Last night, I went to the TIFF screening of Snow Cake, which deals a great deal with the idea of loneliness, need, and internal life. I fell in love, as always, with Alan Rickman (who was not, it would seem, in attendance), and his ability to give so much depth to a character with an eyebrow, a twitch, a clenching of the jaw, a modulation of the voice. Alan Rickman is a writer's dream, because if your character is only an outline, he will fill it in like a colouring book. You can get away with pretty crappy writing if Alan Rickman is going to inhabit it.
Not that the writing in Snow Cake is crappy. The story was surprisingly funny. I was expecting something a lot more depressing, but this is a movie about accepting your demons, not about battling with them. Rickman, as Alex Hughes, would seem to be karmically unlucky, one of those people who seems to invite fate's dramatic action repeatedly. Theoretically, what I am about to say is a spoiler, but the script is conventional enough, and foreshadowy enough, that I don't think knowing these things would spoil the movie. So, Alex Hughes is just out of jail when he reluctantly picks up a vivacious young hitchhiker who singles him out as the loneliest man in the room. He is trying to get to Winnipeg; she is headed home to Wawa. He confesses to her:
“I just got out of jail.”
“Fraud?”
“I killed a man.”
She asks about his family, and we know from the opening scene, where he is examining a strip of photo booth pictures, that he must have once had a child, but that something bad happened. Just as Alex is warming up to Vivienne, there is an accident. A trucker drives straight into Alex's car, with a horrifying vividness. (I reflexively closed my eyes.) He drives into the passenger side. Alex crawls out, mostly unhurt. Vivienne is dead. Consumed with guilt — though intellectually aware that it is not his fault — Alex decides to visit Vivienne's mother, getting the address by snooping in a conveniently unattended copy of the police report. When he arrives, he discovers that there is something wrong with Linda, Vivienne's mother, and he instinctively feels the need to stay to make sure she is okay.
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Article comments
1 - Yulia Ivanova
Thank you very much Bonnie for that review, I trust it does show the sense of "Snow Cake"!
2 - Lydia W
I too was there to see the film and thought it was great. Mr Rickman can play any type of character to perfection. Ms Weaver was very good and funny. I thought they played comically well together. Th scrabble sceen was the best. I almost fell out of my chair laughing with the cookie sceen. This one good movie that i think everyone should see.
3 - April
This was a wonderful review...I've been looking forward to this film for a while. Rickman is fantastic in all that he touches, but this story sounds good enough to stand alone.
4 - Michelle
I am wondering, since TIFF always predicts Oscar chances, does anyone think the Academy should at least pay attention to Rickman's acting in this film, even if they find the story conventional? I mean, what I've heard, he's amazing!! Brilliant! Sensational! Best role of his career thus far! So why hasn't there been any buzz about this role while Ryan Gosling is actually being considered? I have nothing against Ryan Gosling but I have heard better talk about Rickman but less buzz!
5 - Bonnie
Rickman is very good in this film as always, but I don't know if it's quite Oscar worthy. I'm not sure it has that something extra that I always think should be in an Oscar-nominated performance. Then again, I am a lousy predicter of Oscars, and I am often surprised by the nominees. And I certainly wouldn't have any problems if this Rickman's performance was nominated. Also, I'm not sure when Snow Cake is being released; maybe that's why there hasn't been a lot of buzz so far?