Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)

If the ambition is to provide two hours of instantly forgettable, popcorn-munching escapism, it succeeds.

It's entirely possible that sending the audience out feeling lousy was intentional

This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.

There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Leaving aside Asian Movies, The character of Smilla is probably the best heroine I've seen since Genieve Bujold in Coma. Julia Ormond is terrific. but much as I hate to admit it, if I think about it, now after watching the movie, Gabriel Byrne's performance is rather flat. There are brief, but welcome appearances from Peter Capaldi and David Hayman. The story itself becomes rather formulaic once she gets on board that ship, but up to then I found this to be an intiguing thriller. I also liked the character of the ship captain's son. I probably should really only give this a 7, but let's say, barely an 8, and most of that is really for Smilla

Lots of films begin well. SSoS begins exceptionally well. Aside from Orman being so attractive, there's so much potential; e.g., particularly the opening moments and it's potential relationship to the rest of the movie. And SSoS is able to sustain this level of suspense and intrigue for over an hour. After that, this viewer began to see that the filmmakers were unable to translate from the page to the screen as well with the tale's action-oriented, big-setting second half. Preposterous characters and events intrude. The last fifteen minutes of the work are - with due sincerity and sarcasm aside - laughable; e.g., stock footage of glacier shelving, iceberg birthing, etc., ridiculously interspersed with a sunny day where obviously nothing is happening. It's a shame. To say SSoS fizzles out is an understatement. Evaporates would be a better description.

I haven't read the novel, though I'm afraid I can imagine it being superior to this. Honestly, I've been putting off watching this for years. It's cool that a Dane wrote it, and that another one directed it. And it was actually partially filmed here, as well as, unusually, up in Greenland, and a little bit of Inuktitut is spoken. It just doesn't feel like much of anything was beefed up for the purpose of putting it up on the silver screen, and the fact of the matter is, it has to be bigger than it does on the page. As far as what is translated from the book goes, the mystery does work well. It is fairly engaging, and keeps you guessing to an extent. With that said, you know who's behind it the moment you see him, since *the score instantly becomes ominous when the camera shows him*. This has its entertaining moments, and occasional humor. The performances are great, though these talented actors have all done better work elsewhere. Ormond fails to make the character particularly likable, and her accent does not convince. Editing and cinematography are nice enough. There is infrequent strong language, some violence and a sex scene in this. I recommend this to big fans of those involved in its production. 6/10

I just watched Smilla's Sense of Snow and, surprisingly, was quite impressed. Great characters, exceptional cast, fabulous cinematography and although the ending was curiously strange, it didn't bother me. My only complaint was in the DVD presentation. The credits were dirty with specks of dirt all over the screen, and the video was blurry and wavering in parts. When I buy a DVD I expect only the highest quality available and those that are not, I expose on my Website! Back to SSOS, Julia Ormond was so good that I wondered why we don't see more of her. Gabriel Byrne, Richard Harris, Tom Wilkinson, Robert Loggia and Vanessa Redgrave are all so dependable for a great performance (always) and they deliver here! The newcomers in the cast were terrific also and the script was crisp and biting. I was kind of stunned by the sci-fi tinge but still really enjoyed this film. Watched Siskel & Ebert's reviews and we were in agreement regarding SSOS.