Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)

The Worst Film Ever

best movie i've ever seen.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Snow Falling on Cedars (1999): Dir: Scott Hicks / Cast: Ethan Hawke, Sam Shepard, Richard Jenkins, Max Von Sydow, Youki Kudoh: Snow is a metaphor for burdens while cedars represent people. Ethan Hawke stars as a reporter who carries the job after his father's passing. He is covering a case involving land payment and possible murder. A Japanese male is on trial whose father bought the land during the war but they got behind in payments. Romantic subplot bares no weight but director Scott Hicks does a fantastic job. This is Hicks's followup to his success with Shine. Hawke is superb as he searches for answers but his involvement with a female sidelines what's important. Sam Shepard as his father is superb and the relationship is seen as one trying to reach the other in potential or measuring up. Also with Richard Jenkins as a Sheriff who survives what might have been a cliché type role by applying intellect and reasoning. Max Von Sydow as a lawyer also rises above convention by stealing his scenes. Youki Kudoh plays the married Asian woman whom Hawke rolls about under the cedars enacting hot forbidden passion. While the story structure doesn't always bear weight, the winter photography is enchanting particularly when the snow and cedars physically enter the picture. Strong themes heavy on symbolism to demonstrate the weariness of a burdened soul. Score: 9 / 10

In general I give this film rather high marks. It does a very good job of portraying the resentment toward the Japanese after World War II, as well as the general racism against Asians in that area at that time. I was particularly impressed with the courtroom scene where a White female landowner (I suppose she saw herself as a "real American") demonstrates her prejudice against foreigners, even though she herself had a strong foreign accent.I saw this film on cable when it first came to television, and now again a dozen years later. When I first saw the film I was impressed with young Ethan Hawke. I haven't been very impressed with him since.I am not a big fan of flashbacks, although they have their place. Some directors rely on them way too much, and that is evident in this film. I found it made the story a bit confusing in parts. And I had to laugh at one of our reviewers who said the story couldn't be told in sequence. Really? A story that occurs in sequence can't be told in sequence? This film has SOME flashbacks for the sake of having flashbacks.The cinematography here is excellent, and some scenes are particularly memorable. The rounding up of the Japanese in order to send them to relocation camps is a haunting sequence.As good as the "round up" sequence was, PARTS of the courtroom scenes were equally bad. Key testimony was quite good, but to show the blur of the trial, there were lousy slow motion scenes with muffled sounds. I was not impressed.As mentioned, Ethan Hawke was very good here as the young newspaper man struggling with idealism. James Cromwell was very good as the judge, in part because in his career you never quite knew whether he was going to be the good guy or the bad guy. Richard Jenkins is not a handsome guy, which is probably why he is so underrated as an actor; he does very nicely here as the sheriff. A highlight of the film is Max von Sydow as the defense attorney!!! And Rick Yune was appropriately stoic as the young Japanese man on trail.This is a darned good film, despite a few faults. Recommended, though it didn't end up on my DVD shelf.

Midpoint in the movie, the Japanese-American Internment is underway in a small Northwestern farming and fishing island in the Seattle, Washington, area. The Miyamoto family is visited by officials enforcing the expropriation and relocation of American citizens of Japanese ancestry. The officials rummage through the family's entire home and grounds, turning up every manner of personal items, especially anything of sentimental value such as personal letters or keepsakes (which supposedly suggest Japanese-cultural sympathies)—all boxed and taken away before their tearful eyes. The policemen find a container of dynamite, used by the Miyamoto men to clear the land, blow tree stumps. Turns out the law makes it a crime for people of Japanese ancestry to own explosives—a felony. "Aha!" the cops say, "we have a serious criminal." With the sensitivity of a dirty toilet seat, the goon squad handcuffs the father and takes him into immediate custody. Sound familiar? It does if you've been on the receiving end of any sort of act of state aggression... from busting kids for drugs to fabricating wars for the benefit of the Carlyle Group. ...For my complete review of this movie and for other movie and book reviews, please visit my site TheCoffeeCoaster.com.Brian Wright Copyright 2009

This is probably the worst movie I have ever seen in my life, and the first video rental that made me and a buddy push the fast-forward button more than three times. When you have two religious viewers show the most emotion when a character swears at his former love while losing a limb, you know the movie is really bad. Snow falling on cedars has way too many shots of snow actually falling on cedars. And snow falling on the ground. And people talking like they are watching snow falling. Soooo boring. Believe me, it is much better to simply sit in front of your apartment window and watch the snow actually fall then to waste money renting this movie.