CAUTION, POSSIBLE SPOILERS.
Love story, murder mystery, war drama, family conflict and to top it off prejudice and racism. A top notch cast: Ethan Hawke, Max Von Sydow, Youki Kudoh, James Cromwell, Richard Jenkins, Rick Yune, Eric Thal, Sam Shephard, James Rebhorn, and Celia Weston star in SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, a superb drama directed with sensitivity by Scott Hicks. This film offers a lot to people who love movies about people. There is war action and romance, but no macho, unrealistic steroid kings, and no blonde bimbos decorating the screen.
Instead there is a secret interracial teenaged romance that takes place inside a wet cedar tree, shrouded in the misty and sopping weather of Washington state. Since they were children, Ishmael Chambers, a white boy and Hatsue Imada, a Japanese born girl, have been playmates. I found this friendship powerful. There is nothing like falling in love with someone you played with on the beach as a child. As their friendship continues over the course of years, they become young lovers, terrified that their parents will discover and put an end to their relationship. Hatsue's mother wants her to marry a Japanese man, and Ishmael's mother worries that her son is heading down the road to heartbreak, because in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the South Pacific events, a relationship like this is doomed.
The prose of the film is graceful, as we are treated to flashbacks of the childhoods and teen years of Ishmael and Hatsue. In the present, a Japanese fisherman is accused of murdering a white fisherman of German decent. The crime drama, courtroom drama, and flashbacks of war and love all blend smoothly to tell an original and wonderful story. As well as love, prejudice and heartache, we have a twist that involves obsession. All of it ties in together.
The acting is first rate. Hawke, as usual, portrays his character with soulfulness and gracefulness. He gives the adult Ishmael, a damaged but not bitter man a sense of dignity. Other standouts are Von Sydow as an aging defense attorney who has tremendous compassion, and Rebhorn as a semi-venomous prosecutor in the murder case.
The cinematography is beautiful. The score by James Newton Howard can only be described by me as "achingly" beautiful. His music seems to breathe emotion into the scenes.
I can't say enough about what a great, touching film this is!!! A++++++
Love story, murder mystery, war drama, family conflict and to top it off prejudice and racism. A top notch cast: Ethan Hawke, Max Von Sydow, Youki Kudoh, James Cromwell, Richard Jenkins, Rick Yune, Eric Thal, Sam Shephard, James Rebhorn, and Celia Weston star in SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS, a superb drama directed with sensitivity by Scott Hicks. This film offers a lot to people who love movies about people. There is war action and romance, but no macho, unrealistic steroid kings, and no blonde bimbos decorating the screen.
Instead there is a secret interracial teenaged romance that takes place inside a wet cedar tree, shrouded in the misty and sopping weather of Washington state. Since they were children, Ishmael Chambers, a white boy and Hatsue Imada, a Japanese born girl, have been playmates. I found this friendship powerful. There is nothing like falling in love with someone you played with on the beach as a child. As their friendship continues over the course of years, they become young lovers, terrified that their parents will discover and put an end to their relationship. Hatsue's mother wants her to marry a Japanese man, and Ishmael's mother worries that her son is heading down the road to heartbreak, because in the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and the South Pacific events, a relationship like this is doomed.
The prose of the film is graceful, as we are treated to flashbacks of the childhoods and teen years of Ishmael and Hatsue. In the present, a Japanese fisherman is accused of murdering a white fisherman of German decent. The crime drama, courtroom drama, and flashbacks of war and love all blend smoothly to tell an original and wonderful story. As well as love, prejudice and heartache, we have a twist that involves obsession. All of it ties in together.
The acting is first rate. Hawke, as usual, portrays his character with soulfulness and gracefulness. He gives the adult Ishmael, a damaged but not bitter man a sense of dignity. Other standouts are Von Sydow as an aging defense attorney who has tremendous compassion, and Rebhorn as a semi-venomous prosecutor in the murder case.
The cinematography is beautiful. The score by James Newton Howard can only be described by me as "achingly" beautiful. His music seems to breathe emotion into the scenes.
I can't say enough about what a great, touching film this is!!! A++++++