Film
Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in Chicago, plus articles, trailers and more
- Home
- Box Office
- Listings
- Trailers
- Features
Bookmark this page- Edition:
Snow Cake (2006)
Director: Marc Evans
Movie review
From Time Out London
The debate about actors playing disabled characters is well rehearsed. On the one hand, it offers these lives dramatic representation; on the other, it’s prone to a certain self-conscious display from performers. This chamber drama set in remote snowy Canada won’t change any of that, but accept it for what it is and you’ll find a decent, respectable piece of work. Sigourney Weaver works very hard to portray Linda, a high-functioning autistic woman who has found some measure of security in an obsessively neat lifestyle – until her routine is challenged by the arrival of Alex (Alan Rickman), a cross-country driver with his own curdled past. Forced by tragic circumstances to announce the death of her teenage daughter, he then stays on to help her adjust in the run-up to the funeral.Screenwriter Angela Pell clearly has something to say about the way autism brings clear-sighted lack of prejudice and a childlike innocence, albeit often masked by seemingly irrational needs and drives. Such thematic integrity might lend the film genuine substance were it not dramatised through a panoply of unlikely circumstances, convenient contrivances and Linda’s seemingly uncanny ability to supply wise insights at exactly the right moment. That said, it’s hard not to respond to the central duo’s touchingly awkward to-and-fro, even if Rickman’s typically overdetermined sardonic spikiness is in marked contrast to the unforced naturalness of Carrie-Anne Moss, in a thin-ish subordinate part as the love interest next door. There’s no little sensitivity here, darts of wry humour too, and it’s cumulatively absorbing to be sure, but if the whole actorly bit tends to put your back up, best approach with caution.
Author: Trevor Johnston
Time Out London Issue 1881: September 6-13 2006
Cast & crew
Director: Marc Evans
Producer: Gina Carter, Jessica Daniel, Andrew Eaton, Niv Fichman
Cast: Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Anne Moss, James Allodi, Emily Hampshire, Jayne Eastwood, David Fox full cast
Genre(s): Drama
Duration: 112 mins
Features
Gray's anatomy
James Gray wants to push buttons—again.
The next big thing?
Gigantic Releasing tries to rethink indie distribution…without movie theaters.
Red Diva: Lyubov Orlova, First Lady of Soviet Cinema
So you think you can dance, comrade?
Puppet master
Coraline director Henry Selick takes stop-motion animation into 3-D.
Socratic method
Laurent Cantet's approach on the set matches the message of his film.
Wander woman
Kelly Reichardt's Wendy and Lucy puts a Bush-era spin on the road movie.
Oscars
Read our interviews with the nominees, our reviews of the nominated films and more.
What do you think?
Post your review now