Snow Falling on Cedars

Pros: beautiful cinematography, great acting, terrific story
Cons: commentary not all that good

Whenever blind patriotism rears its ugly head, I think of the darker times in our country’s history. One of those occurred during the Second World War. While we were fighting Germany and would later decry the horrors of their concentration camps, ...

Pros: Stunning direction, photography, editing and performances. More timely than ever subject.
Cons: Sheer beauty and overstatement does cause languid pacing in parts. Not a problem for me.

"It was a miracle of rare device,
A sunny pleasure-dome with caves of ice!"
From "Kubla Kahn", by Samuel Taylor Coleridge, 1816

OF TRUTH AND CLICHES:
The harrowing events of recent weeks have clearly established...

Pros: the story and the visual scenery
Cons: drags at points

Snow Falling On Cedars is an interesting movie which tells many stories in it's slightly over 2 hour running time.

At first glance, Snow Falling On Cedars appears as though it is a love story. In a way it is, but a love story is...

Pros: The cinematography in this movie is so lush, so rich, so exquisitely beautiful that every frame is a work of art
Cons: You know when someone raves on and on about the cinematography that there's probably something wrong with the rest of the film

For all its beauty and complexity, Snow Falling on Cedars moves at the pace of a snail making its way through a puddle of glue.

Once again, top filmmaking talent (director Scott Hicks of Shine, writer Ron Bass of Rain Man)...

Pros: Stunning visual images, Scott Hick's directing, performances by Hawkes, Von Sydhow,Koudoh, and Yune, Sound Track
Cons: Need to read the book first to appreciate , resulting in functional incoherence.

I fell asleep three times before getting a full viewing of this movie. I would take that as a tribute to the beautiful and complete visual images and the relatively sparse dialogue. I can't separate my feelings about this movie from the confusion it...

Pros: Magnificent cinematography, historically accurate, interesting plot
Cons: A bit slow, many MANY flashbacks

In a sleepy little port town in the state of Washington, winter was about to arrive, and the townspeople were all preparing. All of the fishermen were preparing for fishing voyages before the snow hit. However, it was a particularly foggy night, so most...

Pros: Superb casting, sound, cinematography, production design and majestically sweeping arc of a story-line.
Cons: A tiny bit of poetic license and legal legerdemain in the courtroom scenes.

Ishmael Chambers is the name given by first-time novelist David Guterson, to the lead character in his epic period piece, Snow Falling on Cedars. In my view, it was both a somewhat overblown and over-rated novel - that has been adroitly and effectively ...

Pros: Cinematography, music, characters
Cons: OK, maybe the story could be a little bit deeper.

First, let me say this: this film is not for people with short attention spans. And I'm not trying to diss these people who had not patience for this film. Its just not for everyone. I love this film for many reasons, but aesthetics seem to win ...

Pros: Scott Hicks' wonderful direction, Ron Bass' screenplay adaptation of David Guterson's novel.
Cons: Ethan Hawke seems out of synch compared to his fellow cast mates.

To me, Scott Hicks' "Snow Falling On Cedars" should serve as a blueprint in terms of a novel becoming a film. If you think I'm overstating, just bare in mind the visual quality of "Snow Falling On Cedars." The snowy, clausterphobic little town that ...

Pros: Beautiful setting, great acting and direction
Cons: Slow in spots

" Snow Falling on Cedars" is beautifully directed, visually stunning, superbly acted and fraught with courtroom drama. It is mainly a character study wrapped in a net of memory, with flashbacks that have an almost dreamlike quality. The trial...

Pros: Beautifully photographed
Cons: Camera rarely stays on any one image long enough for viewers to appreciate what they're seeing

Here we are barely two weeks into the new millennium, and already I have my first nominee for "Most Baffling Picture of the Century." Now other movie critics, most notably Roger Ebert, have waxed eloquent on the abundant merits they perceive in...

Pros: Cinematography and direction, cast and script, score
Cons: nothing

Racism in our country has been a very strange thing. In a lot of places I've seen, it's almost "okay" to use racial slurs against Hispanics or Asians in joking. But everyone agrees that the "n-word" is not to be used. This always irritates me. The one...

Pros: something different
Cons: too slow moving, not written well

When I saw this movie, I had a vague idea what the story was actually about. All I knew as that it was about a white guy in love with an asian girl. That intrigued me. As I started to watch this movie, I found myself utterly bored. The movie is...

Pros: Informative
Cons: Attempt to be a mood movie

Wrapped in accolades for his 1996 film "Shine", director Scott Hicks must have thought he was invincible when he set out to make "Snow Falling On Cedars".

Unfortunately, he never heard the advice of one of my journalism...

Pros: Beautiful cinematography, with a decent plot to make it worthwhile.
Cons: Not much action, very introspective.

Knowing how popular the book was, I'm actually quite surprised that I'm the first one to write a review of the film adaptation. I know that the film had only limited release (it takes place locally for me, across Puget Sound from Seattle on beautiful...