Snow Falling on Cedars

Rating:
Summary: Two hours of my life I'll never have back
Review: Long, dragging movie that focuses too much on scenery. It IS visually stunning but a movie isn't just about the scenery. The plot has just enough substance for a 30 minute short, but the story is stretched and filled with poorly timed flashbacks and underdeveloped subplots. Don't waste your time and money on this.

Rating:
Summary: Beautiful And Moving
Review: Young people today might know a little about the Nazi Holocaust, but do they realize that the US government shipped Japanese Americans to camps during the second world war? This film not only deals with this shameful chapter in history, but is also a story about forgiveness and justice. Ethan Hawke does a good job, but he isn't the star here; the story is. The cinematography was breathtaking. This film is a work of art, visually.

Rating:
Summary: LUSH ADAPTATION OF DIFFICULT BOOK
Review: One cannot deny the awesome beauty of some of the camerawork in this adaptation of David Guterson's SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS. SNOW FALLING was a slow, lethargic, but overall compelling novel; the movie version is the same. Scott Hicks' direction is frustrating yet magnificent at times. For instance, in Max von Sydow's brilliant summation, the camera never leaves Max's face, and the sequence is overwhelming due to the power of von Sydow's speech. It's a key highlight of the movie. However, earlier on, Hicks tries the overdubbing of too many key scenes; for instance, when Hasue is reading her letter, he overdubs it several times, and it becomes irritating rather than moving; he tries this on other occasions and as a gimmick, it doesn't improve the overall effect. The acting ensemble is marvelous: Ethan Hawke, though not as compelling as he should have been, does well in displaying his anger, hurt, frustration and love; Youki Kodoh as the wife of the accused is wonderful, her spritely demeanor hiding a gigantic love for her husband and for Hawke; Rick Yune (Die Another Day) shows the difficulty in expressing emotion as was taught by his father; James Rebhorn as the prosecutor is great, one of his best roles; James Cromwell does well as the judge in a poorly adapted role; Sam Shepard is very good as Hawke's idealistic father; Celia Weston evokes the nasty prejudice of the time as the victim's coldhearted mother; Richard Jenkins is good as the sheriff caught up in something he's not used to--murder; and Eric Thal is good as the victim, should have had a little more screen time to flesh out his role, and make us feel a little more for him.
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS is a lush, beautifully done film, with an Oscar worthy von Sydow performance; it's hard to stay with it, but if you do, I think you'll be rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: How the bitterness of the past can haunt one in the present
Review: I can attest to the adage that the first person one falls in love with is forever, regardless of whether that person gets married to someone else or not. Well, in Snow Falling On Cedars, that sort of past comes back to haunt young reporter Ishmael Chambers when he discovers the husband of his first love Hatsue is being tried for the murder of fisherman/husband/father Carl Heine. The case for the prosecution is that Kazuo, Hatsue's husband, murdered Carl with a flat wooden object, such as a kendo stick (wooden swords used in stick fighting), and all because of the loss of seven acres of land owned by Kazuo's father when Kazuo's family was interned during WW2. Kazuo had demanded the return of the land, but because of two payments missed, his family forfeited the land, which came into Carl's possession. He is defended by an elderly lawyer, Nels Gudmundsson (veteran Swedish actor Max von Sydow in a strong performance), who as a Scandinavian, detects the race issue here. Pearl Harbor has not been forgotten, in other words. All the while, Ishmael sits high up on the balcony of the trial room, observing the defendant and his wife. He is clearly still bitter about the past, as he might have ended up with Hatsue had not circumstances dictated otherwise. This bitterness is manifested when he sits on some information key to Kazuo's defense.

Set in the fishing village of San Piedro, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, the film shuttles back and forth between the present, in the 1950's, and the past, in the late 30's to 40's. The film shows Ishmael falling in love with Hatsue Imada, a Japanese girl, and both their mothers disapproving of interracial relationships. The overall overcast setting lends to the forboding, oppressive atmosphere, but it works well in the forest, where Hatsue has a little hidey hole in the depths of a large cedar tree, a clandestine meeting place for the young lovers. However, the dizzying array of echoed and repeated voices, and montages connecting various bits of the past can be rather trying.

Of course, the attack on Pearl Harbor stirs up anti-Japanese sentiments, setting the stage for what has been called the largest wholesale violation of civil rights in US history: the rounding up of Japanese-Americans from their homes, confiscation of anything traditional, called "old country", and mass deportation to camps like Manzanar, which is the camp the Miyamotos end up in.

However, Ishmael's father, Arthur, the editor of the local paper, is very progressive, and protests the roundups, which leads to threatening calls and cancellations of subscriptions. At the time of the trial, his father has died, and he discovers to his discomfort that his father's liberal reputation is overshadowing him.

The Japanese traditions of girls being groomed to be graceful, e.g. sitting on one's knees without moving, the wearing of kimonos, etc. is something my late mother could relate to, as she too was Japanese. Hatsue's mother is one forbidding her relationship to Ishmael. Similarly, my mother's father, had he lived, would never have allowed her to marry my father, otherwise your humble reviewer's race would have been different.

While Ethan Hawke does well as the brooding Ishmael, he's overshadowed by other performers, such as von Sydow, Youki Koudoh (Hatsue), and Sam Shepard (Arthur Chambers). As the film progresses, one begins to understand his bitterness.

I haven't read Guterson's novel, so I don't know how closely the movie follows it. Regardless, it's a slow-paced movie, but not grabbing at times; somehow, the mixture of adolescent romance, and racial courtroom drama that lacks punch. But the message of learning to let go of the past, and the conditions that would allow one to let go, comes through towards the end.

Rating:
Summary: I love the scenery in this movie and the music
Review: It has such a dramatic soundtrack. My favorite scene was when Young Ishmael and young Hatsue were picking strawberries in the field and then running through that forest. I was a great visual and the music there was so compelling!!! It makes me wish I had a young love when I was younger!!!

Very very romantic~

Rating:
Summary: Lush And Moving.
Review: "Snow Falling On Cedars" is a beautifully composed film about obsession, heartbreak and history. Director Scott Hicks delivers a film of enormous scope and beauty with memorable characters and a plot that is intricate and unweaves itself as the movie pushes forward. Those here who have bashed the movie apparently have no love for cinema or grandiose images. If you don't like art, don't see this film. Hicks excels here in the way the images don't interrupt the narrative, instead they flow with it. Cinematographer Robert Richardson paints here with lush colors, using the myst and snow to create emotion and lets the image bring out the moods of the characters, of the story. The editing can create a visceral experience enhanced by the epic, almost operatic score by James Newton Howard. Single images stick in the mind. The screenplay by Hicks and Ron Bass is eloquent and reaches out to the farthest reaches of classic romanticism, there are moments of pure emotion, sometimes brought about by images and sometimes just by words. "Snow Falling On Cedars" has the kind of classic storytelling missing in a lot of modern romances. It seems to me a lot of the critics here would probably prefer oversexed dribble instead of something with real heart. The performances are superb all around and the production design of the film is flawless. This is a lush tapestry of a love story, framed by wonderous cinematography. An underappreciated masterpiece, ignore the party poopers and check it out.

Rating:
Summary: Love means forgiveness.
Review: This story is a unique one with simplistic meaning that we silly humans cannot seem to grasp. True, the film is at a slower pace, but I believe that si from our main character's perception. Here we follow journalist Ishmael Chambers as he reports about a murder case in a courtroom. The wife of the accused is Hatsue Miyamoto, Ishmael's first love. The story unfolds by using Ishmael's memories of the past and how they create the present. Beautiful music, beautiful scenery, and a gorgeous story with gentle complexity in that love means forgiveness and putting the other person before yourself.

Rating:
Summary: maybe not the worst conversion of book to film...but close!
Review: I really enjoyed the original book on which the film was based. Although not the most well-written, it featured an interesting setting and good plot though the character development was weak. Still, one cared about the characters and what happened to them.

The film is instead almost incomprehensible, whether visually, plotwise or with regard to the characters. For the privilege of a few beautiful landscape scenes you have to watch a two hour movie that seems not to have considered the absence of internal logic as a flaw in a plot-heavy film. This film tries so hard to be arty, it forgets to have a core.

Though the original book featured flashbacks and flashforwards one didn't have to read it in the dark. But the film is shot with a minimum of light, totally chopped up in pieces that add nothing to the mood or the context, and someone who hasn't read the book will wander mindlessly through pretty landscapes missing the entire point of the book--which is about the human tendency to allow prejudice and stereotypes define our relationships with those different from ourselves. It could have made a powerful statement if the director had spent half as much time shoring up the plot and the internal logic of the narrative as he did pretending to be Ansel Adams shooting snow covered trees.

Rating:
Summary: LUSH ADAPTATION OF DIFFICULT BOOK
Review: One cannot deny the awesome beauty of some of the camerawork in this adaptation of David Guterson's SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS. SNOW FALLING was a slow, lethargic, but overall compelling novel; the movie version is the same. Scott Hicks' direction is frustrating yet magnificent at times. For instance, in Max von Sydow's brilliant summation, the camera never leaves Max's face, and the sequence is overwhelming due to the power of von Sydow's speech. It's a key highlight of the movie. However, earlier on, Hicks tries the overdubbing of too many key scenes; for instance, when Hasue is reading her letter, he overdubs it several times, and it becomes irritating rather than moving; he tries this on other occasions and as a gimmick, it doesn't improve the overall effect. The acting ensemble is marvelous: Ethan Hawke, though not as compelling as he should have been, does well in displaying his anger, hurt, frustration and love; Youki Kodoh as the wife of the accused is wonderful, her spritely demeanor hiding a gigantic love for her husband and for Hawke; Rick Yune (Die Another Day) shows the difficulty in expressing emotion as was taught by his father; James Rebhorn as the prosecutor is great, one of his best roles; James Cromwell does well as the judge in a poorly adapted role; Sam Shepard is very good as Hawke's idealistic father; Celia Weston evokes the nasty prejudice of the time as the victim's coldhearted mother; Richard Jenkins is good as the sheriff caught up in something he's not used to--murder; and Eric Thal is good as the victim, should have had a little more screen time to flesh out his role, and make us feel a little more for him.
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS is a lush, beautifully done film, with an Oscar worthy von Sydow performance; it's hard to stay with it, but if you do, I think you'll be rewarded.

Rating:
Summary: How the bitterness of the past can haunt one in the present
Review: I can attest to the adage that the first person one falls in love with is forever, regardless of whether that person gets married to someone else or not. Well, in Snow Falling On Cedars, that sort of past comes back to haunt young reporter Ishmael Chambers when he discovers the husband of his first love Hatsue is being tried for the murder of fisherman/husband/father Carl Heine. The case for the prosecution is that Kazuo, Hatsue's husband, murdered Carl with a flat wooden object, such as a kendo stick (wooden swords used in stick fighting), and all because of the loss of seven acres of land owned by Kazuo's father when Kazuo's family was interned during WW2. Kazuo had demanded the return of the land, but because of two payments missed, his family forfeited the land, which came into Carl's possession. He is defended by an elderly lawyer, Nels Gudmundsson (veteran Swedish actor Max von Sydow in a strong performance), who as a Scandinavian, detects the race issue here. Pearl Harbor has not been forgotten, in other words. All the while, Ishmael sits high up on the balcony of the trial room, observing the defendant and his wife. He is clearly still bitter about the past, as he might have ended up with Hatsue had not circumstances dictated otherwise. This bitterness is manifested when he sits on some information key to Kazuo's defense.

Set in the fishing village of San Piedro, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, the film shuttles back and forth between the present, in the 1950's, and the past, in the late 30's to 40's. The film shows Ishmael falling in love with Hatsue Imada, a Japanese girl, and both their mothers disapproving of interracial relationships. The overall overcast setting lends to the forboding, oppressive atmosphere, but it works well in the forest, where Hatsue has a little hidey hole in the depths of a large cedar tree, a clandestine meeting place for the young lovers. However, the dizzying array of echoed and repeated voices, and montages connecting various bits of the past can be rather trying.

Of course, the attack on Pearl Harbor stirs up anti-Japanese sentiments, setting the stage for what has been called the largest wholesale violation of civil rights in US history: the rounding up of Japanese-Americans from their homes, confiscation of anything traditional, called "old country", and mass deportation to camps like Manzanar, which is the camp the Miyamotos end up in.

However, Ishmael's father, Arthur, the editor of the local paper, is very progressive, and protests the roundups, which leads to threatening calls and cancellations of subscriptions. At the time of the trial, his father has died, and he discovers to his discomfort that his father's liberal reputation is overshadowing him.

The Japanese traditions of girls being groomed to be graceful, e.g. sitting on one's knees without moving, the wearing of kimonos, etc. is something my late mother could relate to, as she too was Japanese. Hatsue's mother is one forbidding her relationship to Ishmael. Similarly, my mother's father, had he lived, would never have allowed her to marry my father, otherwise your humble reviewer's race would have been different.

While Ethan Hawke does well as the brooding Ishmael, he's overshadowed by other performers, such as von Sydow, Youki Koudoh (Hatsue), and Sam Shepard (Arthur Chambers). As the film progresses, one begins to understand his bitterness.

I haven't read Guterson's novel, so I don't know how closely the movie follows it. Regardless, it's a slow-paced movie, but not grabbing at times; somehow, the mixture of adolescent romance, and racial courtroom drama that lacks punch. But the message of learning to let go of the past, and the conditions that would allow one to let go, comes through towards the end.