Snow Angels, a new film by writer-director David Gordon Green (All the Real Girls, George Washington), mixes tragedy with tenderness and moments of beautiful revelation. The director tells a story with many characters without letting any of them get lost. Unfortunately, Green holds the audience at too much of a distance to make us really care about all the characters and does not focus enough on the most interesting ones.
Four couples navigate through messy relationships and confusion. The least likable couple gets the most screen time: Annie (Kate Beckinsale) and her psychopathic suicidal-come-born-again-Christian husband (Sam Rockwell) deal with the aftermath of their break-up: he keeps coming round in the middle of the night, drunk, to see her and insists that despite the court order, he should have more time with his daughter, Tara.
The new quirky girl in school (Juno’s Olivia Thirlby) has eyes for Arthur (Michael Angarano), a member of the school marching band whose nerdiness is sealed by the awful pink toque he sports throughout the film. They unabashedly develop feelings for one another and share some truly tender and sweet moments that happily never last long enough to turn into sap. I rather wish we were treated to more of these two sweethearts, so we could understand better why they were attracted to one another and get a deeper understanding for why this lovely relationship works.
Arthur’s father has recently left his mother. When Arthur runs into him at the mall with another woman, a few weeks later, there is a note-perfect awkward moment. Arthur realises what his father has done, but has become so detached from the situation that seeing his father is like seeing an old acquaintance to whom you have nothing to say, though you feel moderately obligated to stand there and engage. The reactions on the actors’ faces here are brilliant. The way Green portrays Arthur and his mother’s detachment and numbness to the situation, while both still clearly heartbroken, is very observant and clever.
The film focuses on Annie, her husband Glenn (played disgustingly well by Sam Rockwell – he makes your skin crawl), and her lover who also happens to be her co-worker’s husband. Annie is in a terrible situation: her husband essentially stalks her, her mother blames her for her marriage break-up, and Annie is left taking care of her daughter who she loves but loses her temper with too often. Kate Beckinsale gives a stunning performance, though at times her fits of anger seem a tad overly dramatic, staged, and ‘acted’. This is a common failing of the direction throughout the film.
The film starts at the end of the story, and in the first few scenes, there are many short scenes with very obvious fades to black. It has an interesting effect on pacing, and has a nice way of reappearing again at the end, but it becomes gimmick. You notice the fade-to-blacks more than you experience them. Equally, there are some scenes that are spot on. The film seems to know they are spot on and this self-consciousness detracted from evoking an emotional response to them.
There are some moments of tragedy, like when Annie’s young daughter goes missing, and we wonder whether the father was the cause. There is something even more chilling at the end, which we somewhat expect, but it should frighten us nonetheless. Yet the characters on whom the tragedy befalls are so unlikable, and I was so detached, that although I thought to myself “wow, that’s creepy”, I never really felt the creepiness.
David Gordon Green has a wonderful knack for quiet moments. He holds the camera on one character or another, letting us see how the character is feeling by showing us a simple, delicate reaction shot. He also has a feel for family drama, detachment, and recognizable awkward moments. The film is well-paced and smoothly navigates from one couple to another, connecting them all together in an unforced manner. It grows a little tiresome towards the end when we’re left watching the least likeable characters of all. We are forced to satisfy ourselves with the wonderful but small glimpse of the more sympathetic and interesting characters. However, the small glimpse is well worth seeing.
