Snow Angels Movie Review
By Jason Revill
A couple of friends of mine live in a small town and it always blows my mind every time I visit, just how much people seem to know about each other. It seems as though everyone is connected to everyone else in some way or another. It may be that they’re cousins or they have gotten drunk and hooked up or both. (That’s a joke, sort of.) That knowledge is what makes the towns in independent movies seem to ring so true to me. Every time I think that these depressing little towns that people never seem to be able to escape from don’t exist, I just go visit my friends.
Arthur (Michael Angarano) is a lot like a lot of teenage boys who are trying to balance school with a home life that is less than ideal, while at the same time getting a grasp on understanding girls. Things seem to fall into place for him even as his father (Griffin Dunne) decides to move out when the new girl in town, Lila (Olivia Thirlby), takes an interest. Meanwhile Arthur’s former babysitter Annie (Kate Beckinsale) is going through a nasty separation from her husband Glenn (Sam Rockwell). Glenn has taken their separation hard and refuses to take responsibility for his own actions and accept the fact that his wife is moving on. When tragedy strikes the town events are put into motion that have dire consequences.
Generally speaking Kate Beckinsale hasn’t made the greatest career choices. Van Helsing anyone? For the most part is appears she’s been cast in her other roles based mostly on her looks, but here she shows that on top of being beautiful, she is quite an actress. Sam Rockwell, on the other hand, is always good. I have yet to be disappointed in anything he’s done, whether it be a Stella short or The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford. Michael Angarano deserves great credit for portraying Arthur as a thoughtful teen who is genuine instead of the angsty brat that it would have been so easy to fall into. Of all the performances, Olivia Thirlby’s is the one to pay attention to. You may just be watching a star in the making. Ellen Page got all the credit for Juno, but as her friend Thirlby appears to be the one with the real talent. I think we might be looking at a replay of a film that Juno was pretty similar to, Ghost World. Thora Birch was the main character, but Scarlett Johansson as the best friend became the star.
The two main storylines, one following a relationship at its beginning and another at its end are handled amazingly, although with tones that are on complete opposite ends of the spectrum. Arthur and Lila’s romance is funny and sweet without that cloying “look how cute and clever we are” mentality that ruins other films. These are two teens are smart, funny and sensitive in a very real way. On the other end of the spectrum Annie and Glenn’s marriage has already fallen apart and from the get-go there is such a sense of dread surrounding the two of them that you know something horrible is going to happen. These two people are poison for each other and despite themselves can’t stop taking steps down a horrible path.
With that being said, two of my main issues with this film have been that the story lines in Snow Angels although connected by the fact that the characters know each other casually, don’t really interconnect. Annie having been Arthur’s babysitter when he was a kid seems somewhat superfluous. When you couple that with the fact that by casting Kate Beckinsale as Annie, it’s almost impossible to believe that not only would she not have gotten out of this town as soon as she could, there’s not a chance in hell she would have ever married a guy like Glenn. Ultimately, I feel that what we are looking at here is the great wheel of small town relationships with Arthur and Lila as the beginning and Annie and Glenn at the tragic end. These two stories in fact tell one complete story of small town high school sweethearts.
Even with its teenage romance, Snow Angels is a pretty dark film that may not appeal to everyone. This however doesn’t mean that it isn’t a good film, in fact it is definitely one of my favorite films so far this year and definitely one I’ll revisit around Oscar time. David Gordon Green’s writing and direction along with beautiful cinematography and a magnificent cast makes a great little movie that people should look for. I’m glad it came out at a time of year that normally doesn’t have movies of this caliber in the theater, but I’m afraid that because of this it will be another good film that ends up being lost in the shuffle.
The Grade
- Story: A
- Acting: A
- Visuals: A-
- Originality: B+
- Enjoyability: A
- Overall: A-
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