The Popcorn Reel Film Review: "Snow Angels" (Warner Independent Pictures)

By Omar P.L. Moore/March 21, 2008

Sam Rockwell as Glenn and Kate Beckinsale as Annie in David Gordon Green's "Snow Angels". Both actors are excellent in this intense and powerful film. (Photo: Warner Independent Pictures)

"Snow Angels", which opened in limited release today (including at the Embarcadero Cinemas in San Francisco) is a devastating look at a rural family torn asunder and writer-director David Gordon Green, who has adapted the novel of the same name by Stewart O'Nan into a big screen experience, scores knockout punch after knockout punch with a supremely devastating rendering of a couple's decent into carelessness and chaos. Mr. Green, who has wowed audiences with such films as "George Washington" and "All The Real Girls", knows how to take the temperature not only of the human condition, but also to gauge the compassion, empathy and boiling points of complex human beings.

Mr. Green taps into these human foibles and frailties superbly, but all of the film's performers help a great deal as well, most notably Sam Rockwell, whose devastating performance is the most remarkable of his career. Mr. Rockwell crafts distinct characters, whether as a quiet, simpering half brother in last year's dreadful "Assassination of Jesse James" or as a strict father with a kid that's less than good in "Joshua", but here he is, jarring and frightening as Glenn, a suicidal man under a restraining order to stay away from his wife, played by Kate Beckinsale, who is shattering and tragic here as Annie, a housewife who is feeling the strain of protecting the young daughter she and Glenn parent. Ms. Beckinsale, who is British, disappears into the challenging role. She is a less than perfect specimen, like the rest of the film's residents, and her inattention at a crucial time will become the vital turning point that sets Mr. Green's compelling film in motion.

Mr. Green's camera always moves, even when the frame which holds our attention so powerfully is still. In the most peaceful of moments the frame moves ever so slightly, creeping along as if the movement represents the truncated breaths of the film's desperate characters. the characters are searching for a completion of their humanity, badly fractured by circumstance as much as by contradiction. There is Arthur, a young man wise beyond his years, played by Michael Angarano ("Man In The Chair") and he is the film's anchor, guiding the audience on a journey that is occasionally unsettling, if not uplifting. Arthur is the adult in a family of real adults grappling with reality, plagued by denial. Griffin Dunne plays Don, a tormented father to Arthur, struggling to maintain a relationship with his only son, while his estranged wife Louise (Jeannetta Arnette) has her suspicions about her ex-husband. Arthur's outlet for empathy is a fellow student Lila, a nerdy girl (Olivia Thirlby of "Juno") who takes quickly to him. She provides solace and comfort, without complication. Of all Mr. Green's actors, Ms. Thirlby in her gawkiness -- brought on by the glasses her character dons -- is the most uncomplicated character the film exhibits.

"Snow Angels" features a memorable neighborhood sleazebucket named Nate, humorously played by Nicky Katt (last seen in "The Brave One") who can't keep his hands off other women, much to the chagrin of Barb, his wife, who wears the pants in the house. Amy Sedaris does a wonderful job in this role, sharply reading the riot act to Mr. Katt and anyone else who gets in the way of her sense of righteous justice. Oddly enough, she is at times the film's most sympathetic character, meandering between anger and compassion. She is searching for an equilibrium within herself that is so difficult to find amongst many of the characters that dot the winter landscape, yet it is balance that the director himself finds in this film, which maintains a grit and sturdiness all the way through. Mr. Katt's Nate gives us time to breathe amidst all of the messiness of the downbeat situations, yet he is not meant to be funny, just a representation of a sloppy, slovenly slob of a man too hoary, stagnant and weak to cover his tracks or address his issues with his strong-willed wife.

Be warned: "Snow Angels" is a jarring and painful experience. There's little room to laugh to be sure, but if there's anything celebratory about the film, it's that David Gordon Green honestly canvasses the human spirit, mining its every inflection and heartbeat so assuredly that one can't help but salute his cinematic portraiture, boosted by a strong filmmaking acumen. Mr. Green, who resists flashy camera work, keeps improving and even with a depressing story, "Snow Angels" bites unremittingly into the painful wounds that it digs deeply in, echoing the kind of grimness and gravity that best picture Oscar winner "No Country For Old Men" flaunted so well last year. That, in and of itself, is a triumph. "Snow Angels" is also reminiscent of the kind of slippery descent seen in such films as Sam Raimi's simmering psychological drama "A Simple Plan", where the good or bad intentions of its characters in their misguided journey ultimately leads them down precious few avenues with few options.

"Snow Angels" is rated R by the Motion Picture Association of America for language, some violent content, brief sexuality and drug use . The film's duration is one hour and 46 minutes.

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