Film Review: Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)

Having wrong race or ethnicity at the wrong place and wrong time can be quite unpleasant, even in countries that tend to pride themselves as “melting pots” and beacons of modern democracy. This is situation that represents major theme in Snow Falling on Cedars, 1999 period drama directed by Scott Hicks.

The plot, based on the eponymous novel by David Guterson, is set in 1950 at San Piedro Island, fictional island near coast of US Pacific Northwest. Small fishing town is troubled by apparently violent death of local fisherman Carl Heine Jr. (played by Eric Thal). The case is investigated and murder and suspect is quickly found in the form of Kabuo Myamoto (played by Rick Yune), his co-worker and son of Japanese immigrants whose family was in long land dispute with Heines. Kabuo is brought to trial where his chances for favourable verdict look slim because jury happens to be made out of racist locals who still can’t forgive Japanese for the attack on Pearl Harbor. While old defence lawyer Nels Gudmunsson (played by Max von Sydow) does his best to prove his client’s innocence, the trial is covered by journalist Ishmael Chambers (played by Ethan Hawke) whose motives aren’t entirely professional. As young man before the war he used to have romantic relationship with Kabuo’s wife Hatsue (played by Ann Suzuki). He remembers many happy moments but also many traumas caused by war, interment of Japanese Americans, end of relationship with Hatsue and her marriage to Kabuo. Ishmael struggles to maintain his objectivity while covering the trial.

Australian director Scott Hicks is best known for his previous film Shine, a biopic that brought Geoffrey Rush an Oscar for Best Actor. There were some Oscar-grabbing elements in Snow Falls on Cedar, mainly the subject of mistreatment of Japanese Americans during WW2 that could have looked sufficiently “politically correct” to Academy voters. However, despite literary source being acclaimed, this film failed to get much success, mainly thanks to somewhat unconventional style and narrative that mixes past and present, very much like The Thin Red Line. Despite having less characters and more coherent plot than Mallick’s war film, Snow Falls on Cedar turned out to be too confusing, especially due to flashbacks within flashbacks. Hicks didn’t help his cause by often sacrificing film rhythm due to long shots depicting natural beauty of Pacific Northwest, although they also feature Oscar-nominated cinematography by Robert Richardson. Even bigger problem is script Hicks co-wrote with Ronald Bass, which burdens relative simple whodunnit with overly epic romantic subplot and awkwardly reveals important detail about the protagonist late in the film. The acting isn’t particularly impressive, and that includes Ethan Hawke who doesn’t seem too interested in the role, as well as Max von Sydow who delivers adequate but routine performance. Impression is improved only by Sam Shepard as Ishmael’s idealistic father and James Cromwell as common sense judge. Same can be said for nostalgic music score by James Newton Howard. Snow Falling on Cedars is far from masterpiece, but it could still be reasonably satisfying experience for less demanding viewers of period dramas.

RATING: 5/10 (++)

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