Customer Reviews

Snow Falling on Cedars (Widescreen)

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(16)
3 star:		(9)
2 star:		(5)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

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.

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.

Grim.

The title tells it all. The plot is already summed up quite tidily in other reviews. I would just add a few remarks.

English is not Kudoh Yuki's native language. In this movie she does one better than Meryl Streep by actually demonstrating mastery of an entire foreign language by speaking American English with an American accent. Of course, she was already good at it, but we have to remember that Hatsue, being born and bred on American shores, was a native speaker. I thought Kudoh was very convincing. Yes, acting is not all about utterances, and her facial expressions may have been formulaic to some point, but this movie is worth watching just for seeing Ms. Kudoh do her stuff.

And the movie had a profound message. Because of that and the fact that the story took place in a part of the world I was born in, I found the two hours generally satisfying.

Here and there I found the behavior of the characters mystifying - especially crowd behavior.

Why, for example, the silent march to the ferry dock? Forced evacuation of citizens based solely on race was truly a glaring violation of the Bill of Rights, but it was not mass genocide. The long walk scene was as drawn-out as it was grim. It featured a nagging bass in the soundtrack and dejected victims stunned to silence. Together they portrayed a stark black-and-white simplicity that I would question. I imagine that at least the children would still be children and think they were all taking part in some community outing. While the scene captured a certain psychological truth, it also was a bit too heavy-handed. We of the here-and-now know far too much and they knew way too little.

But the movie is definitely worth the time and money.

What I'd like to know, though, is why did they bother to shoot this in color?

Hi, I just finished watching SFOC and I thought it was amazing. Why do the critics fawn all over horrible movies and blast good ones? I guess we'll never know. Yes SFOC was slow-paced, but SOOOO beautiful and intriguing...I felt myself wishing I'd seen it on the big screen, but still it's a terrific movie and I will recommend it to everyone I know. See it!

'Snow Falling on cedars' -adapted from David Guterson's novel- is about a murder trial, about racism and about a love that couldn't last.

I like the story as it is being told by director Scott Hicks. He seems to work like a musician, as a composer with a magic hand for telling a multilayered story in a perfect pace, just like the way themes develop and grow in good symphonic classical music. Scott Hicks also seems to have the hand and eyes of a painter and the imagination of a poet. Proof of this is the overwhelmingly beautiful photography of the film and the way the imagery blends perfectly with the beautiful music of James Newton Howard.

'Snow falling on cedars' is set on an American island in the straits north of Puget Sound, in Washington, with a large Japanese-American community. Everyone on this island is either a fisherman or a berry farmer.

At the core of 'Snow falling on cedars' lies a dramatic love story. It focuses on the most painful loss for a human soul to endure. Imagine yourself living in a small community where you are confronted every day with someone who once dearly loved you, but, due to extreme circumstances -in this case World War II- had to leave you and eventually married someone else... and you've never stopped loving that person. Whereas a deceased beloved person becomes a closed book, containing memories of the past, a living beloved one you see every day, but you can't reach anymore, causes probably a deeper trauma of loss. A trauma that can rip a man's heart and soul apart. We see this happen in 'Snow falling on cedars'.

The story gives us a deep and subtle look into the human heart of main character Ishmael Chambers (played very well by Ethan Hawke), a journalist who has never overcome a passionate love relationship in his teenage years with the Japanese girl Hatsue Imada (played very well by Youki Kudoh), who -according to her tradition- has married a Japanese guy. Hatsue's husband, fisherman Kazuo Miyamoto, stands on trial for the murder of fisherman Carl Heine. Kazuo's case looks bad and it's 1951, six years after the end of World War II, and nine years after Japan's attack on Pearl Harbour. Japanese-Americans were moved to internment camps during the war. In 1951 many Americans still frown upon their Japanese 'fellow americans' as a not trustworthy 'former enemy'. So ethnicity and racial convictions -although not outspoken- could play a role in the verdict of the jury.

Ishmael unravels the case and his findings will be crucial for the fate of Kazuo Miyamoto. While the trial is going on, we learn at the same time in many flashbacks about Ishmael's past love affair with Hatsue.

Don't miss this great movie and watch how main character Ismael Chambers finds the strength to show how gentle and generous the heart of a man can be. For all those with a sensitive mind and heart 'Snow falling on cedars' will be a feast for the senses, and of course nothing less can be expected from a true masterpiece.

It is encouraging that in a growing number of ways, Americans are looking back and doing some self-criticism on issues like social and racial discrimination. The plot blends romance, history and mystery but in the end it is human nature and love that prevails. The movie keeps the viewer's interest throughout, but is not a keeper DVD.
Plus: Very good cinematography and use of camera; good acting; strong references to the historical tension of Jap-American relationships.
Cons: Constantly dark scenes, which may be atmospheric, but tiring; A bit slow at times.

Naturally, a movie is rarely as good as the novel, and Snow Falling on Cedars doesn't break this guideline. However, considering the length and depth of the novel, the movie did a very fair rendition. Ethan Hawke surprised me, he was good, really good. And the imagery is absolutely beautiful, trees, snow, water, it's all good. And the flashbacks fit well. After reading the novel, I wondered how they would do that in the movie. But they managed and it worked. After reading the novel/watching the movie you realize that Ishmael still loves Hatsue, but he lets go and realizes it can never be. The movie is great in that it still retains the novel's ability to make you wonder: What if you find your soulmate, but that you aren't that person's soulmate? Ouch, poor Ishmael. The courtroom scenes are nicely depicted and the casting was well-done. All in all, 5 stars are deserved. I once did a report on the Japanese internment camps and even though the movie didn't dwell too much on that, we still get a strong sense of the injustice in the whole thing.

It's not a bad film and is to be commended for powerfully capturing the forcing of Americans of Japanese descent into crudely made, wooden shacks in the middle of deserts or dry lake beds.
But the most interesting characters are mere objects/plot devices to push the story along. They aren't allowed to tell their own stories. We solely see them through the eyes of the white characters.
The father, played by Cary Hiroyuki Tagawa and his son, played by Rick Yune, have an interesting story to be told -- the father who teaches his son to be strong, silent and have resolve, who is then interned into America's concentration camps, and the son, a WWII veteran, comes back to claim his father's land which was sold off while they were gone. Unfortunately, you don't hear it in this movie. ...
This movie is basically about a sometimes whiny man who can't live up to his father's legacy as a lawyer, and like an immature person, would rather hold a grudge than do what is right, that is, until the end.

One of the better grownup films lately; good drama, well acted, gorgeous cinema and music. A somewhat plodding pace but the rich cinematography helps a lot. I wish we had more contemporary films of this quality.

This movie is stunningly beautiful, but unfortunately it lacks depth, historical accuracy, or suspense. The story has been covered in detail by other reviewers, and needn't be repeated here.

The story takes place on an island on which nearly half of the population is Japanese-American (the author lives on Bainbridge Island, WA). The effort is to make the viewer (especially the local high school kids who are compelled to watch it in class) think that it represents history.

The bigoted anti-Japanese prosecutor is portrayed in a comic fashion. His inane rantings are so exaggerated and perverse that a child can see through them. Which is probably the intent; since it is used as mandatory study material in the local public schools (in spite of the sexual content).

It also slanders those individuals of Scandinavian descent (many who also live in this area); the Japanese-American protagonist was cheated by the Scandinavian-American mother of the killed person. Supposedly, this was the first time any Japanese-American was to have the opportunity to own land (something that is not borne out by contemporary land records), and this Norsky woman cheated him out of it.

There was certainly injustice and bigotry; but it should also be remembered that most of the WWII-era anti-Japanese bigotry had disappated by 1950 (the time of this story). The Korean war was in progress; Japan was the major staging area (not to mention R&R spot) for US GIs in Korea; the flood of Japanese war brides was well underway; and more than anything else was the well-known heroism of Japanese-American GIs on the battlefields of Europe. Anti-Japanese bigotry had already become quite un-PC.

The movie also fails as mystery. The case against the protagonist was based upon weak circumstantial evidence. Rather than do the necessary forensics to secure a conviction, much less formulate a reasonable motivation or plan, the prosecution made repeated expressions of racial bigotry. Left unanswered were several questions. If the protagonist hoped to acquire that land, how would murdering the legal owner accomplish that? If he did it in a rage, why would he wait 5 years after the end of the war to do it? And so on.

Once again, a child could see through the flaws in the case.

In the end, heroic White boy overcomes his past feelings of love for pretty Japanese-American girl and comes up with the evidence to prove her husband's innocence (the death turned out to be a tragic accident); thus giving her up forever but alleviating liberal White guilt. And this movie positively oozes liberal White guilt.

If you have a "Perry Mason" view of how criminal prosecutions work, and a one-dimensional cartoon view of the issues of racial bigotry, then maybe this movie would appeal to you. If you like to look at beautiful Pacific Northwest scenery, then maybe this movie would appeal to you as well (but why not just visit PNW?).

If you hope for a serious understanding of the history of that time, or inter-racial relations of that time, from this movie then either you will be deluded or greatly disappointed.