Snow Falling on Cedars

Rating:
Summary: Paint drying on cedars
Review: I was disappointed with the film version of David Guterson's book, which I loved. The movie moved so slow, even though I knew the outcome, which I won't give away. The cinematography was wonderful, however. There just seemed to be something missing from the story. After I finished watching, I felt like I hadn't watched it. It just ended. There was no climactic ending at all. I thought it very boring with no emotional qualities. My advice: READ THE BOOK instead!

Rating:
Summary: testing your artistry
Review: This film tests the artistic sensibility of the viewer like no other film I've seen for a long time. The flood of images is a splattering of memories that provoke love, anguish and loyalty. For the reviewers that say that the movie is boring, too slow, not enough action, etc....Watch the film again and watch for symbolism. Forget our society's drive for action, immediate gratification and quick and simple conclusions. You will see a film that settles down over your soul like snow falling on cedars.

Rating:
Summary: dramatically beautiful and emotional
Review: This is the type of movie that is romantic, yet very mature, and never overdone. Ethan's performance reminds me much of "Great Expectations". It is absolutely worth your time to see it, even buy it. When I saw it in the theater it evoked painful emotions within me and I could feel Ismal's (Ethan's) pain throughout the entire film. Very well done and excellent, excellent acting. It is EROTIC with sexually appealing imagery. It is a gently erotic film. One of my favorites!

Rating:
Summary: So Close to Perfection . . .
Review: This is a great movie experience, with stunningly beautiful cinematography, uniformly excellent acting, and several fascinating intertwinned stories to tell.

Snow Falling on Cedars is centered around the trial of a Japanese American fisherman who is charged with the murder of a white fisherman in the years immediately after WWII. During the course of the trial our attention is drawn to the local newspaper editor, Ishameal Chambers(Ethan Hawke) who discovers information that has bearing on the outcome of the trial but is torn about whether he should reveal it or not because the fisherman's wife Hatsue(luminous Youki Kodoh) was his first and so far only love. We then see how their relationship developed over time through a long sequence of flashbacks interspersed with the trial scenes. And this in turn leads to what amounts to a history lesson, about one of the more shameful episodes in American history, the internment of Japanese Americans during WWII. And as we see in both the pre- and post-war sections of the movie prejudice was alive and well and it has a great impact not only on the nature of the trial but also on the lives of the characters. I loved the ending as it seemed entirely appropriate and true to the nature of the characters.

Snow. . 's greatest strength lies in evocative nature of the production, in this instance it is a masterpiece of direction, effortlessly grounding the viewer in time, space, and the minds of the characters. The sense of place is the most effectively realized of them all, the cinematography so thoroughly places us in Washington's San Juan Islands that I kept expecting to walk out the door into the snow and the forest and see Ishamael's car drive by or look out the window onto the foggy harbor. The frequent flashbacks were also well executed, with enough cues available to determine when a scene took place that I was only rarely unsure when it was. Finally, the stream of consciousness narrative style allowed us to dwell inside the characters and showed what they were thinking very well indeed.

But what about those nagging flaws that kept Snow Falling on Cedars from achieving its full potential. My greatest qualms about the movie center on its sound design. The soundtrack frequently overpowers the dialogue and while the music is both enjoyable and appropriate. I felt cheated by having to choose between a reasonable music volume and being able to understand the character's lines. In addition the auditory layering that was used to emphasize certain lines later in the movie was overdone, it could have been quite effective used with fewer repetitions or with fewer lines, as it was however it quickly passed the threshold into an annoyance. I was also disappointed that the actors didn't have more screen time to establish their characters. Finally, I felt that Ethan Hawke's performance was a little underplayed, granted Ishamael Chambers is very emotionally suppressed, but the few scenes where his control breaks would have been significantly more effective had they been played with a little more fire.

Despite these problems this is an extremely beautiful and worthwhile movie, provided that you are willing to tackle a complex nonlinear story telling structure and won't fall asleep to the gorgeous scenery.

A couple of final notes: I haven't yet read the book but was still able to follow and enjoy the plot, also I saw this on VHS as a fullscreen, and if the other reviewers commentary is anything to go by it is vastly more impressive in widescreen format.

Rating:
Summary: Greates movie ever
Review: I was completly mesmorized by this film.I love it and I recomend everyone to watch it.I also hope you enjoy this wonderfull story.And I also want to add that Ethan Hawke is so cute!

Rating:
Summary: Favorite movie of all times
Review: A poignant story about love and impossibility. My favorite film of all times, cinematically excellent. Beautifully written and perfromed.

Rating:
Summary: Over done insubstantial story
Review: This was a "beautiful" movie in a sense it had beautiful scenery and was artfully done. However, this is not what I specifically watch a drama for. I felt in this case the medium got in the way of the story.

In a nutshell the movie starts out with a murder. The chief suspect is a Japanese man that is married to the local newsman's former love interest that also happens to be Japanese.

The movie covers their past as children and chronicles the horrible internment of Japanese nationals during WWII. In this movie it has a very personal face and you get a sincere feeling of the unfairness of it. Can you imagine if this was done with all the German immigrants in this country as well?

Ethan Hawke plays this young newsman and he falls in love with Hatsu a young Japanese girl in this small island community off the coast of Washington state. There is closet predjudice in this small community that goes into full bloom with the break of WWII. Ethan's character Ishmael and his family are caught in the middle of it, when they try to impartially deal with the daily news.

When the Japanese families are rounded up and imprisoned, Hatsu decides to get on with her life. Her timing is horrible as Ishmael gets the Dear John letter shortly before suffering an injury in the War.

Both Ishmael and Hatsu return to their small community. Only this time Hatsu is married to a local Japanese man, whose family has been unfairly deprived of their land while imprisoned. This is key in his being accused of the murder, as the man murdered has the hand in whether he obtains his family's land or not.

The story centers around the trial of Hatsu's husband. It is well handled by Hatsu's husband's attorney played by Max Von Syndow. He does an excellent job as the crusty defense attorney.

Until the end, you don't know why or what goes on to cause this man's death or whether Hatsu's husband is guilty. I'm not about to tell you here. This is what makes this movie at least a 3.

However, the artsy effects and overblown music are just too much.

Rating:
Summary: A powerful movie
Review: This movie gives a portrayal of Japanese prejudices after WW II. Amidst those prejudices is a secret love between a white boy and a Japanese girl. After realizing their love can't continue under the circumstances, the girl breaks off the relationship. She later marries a Japanese man who is accused of killing a white fisherman. Still holding her in his heart, he has to decide if he wants to let her husband be found guilty for a crime he did not commit, although it could mean reuniting with her once again.

This is a powerful movie. I highly recommend it for those with an appreciation for history and a good love story.

Rating:
Summary: A rich mosaic of a town, a romance and a sad time in history
Review: Starring Ethan Hawke as a reporter covering a murder trail of a Japanese fisherman in Washington State in 1950, this is also the story of the sad time in U.S. history when Japanese Americans were forced into interment camps, and the reporter's teen-age love for the Japanese girl who later became the accused fisherman's wife. As the courtroom drama unfolds with an excellent performance by Max Von Sydow as the attorney for the defense, the reporter does an investigation of his own. He discovers facts about the incident, and must also relive his memories.

Directed by Scott Hicks, the film is cinematographically beautiful, capturing the trees and the snow and the fog with a variety of film techniques. He also uses these techniques to tell the story, using flashbacks and overlapping dialog and partially understood events which fade in and out with a variety of degrees of effectiveness.

I read the book by David Guterson several years ago and found it slow and talky. I found the video slow and talky too. Somehow, though, I could accept it more on the small screen, as I watched the events unfold, although they were sometimes confusing and clouded with moodiness.

Although the story is interesting, I view the video as more of a character study of the people in this small American town whose lives were changed forever by the intrusion of WW2. The sense of place also seems like a study in itself.

At 2 hours and 8 minutes, I found the video too long. But then, some stories take a while to tell, and the pace was very much in keeping with the style of the book. While I can't give it my very highest rating, I do recommend it, especially for a time when you might just want to relax and enjoy a rich mosaic of this particular time in history.

Rating:
Summary: Very Good With Love Story Being Best Part
Review: I enjoyed this movie much more than the novel upon which it was based. This is very unusual for me as it is usually the reverse situation. What I liked best is epitomized on the cover of the box. It shows the heroine as a child and the hero as an adult, even though, in the film, they are at all times the same age. The film, however, shifts atmospherically from their shared life together as children, adolescents and lovers to their lives as full adults. The hero is having a harder time letting go of that shared time together than she is. As adults of around thirty, they are as apart as they once were together. Her same-race (Japanese American) husband is on trial in their town for murdering a local fisherman. The hero is bitterly alone and has taken over his late father's newspaper. That he lost his arm fighting in World War II is part of his bitterness. The trial is the weakest part of the film and I could have done with much less of it. The rest of the film is so beautifully brought to the screen that it is annoying when the "typical" trial scenes play. Normally I love Max Van Sydow, the trial lawyer, but I could have even dispensed with him. Gorgeous cinematography enhances this film greatly. Ethan Hawke, who plays the hero, seems to be choosing his roles very carefully. After this film, he went on to star in "Hamlet 2000", where he was spectacular.