Rating: 
Summary: A True Stinker
Review: Cinematography is just ONE ingredient of a good film, not thewhole recipe. This was a story with so much promise, yet it insistedon becoming eye-candy rather than a good movie...... END
Rating: 
Summary: Very pleasant, but a little too pretty and perfect
Review: I remember enjoying the novel on which this film is based very much, except for a nagging feeling that it was just too perfect: it touched all the politically correct bases with regard to the Japanese-American internment, and the plot twist necessary to create the murder mystery (or rather, the key to its solution) seemed just too exactly coincidental. (Sloppiness and poor communication would have served; life's like that.) Its true achievement was in its evocation of place: the majestic evergreens, the deep forest, the rain and snow of the Pacific Northwest.This movie makes some of the same errors. It's just too darned beautiful, which detracts from its effectiveness (or maybe throws its weaknesses in high relief). Ethan Hawke does a creditable job as its hero -- he has an old-fashioned handsomeness that is appropriate for the period (as does Sam Shepard as his father). I like to see him get work. The sequence of the Japanese-Americans leaving the island for the camps drags on interminably to wring out every last tear (and I'm in a unique position to complain, since my mother and most of her family spent the war in those camps, while two of my uncles fought in the US Army in the Pacific Theater). Guterson the novelist was better able to make me believe in the romance than director Scott Hicks and screenwriter Ron Bass. "Snow Falling on Cedars" is a sumptuous viewing experience, but bring your senses to it and leave your brain aside.
Rating: 
Summary: The best movie released in 1999
Review: This movie was hammered by the critics (except for a few, such as Roger Ebert). Perhaps it was it's 'stream of consciousness' feel, it's generous use of visual imagery, or dare one say the way it makes the viewer examine his or her own feelings? It's a very 'emotional' movie, and requires the viewer to be receptive to that. If the viewer is not, it won't work. That said, the acting is great - Yuki Kudoh and Ethan Hawke do an excellent job, as do the rest of the cast. However, it's mainly a movie about Yuki and Ethan, and their love. If you like love stories, then this is a movie love story for all time. Perhaps you also know that this movie was up for an academy award for best cinematography - it lost to 'American Beauty', a travesty if ever there was one. The cinematagraphy is just FANTASTIC - there is no other way to say it. And the end of the movie . . . well, it will break your heart, while re-affirming the 'life-giving' power of love. If you don't have at least a tear in the corner of your eye at some point in this movie, then you aren't letting the emotion in. Or out. I think that's what so many of the movie critics were unable to do. If you like love stories with emotion, filmed using the BEST OF THE BEST cinematography, don't make the same mistake the critics did. See this movie.
Rating:
Summary: Read the book first!
Review: ...reading the book before seeing the movie is agreat help. The film leaves some things out, that if you had read thebook first, the movie would make a whole lot more sense to you. I admit, if I had seen this film without reading the book, I wouldn't have liked it. But, I was fortunante to get hooked on the book first and then see the film.
Rating:
Summary: yawn
Review: while i do have to admit that the cinematography was very good, not much else was. Two of my main gripes at the movie are that the characters were flat and not very interisting and the scenes were never longer than two minutes! They were like a stream of consciensness, or loosely related sound bites placed one after the other. While I think the symbolism with the cedars, strawberrys, snow etcetera was kind of cool, the overall theme was kind of a rip off of To Kill A Mockingbird. The book of Snow Falling On Cedars, however wasn't all that bad, and so the concept is potentially interisting, but I think maybe had trouble coming across in movie form. I would not recommend it to anyone.
Rating: 
Summary: Great atmosphere
Review: This movie has a really great atmosphere. The pictures are wonderful and combined with the sound it's just stunning. Ethan Hawke plays very well in my opinion, but I liked all the other actors, too.
Rating:
Summary: Pleasant scenery
Review: I think the theme of this movie could be distilled into the following phrase: "Thank goodness the white man was there to help those poor Asian people!" Tepid ..., but it has nice scenery.
Rating:
Summary: so many levels of meaning
Review: This movie is excellent! It is a love story and a courtroom drama, and Ishmael's love for Hatsue is so tender. The thing that got me the most in this movie was the symbolism. Look at the wedding rings and the focus on right hands, look at the father's glasses, look at what is happening while Hatsue is reading that fateful letter. Look at how everytime the movie shows Ethan Hawke's (Ishmael) face in the courtroom while he is in the balcony, only half of his face is visible. Then in the end, his whole face shows. What do you think this means? I'll let you figure it out for yourself. Although the movie is a little slow, appreciate it for it's beautiful cinematography and literary techniques. I would recommend it to anyone that likes movies that say more than the obvious.
Rating:
Summary: a fantastic movie!
Review: I loved this movie, and I especially loved the star, Youki Kudoh.She was absolutely phenomenal. She is beautiful to look at, and her perfomance was moving and hgartfelt. I feel she really carrried the movie, she was always a joy to see on the screen. There were some beautiful scenes of the northwest in the film, but the best part of the movie was Youki. I predict she will be the next big star in the movies, all over the world.
Rating:
Summary: You Smell Like Cedar.....
Review: This is the best movie of the year 2000. Honest to god, this has to be up for an academy award, other than best cinemtorgraphy (though it is breath taking). The story has to do with racism and how your first love never dies out... SNOW is a courtroom drama, a sensual drama, a love story and it has to do with the second world war. How the Japenese were treated and what became of the whole situation. A murder mystery also captivates you in this fast moving film. Ethan Hawke has a little part in SNOW, but still he is good. One of my favorite things in this movie is how in almost every scene you can see snow falling softly to the ground...WATCH IT
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