senses soared as each rhythmically linked scene put me right there, on a remote island in Puget Sound, smelling the sea, hearing whispers of love, harsh courtroom tones, and feeling, actually feeling ones warm breath escaping into small puffs of greying fog under falling teardrops of snow.

As the central character, Ishmael Chambers, remembers in vivid detail the early 1950's murder trial he covered as a newspaper writer. He was once the childhood sweetheart to Hatsue, the accused murderers delicate wife. Evidenciary discoveries place Ishmael in quite a conundrum--do I say what I know or do I at long last claim my love?

This is not an action adventure movie. ( I like those too ) This is a film of murder, law, deep romantic meanings, WWII historical racial prejudices, and above all else; right from wrong.

A searing portrayal of visuality and human behavior.

Thank you for your interest & comment votes--CDS

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, but too much wishful thinking.
Review: There is no question that "Snow Falling on Cedars" is a visual accomplishment with its breathtaking scenery and cinematography. I did not care for the repetitive love themes and sappy music, but even these qualities are acceptable enough to warrant more than two stars.

What finally made this film a showstopper for me was the portrayal of Japanese Americans as being helplessly dependent on white people. I don't object to the premise that a Japanese man could be falsely accused of a crime and that a white lawyer and journalist could help to acquit him. If this had been done in an intelligent and believable manner then I would have given the film more than two stars. But there are numerous indications in this movie that its really about the white person helping the poor Japanese people and the Japanese people submitting to him in return. This is evident in two critical scenes, one of which is visual and the other verbal. At the end of the trial, the Japanese people all bow to Ethan Hawke. This is done in a solemn, almost holy atmosphere and there's no question about the kind of mood that scene is trying to evoke: "all hale the white man without whom we could not make it through this crisis!" The second scene is the one in which the wife of the acquitted (Ishmaels's former love) runs out of the court room and says, "Ishmael, can I put my arms around you?!" From a dramatic perspective, I would have believed this scene more if the embrace took place with an unspoken understanding. But by adding the rhetorical component, the filmmakers inadvertently made this scene an act of submission. The Japanese woman is asking the white man for permission to gratify him because he has done her family a favor. This may not have been the filmmaker's intention but this is the kind of message these scenes impart. For this reason, the film--despite its visual quality--fail as a love story and as a realistic portrait of Japanese Americans.

At this point, you are probably thinking, "oh here we have a politically correct reviewer", but this is not the case. I don't think there is a set of rules by which different races should be portrayed in film or other forms of art. What I object to is the flagrant manipulation in films such as this one--manipulation that could easily be avoided by improving its dramatic quality.

I suspect that what we have here is a little bit of wishful thinking on the filmmaker's part. As most people know, the American government unjustifiably incarcerated Japanese Americans in a wave of greed and hysteria. After the war, these people rebuilt their lives from ground zero with no apology or assistance from the people who had put them in the camps and seldom-if ever-with the possibility of recovering their property. But this film would like us to believe that the white people came back to redeem themselves in the end. I'm not buying that fantasy. Two stars.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully filmed to a fault
Review: Comparing a film to the novel that preceded it is unfair, I know, but with a book as popular as this, you'd think they could have done better. I absolutely devoured the book, and looked forward to the film, but even knowing the story I found I couldn't follow it. One of the best qualities of David Guterson's story is the effortless way in which he slips into flashback, so subtle the reader often doesn't notice the new timeline until later. This effect is attempted in the film, but the sparse dialogue meant to advance the plot makes the cross-cutting quite confusing in the end.

It is indeed a beautiful film to watch, as many other reviewers have said, but I found the cinematography actually hampers the telling of the story which, despite all the camera work in the world, is the most important facet. The structure of the film is tight until the last hour or so, when the haiku-esque dialogue and concern for beautiful scenery becomes slef-indulgent and overpowers the narrative. The treatment of the Ishmael Chambers character in the film is also problematic. In the novel, he comes across as a pathetic, obsessive, immature man, which makes his final transformation all the more moving. (Incidentally, is anyone else weary of Ethan Hawke being cast as the discontented voice of the late-twentysomething generation?). The final scene between him and Hatsue in the film is just plain corny, not a quiet, natural conclusion to events, as it should be.

Overall, Snow Falling on Cedars was an enjoyable watch, making me want to move to Puget Sound just for the scenery, and the score, although taking a page or three out of Arvo Part's spiritual-minimalist book, was well-crafted and appropriate. Unfortunately, it could have been much better had the structure been clearer and more emphasis placed on the story, rather than visual symbolism for its own sake.

Rating:
Summary: BEST FILM OF 1999 - Haunting, sheer film poetry
Review: As with my best film of last year, MEET JOE BLACK, reviews are pretty much split down the middle by those who did understand it and those who didn't. The latter hate it while an elite group love it. I was not expecting to be overwhelmed but I was. This is an intensely rich work of art which uses the best screen language from cinematography through editing, score and sound to create a haunting love story quite unlike any other I've ever seen. It is almost mythic and therefore no actor stands out - it's all a seamless fabric of emotion and beauty. I have given it my personal awards for BEST FILM, BEST DIRECTION, BEST SCREENPLAY, BEST CINEMATOGRAPHY, BEST SCORE and BEST EDITING. For romantics it is heaven sent. We're a dying breed.

Rating:
Summary: Snow Falling on Cedars
Review: This is a brilliant movie. The photography is excellent. The musical score on of the best. I could not find a mistep anywhere.

I highly recommend this movie. It is on my top 100 movies of all time.

Rating:
Summary: dont buy
Review: well i didnt watch all this movie but i did watch about an hour or so of it. from what i saw it was quite boring. but it picked up a bit but then towards the end it got boring again and i quit watching it.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful, but flawed
Review: Disclaimer: in no way am I trying to compare this movie, which is wonderful, to the book which preceded it, but the film fell short of my expectations. I was thoroughly engrossed in it from the start, and fell head-over-heels in love with the cinematography, narrative and score.

However, there are some fundamental problems. The character of Ishmael Chambers, at least in the book, came across as a pathetic sort, immature and unable to move beyond the events which shaped his youth. His final transformation, or rebirth if you will, and decision not to let past events define his present life, is one of the central and most beautiful events in the book. Ethan Hawke (is anyone else tired of Hawke's role as the cynical, discontented voice of the late-twentysomething generation?) transforms Chambers from the pitiable shell he is into a brooding, Hamlet-like figure (which he is wont to do), and thus his apotheosis loses much of its impact in the film version. In addition, the Hatsue of the novel is a much sterner woman, apologetic but harsh toward Ishmael, an edge taken off in the film.

Much of this trouble, I suspect, is due to the final half-hour or so, where the director seemed more preoccupied with making the film visually beautiful than with telling the story, and thus the lushness of the film becomes almost self-indulgent. Guterson's prose, while fluid and lyrical, never overwhelms the clarity of the narrative. While very close to being a great film, "Snow Falling on Cedars" ends up being just a good film, which could have been much better.

Rating:
Summary: A potential beauty falls short
Review: 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.

Rating:
Summary: One of the Greatest films ever made.
Review: This is a very well made film. I hated watching it, but it was very well done. I hated it because it made me feel; as a good movie will do. It brought out love, obsession, fear, hatred, self-pity, pride, predjudice, and shame. This film is set in one of America's darkest moments. During WWII and post WWII our country and our people were ruled by fear and prejudice. The sins we committed against our own citizens were attrocious. This is at a deeper level, a love story. This is the struggle of one man to deal with the past and conquer his own introversion. He must find a way to come out of the shadow of his father and the tyranny of lost love. The acting is believable, so much so that it was as if I fell in love with the girl. And I felt every emotion the main character feels. It still haunts me as though it were my own memory.

Rating:
Summary: Beautifully crafted and compelling story
Review: This is a magnificent adaptation of David Guterson's acclaimed book. Director Scott Hicks took on a gargantuan task in attempting to make the book into a film, not only because it was so powerful and well received, but because it was so lengthy and daedal. The result, however, was one of the best films I have seen in quite some time.

There were really three stories intricately interwoven into one. The main story was the trial of a Japanese American for the murder of a fisherman who owned the land wrongfully taken from the accused's father. The other two stories provide insight into critical events affecting the trial. The first involves the childhood love affair of local newspaperman Ishmael (Ethan Hawke) and Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), who is now the wife of the accused. He has uncovered information that can aid the defense, but his resentment for having been jilted by Hatsue stands in the way of his bringing it forth.

The second ancillary story is the persecution of Japanese Americans and Japanese immigrants during World War II. We see depictions of hatred and bigotry, as law abiding Japanese citizens are shamelessly herded into internment camps. This seething animus serves as the psychological backdrop for the trial, which occurs in the early 1950's when the memories of the war and lost loved ones is still fresh.

From a directorial and cinematography perspective, this film was nothing short of a masterpiece. It is a cinematic work of art. Between Hicks' brilliant camera perspectives and Robert Richardson's beautiful lighting and earth tone coloring, the film was resplendent in powerful and stirring images. Many were so artistically done that if made into snapshots they could easily hang in any art gallery. Each shot was meticulously thought out. Many involved complex shots through windows, silhouette backlighting, elaborate blocking, and scenes where actors, props and camera were all moving in different directions to create fabulously fluid perspective shots that slowly unfolded to revealed the scene's full content.

The editing was also fantastic. I have seen comparison's between this editing and 'The Limey'. While there is some similarity in technique, this was far more elegant and flowing, whereas "The Limey" was jumpy and disconnected. This style of editing was absolutely necessary to adhere to the book's non linear format. Hicks needed to insert scenes that explained the feelings and motivations of the characters, and the only way to do this was with flashbacks and jump cuts. Despite the fact that such editing is disconcerting to a large majority of viewers, it was an artistic decision that was exactly right for the story, and seamlessly done. The same is true of the audio overlays with monologues of characters superimposed on one another, giving great power and emphasis to certain of the characters' lines.

The story itself, with all of its components, was engaging and well crafted. Unfortunately, there was not enough time to develop more of the characters. The scenes depicting the herding of the Japanese out of their homes for relocation were chilling. The courtroom scenes were realistic, not forsaking court procedure for dramatic effect, as is so common nowadays. The love scenes were sensitive, romantic and passionate without the need for sexual explicitness.

From an acting perspective, this was more of an ensemble production. All the actors gave wonderful performances, especially Youki Kudoh, who was torn between her love for Ishmael and her loyalty to her family and traditions. Kudoh was so emotionally involved with the part that she actually began crying during the featurette when recalling one of the scenes. Screen legend Max von Sydow was also fantastic as the aging defense attorney fighting and pleading for justice amidst the racial hatred.

This is a beautifully crafted film with a compelling story. It is a filmmaking 10/10. It has unfortunately not found a wide audience since its strongest elements are not areas of mass appeal. For the refined viewer who can appreciate filmmaking as an art, and enjoy an intriguing but deliberate story with exquisitely woven subtleties, this film is a delight. For those who prefer Hollywood's movie success formula of fast paced linear stories with lots of violence, profanity, clever one liners and raunchy sex, this film will bore them to death.