Snow Cake
Director: Marc Evans
Starring: Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss
Rated: 15
Movies about human drama are nearly always traumatic affairs filled with angst and a full gamut of other emotions that invariably involve shouting and crying. It takes a certain frame of mind to go and watch people suffering for an hour and a half (or more), but it's a mindset that appeals to people who give out movie awards and justifiably so. A well-written drama will stretch the actor and if they are not up to the task it will be patently obvious.
There is one such film that should be appearing on all the upcoming award nominations, just on the strength of its leads performances, and that film is SNOW CAKE with Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman.
Rickman plays Alex, a jaded and taciturn Englishman, a role that comes effortlessly to him, who is driving across Canada to visit the mother of a deceased son he never knew. On the way he meets a young goth girl, who is hitchhiking to a small town called Wawa, to visit her mother. On the girl's insistence, and against his better judgement, he gives her a lift. They are involved in an accident (stunningly executed on film) and the girl is killed. Filled with remorse, Alex takes the gifts the girl had bought for her mother, in the hope of somehow consoling her and absolving himself of blame. But when he arrives he discovers that her mother, Linda, is autistic. Wanting to help her with the funeral arrangements, he convinces Linda to let him stay with her, and a funny, bittersweet relationship starts to develop between them, within the confines of Linda's condition. At the same time Alex has fallen for Linda's neighbour Maggie, played by the thinking man's sex symbol, Carrie-Ann Moss (THE MATRIX). Within the the short period of time he is in the small town, the two complex relationships open Alex's heart and get him to face his inner demons.
The dramatic scope of the story is fairly limited, compared to other similar films, but this tends to ground it more in reality, especially given the personalities of the three main characters. Rickman is good but hardly stretched and the sardonic wit he does so well is put to good use. Moss is still sexy without her skintight leather and shows that she is a diverse actress whose skills were underused in that sci-fi trilogy. But it is Sigourney Weaver who steals the film, capturing, with great subtly, the childlike innocence and obsessive behaviour that characterises autism. When we first discover her autism it comes as surprise and Weaver continues to surprise throughout the film. It is hard to believe this is the same actress that played the alien-conquering Ripley.
Even if this type of dramatic film is not usually to your taste, go and see it just for Sigourney Weaver's performance and then be surprised at how good the whole film is.
On general release from September 8.
Starring: Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss
Rated: 15
Movies about human drama are nearly always traumatic affairs filled with angst and a full gamut of other emotions that invariably involve shouting and crying. It takes a certain frame of mind to go and watch people suffering for an hour and a half (or more), but it's a mindset that appeals to people who give out movie awards and justifiably so. A well-written drama will stretch the actor and if they are not up to the task it will be patently obvious.
There is one such film that should be appearing on all the upcoming award nominations, just on the strength of its leads performances, and that film is SNOW CAKE with Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman.
Rickman plays Alex, a jaded and taciturn Englishman, a role that comes effortlessly to him, who is driving across Canada to visit the mother of a deceased son he never knew. On the way he meets a young goth girl, who is hitchhiking to a small town called Wawa, to visit her mother. On the girl's insistence, and against his better judgement, he gives her a lift. They are involved in an accident (stunningly executed on film) and the girl is killed. Filled with remorse, Alex takes the gifts the girl had bought for her mother, in the hope of somehow consoling her and absolving himself of blame. But when he arrives he discovers that her mother, Linda, is autistic. Wanting to help her with the funeral arrangements, he convinces Linda to let him stay with her, and a funny, bittersweet relationship starts to develop between them, within the confines of Linda's condition. At the same time Alex has fallen for Linda's neighbour Maggie, played by the thinking man's sex symbol, Carrie-Ann Moss (THE MATRIX). Within the the short period of time he is in the small town, the two complex relationships open Alex's heart and get him to face his inner demons.
The dramatic scope of the story is fairly limited, compared to other similar films, but this tends to ground it more in reality, especially given the personalities of the three main characters. Rickman is good but hardly stretched and the sardonic wit he does so well is put to good use. Moss is still sexy without her skintight leather and shows that she is a diverse actress whose skills were underused in that sci-fi trilogy. But it is Sigourney Weaver who steals the film, capturing, with great subtly, the childlike innocence and obsessive behaviour that characterises autism. When we first discover her autism it comes as surprise and Weaver continues to surprise throughout the film. It is hard to believe this is the same actress that played the alien-conquering Ripley.
Even if this type of dramatic film is not usually to your taste, go and see it just for Sigourney Weaver's performance and then be surprised at how good the whole film is.
On general release from September 8.
posted by Chris Patmore at 1:24 PM
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