DVD REVIEW

Snow Angels

Warner Home Video || R || Sep 16, 2008

Synopsis

Arthur busses tables at a Chinese restaurant, plays trombone in the high school marching band, and has his eye on smart, funny, offbeat Lila – who definitely has her eye on him.  But as Arthur takes tentative steps toward his first romantic relationship, the long-time relationships of the adults around him teeter and crash, drawing Arthur into a vortex of events that will change his world forever.


Critique

David Gordon Green directed Pineapple Express, I’m guessing his most mainstream, financially successful film to date.  I could be wrong, but that seems like a fair guess.  Pineapple Express is hilarious.  There’s the unspoken creepiness of a grown man having a high school aged girlfriend, the cell phone ring tone that plays “Dr. Greenthumb”, Danny McBride, plus every weed reference and a lot more.  If you’re curious about Green’s films and want to see the exact opposite of Pineapple Express, you can’t do much better than Snow Angels.

I knew Snow Angels was a great film before I got too deep in the story.  This film is automatically great because of the presence of Nicky Katt, one of those should-be-better-known actors who elevates every film he’s in.  Katt plays Nate, who, as the name Nate might imply, is the asshole of the film.  As if his presence alone weren’t enough, we first meet Nate when he is in the middle of a nooner with Kate Beckinsale.

Nate and Annie (K.B.) have been having an affair, much to the chagrin of Annie’s ex-husband, Glenn (Sam Rockwell).  Rockwell is another actor who elevates pretty much every film he’s in, and he does a brilliant job here.  Glenn shows up to Annie’s house too often, making a nuisance of himself.  In one peculiar scene, Glenn pulls up to her house, totally shitfaced, and starts arguing.  Annie yells at him to just go home, which is odd considering that Glenn is so ossified that he might not even make it home.

The real brilliance of Snow Angels is in the last twenty minutes or so.  Up to that point, the film is a great character study, brilliantly written, but the last act is brilliantly executed in every way.  On the one hand, we know exactly what is going to happen, but at the same time there is just enough going on to make us think that maybe we’re wrong and things will turn out better than we expect, which creates nail-biting suspense and maintains it for nearly a third of the film’s total length.  The outcome is all the more sickening because we saw it coming, but were still given just enough to believe that maybe, just maybe, things would go another way.  All this time, the inevitable is drawn out so brilliantly that the effect is deliberately, brilliantly sickening, which is as it should be.

Snow Angels is powerful in the way that only cinema can be.  The whole cast – Kate Beckinsale and Sam Rockwell in particular – are as close to perfect as it gets.  Griffin Dunne, in a small role, gives texture to a character to a character that could easily be one-dimensional.  I knew one of David Gordon Green’s films before seeing this, and now I might be a fan for life.


Video

Snow Angels is presented in a 2.35:1 aspect ratio.  The transfer is sharp, and the overall picture is clean.  The white levels are sharp, which is important here, as is the rest of the spectrum.  The film is expertly translated.


Audio

This disc is presented in Dolby 5.1 Surround.  The channels are crisp and well balanced, and the overall soundtrack is well translated.  The film’s quiet moments are well balanced with the more chaotic moments.


Special Features

Nothing.  What’s up with the lack of bonus material lately?  Is it the economy?


Final Thoughts

Snow Angels is an intense film.  The performances are stellar and the last third of the film is dynamic.  The lack of bonus material makes it hard to recommend this as a disc, but the film is worth a look.

VERDICT: RECOMMENDED

 

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Review posted on Nov 3, 2008 | Share this article | Top of Page

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