Snow Angels (film)
Encyclopedia
Snow Angels is a 2007 drama film
starring Sam Rockwell
and Kate Beckinsale
. It was directed by David Gordon Green
, who also wrote the screenplay adapted from Stewart O'Nan
's 1994 novel of the same title. The film premiered in the dramatic competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
. It is a character driven film centered around several characters dealing with loss of innocence in a small town. Snow Angels was released on 7 March 2008.
, it currently holds a "fresh" rating of 67%, based on 109 reviews by film critics. Metacritic
reported the film had an average score of 67 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.
Steven Rea
of the Philadelphia Inquirer called the film "a compelling, and grim, portrait of small-town lives gone wrong", "disturbingly good", while also writing, "the film's characters get inside your skin, your soul. It's enough to make you want to cry." Richard Corliss
of Time
wrote, "The film's success is due in large part to actors who are both faithful to all the social minutiae and seductive enough to keep you watching." He also praised director David Gordon Green for his gift, "to show how people learn codes of affection and aggression from watching movies, but when they try to pull them off in crucial situations they come out awkward, embarrassed and futile."
The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Marc Mohan of The Oregonian
named it the 4th best film of 2008, and Michael Philllips of the Chicago Tribune
named it the 8th best film of 2008.
Among the critics who gave the film a negative review was Kyle Smith
of the New York Post
, who gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling the film, "funny, beautifully written, nicely observed, sweetly familiar. For the first half", and felt, "the film's change of key in the second half feels like a betrayal."
in the United States on March 7, 2008 and grossed $14,247 in two theaters its opening weekend.
released Snow Angels on DVD on September 16, 2008 on a single disc in widescreen and full screen versions.
Drama film
A drama film is a film genre that depends mostly on in-depth development of realistic characters dealing with emotional themes. Dramatic themes such as alcoholism, drug addiction, infidelity, moral dilemmas, racial prejudice, religious intolerance, poverty, class divisions, violence against women...
starring Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell
Sam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
and Kate Beckinsale
Kate Beckinsale
Kathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...
. It was directed by David Gordon Green
David Gordon Green
David Gordon Green is an American filmmaker. He has directed dramas such as George Washington, All the Real Girls, and Snow Angels, as well as the thriller Undertow, all of which he wrote or co-wrote...
, who also wrote the screenplay adapted from Stewart O'Nan
Stewart O'Nan
- Life and work :Born on February 4, 1961 to John Lee O'Nan and Mary Ann O'Nan, née Smith. He and his brother were raised in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania....
's 1994 novel of the same title. The film premiered in the dramatic competition at the 2007 Sundance Film Festival
2007 Sundance Film Festival
The 2007 Sundance Film Festival ran from January 18 until January 28, 2007 in Park City, Utah with screenings in Salt Lake City, Utah and Ogden, Utah. It was the 23-rd iteration of the Sundance Film Festival...
. It is a character driven film centered around several characters dealing with loss of innocence in a small town. Snow Angels was released on 7 March 2008.
Plot
On a cold afternoon, with snow on the ground, a high school band is practicing for the last football game, when they hear gunshots. The film abruptly flashes back to a few weeks before, to a Chinese restaurant where a high school boy named Arthur buses tables, and his ex-babysitter, Annie and her best friend, Barb, are waitresses. Arthur, who's a bit of a misfit, has a troubled home life caused by his constantly clashing parents, both of whom often forget about him. Annie's life isn't fairing much better: she's now a single mother with an ill mother, separated from her husband, Glenn, who's on the wagon and becoming a born-again Christian in order to prove that he is responsible enough to spend time with their young daughter, Tara. Depressed and lonely, Annie is having an affair with Barb's husband, Nate, which eventually serves to only make her unhappier, as she feels great guilt over betraying her best friend. Desperate to prove himself and still harboring feelings for his estranged wife (whom he suspects is seeing someone), Glenn gets a new job and spends as much time as possible with Tara. Meanwhile, Arthur finds himself growing close to Lila, a new student at the high school who has a knack for photography. The film focuses heavily on how people's lives can cross in a small town, especially when Tara wanders out of the house and goes missing while Annie, having just lost her best friend over the affair, is sleeping. The whole town spends hours desperately searching for Tara, before Arthur finds her body while smoking pot with his friend. To Annie's horror, Tara fell into the lake while playing and drowned when the water froze over. This turn of events leads to Glenn having a complete breakdown, which results in his murder of Annie and subsequent suicide.Cast
- Kate BeckinsaleKate BeckinsaleKathryn Bailey "Kate" Beckinsale is an English actress. After some minor television roles, she made her film debut in Much Ado About Nothing while still a student at Oxford University...
as Annie Marchand - Sam RockwellSam RockwellSam Rockwell is an American actor known for his leading roles in Lawn Dogs, Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, Choke and Moon, as well as for his supporting roles in The Green Mile, Iron Man 2, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Frost/Nixon, Galaxy Quest, Matchstick Men, The Assassination of...
as Glenn Marchand - Michael AngaranoMichael Angarano- Early life :Angarano was born in Brooklyn, New York, the son of Doreen and Michael P. Angarano. He is of Italian descent. His family owns and operates three successful dance studios; two in New York and one in California called Reflections in Dance. His mother is the owner and director of all...
as Arthur Parkinson - Deborah AllenDeborah AllenDeborah Allen is an American country music singer. Since 1976, Allen has issued 12 albums and charted 14 singles on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart, most notably the 1983 crossover hit "Baby I Lied" which reached #4 on the country charts and #26 on the Billboard Hot 100. Allen has also...
as May Van Dorn - Jeanetta ArnetteJeanetta ArnetteJeannetta Arnette is an American actress known for her television role as Miss Meara on the situation comedy Head of the Class. She has also appeared in numerous films and guest-starring roles on television...
as Louise Parkinson - Griffin DunneGriffin Dunne-Personal life:Dunne was born Thomas Griffin Dunne in New York City, New York, the son of Ellen Beatriz Dunne and Dominick Dunne. His mother founded the victims' rights organization Justice for Homicide Victims and his father was a producer, writer, and actor...
as Don Parkinson - Olivia Thirlby a Lila Raybern
- Connor PaoloConnor PaoloConnor Paolo is an American actor best known of his role as Eric van der Woodsen in The CW young-adult series Gossip Girl since 2007-2011.He became part of the two Oliver Stone films, World Trade Center and Alexander where he bagged his biggest break in Hollywood.He is currently playing Declan...
as Warren Hardesky - Nicky KattNicky KattNicholas Lea "Nicky" Katt is an American actor known for his role as unorthodox teacher Harry Senate on David E. Kelley's Fox drama Boston Public.-Career:...
as Nate Petite - Amy SedarisAmy SedarisAmy Louise Sedaris is an American actress, author, and comedian. She is known for playing the character Jerri Blank in the Comedy Central television series Strangers with Candy. Sedaris regularly collaborates with her older brother, humorist and author David Sedaris...
as Barb Petite - Gracie Hudson as Tara Marchand
- Peter BlaisPeter BlaisPeter Blais is a Canadian actor, born in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada who has been in a number of made-for-TV movies and television series. He has won a Golden Sheaf Award for "Best Performance - Male" in The Wager, and in 1999 he was nominated for a Gemini Award for "Best Performance by an Actor in a...
as Mr. Eisenstat - Brian DowneyBrian Downey (actor)Brian Downey is a Canadian actor perhaps best-known for his portrayal of Stanley Tweedle, in the science-fiction television series Lexx....
as Frank Marchand - Tom NoonanTom NoonanTom Noonan is an American actor and film writer-director.-Early life:Noonan was born in Greenwich, Connecticut, the son of Rosaleen and Tom Noonan, who worked as a dentist and jazz musician respectively...
as Band Leader - Pascal MacLellan as himself
Critical Response
The film received generally positive reviews from critics. On Rotten TomatoesRotten Tomatoes
Rotten Tomatoes is a website devoted to reviews, information, and news of films—widely known as a film review aggregator. Its name derives from the cliché of audiences throwing tomatoes and other vegetables at a poor stage performance...
, it currently holds a "fresh" rating of 67%, based on 109 reviews by film critics. Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
reported the film had an average score of 67 out of 100, based on 28 reviews.
Steven Rea
Steven Rea
Steven Rea is an American journalist, film critic, poet, and writer. Although at the beginning of his career he was based in Los Angeles, California, he now resides on the East Coast. Since 1982 he has written for the Philadelphia Inquirer...
of the Philadelphia Inquirer called the film "a compelling, and grim, portrait of small-town lives gone wrong", "disturbingly good", while also writing, "the film's characters get inside your skin, your soul. It's enough to make you want to cry." Richard Corliss
Richard Corliss
Richard Nelson Corliss is a writer for Time magazine who focuses on movies, with the occasional article on music or sports. Corliss is the former editor-in-chief of Film Comment...
of Time
Time (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
wrote, "The film's success is due in large part to actors who are both faithful to all the social minutiae and seductive enough to keep you watching." He also praised director David Gordon Green for his gift, "to show how people learn codes of affection and aggression from watching movies, but when they try to pull them off in crucial situations they come out awkward, embarrassed and futile."
The film appeared on some critics' top ten lists of the best films of 2008. Marc Mohan of The Oregonian
The Oregonian
The Oregonian is the major daily newspaper in Portland, Oregon, owned by Advance Publications. It is the oldest continuously published newspaper on the U.S. west coast, founded as a weekly by Thomas J. Dryer on December 4, 1850...
named it the 4th best film of 2008, and Michael Philllips of the Chicago Tribune
Chicago Tribune
The Chicago Tribune is a major daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, and the flagship publication of the Tribune Company. Formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper" , it remains the most read daily newspaper of the Chicago metropolitan area and the Great Lakes region and is...
named it the 8th best film of 2008.
Among the critics who gave the film a negative review was Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith
Kyle Smith is an American critic, novelist and essayist. He is a staff film critic for the New York Post. His film reviewing style has been called "an exercise in hilarious hostility" by Entertainment Weekly....
of the New York Post
New York Post
The New York Post is the 13th-oldest newspaper published in the United States and is generally acknowledged as the oldest to have been published continuously as a daily, although – as is the case with most other papers – its publication has been periodically interrupted by labor actions...
, who gave the film 2.5 out of 4 stars, calling the film, "funny, beautifully written, nicely observed, sweetly familiar. For the first half", and felt, "the film's change of key in the second half feels like a betrayal."
Box Office Performance
The film opened in limited releaseLimited release
Limited release is a term in the American motion picture industry for a motion picture that is playing in a select few theaters across the country ....
in the United States on March 7, 2008 and grossed $14,247 in two theaters its opening weekend.
DVD release
Warner Home VideoWarner Home Video
Warner Home Video is the home video unit of Warner Bros. Entertainment, Inc., itself part of Time Warner. It was founded in 1978 as WCI Home Video . The company launched in the United States with twenty films on VHS and Betamax videocassettes in late 1979...
released Snow Angels on DVD on September 16, 2008 on a single disc in widescreen and full screen versions.