The Good
A solid film with strong acting and a strong director.
The Bad
No extras.Snow Angels is a movie that on the surface seems like standard indy fare. You have a rustic small town, people living disparate lives, they intersect, and we see how, due to their pasts, they were never really that far apart to begin with. In the end, some things get resolved but for the most part the movie ends where our characters begin. I could get into specifics but David Gordon Green has made a film that must be experienced to be understood. That he has been able to weave so many characters into the plot, and yet never lose sight of any of them (even minor characters matter here), shows why he is the revered director that he is.
Snow Angels is movie that asks a lot of its audience and then rewards them in the most haunting of ways.
Features
No extras came with this release.
Video
This movie can be watched in either Full Screen or Wide Screen. In Full Screen it fits the users TV. In Widescreen it is letterboxed "preserving the 'scope' aspect ratio of its original theatrical exhibition." I watched this movie in Widescreen and I found the look to be wistful but not without direction. Sometimes a movie like this can fall into the realm of being a tone poem, but I never found that that happened here.
Audio
Dolby Digital. English and French - Dolby Surround 5.1. The audio on this movie was good. I liked that this movie seemed to mainly be trying to document the characters lives. Nothing about the music was intrusive and I never felt like I was being given to an audio assault.
Package
An image of Kate Beckinsale is juxtaposed with a shot from the movie on this front cover. The back showcases more pictures from the film, a short description of this movie, a cast list and technical specs. The DVD is stored an in amaray case. There isn't anything too special about this packaging, but I have a feeling this movie is going to get rereleased and repackaged at some point in Gordon's career.
Final Word
How does a director like David Gordon Green go from a movie like this to directing The Pineapple Express?
Make no mistake about it, I liked Pineapple Express a lot, it's just that they are completely different from another. One is a stoner comedy and the other is a moody meditation on life, the decisions we make, and how much we let ourselves be effected by various circumstances. I look forward to seeing where Green goes with his career. The Pineapple Express was a big budget studio hit. The director also has found success working as an independent. While his choices might confound some, David Gordon Green is a director who is nothing if not interesting.
Snow Angels was released March 7, 2008.