After the much anticipated SMILIA’S SENSE OF SNOW/’97 tanked (so badly it downgraded multiple A-listers to permanent also-ran status), it revived an old Hollywood maxim on snowy settings equaling bad box-office. (They left audiences cold in more ways than one.) An excuse not used since; and no data to support the snowy claim. Indeed, over the past two decades, especially with the rise in Nordic Noir franchises on the page/on the screen, you can hardly shake a stick without hitting something Frosty & Scandinavian. But SNOWMAN may revive the old adage. Set in snowy Oslo, with cast members trying on two or three mismatched accents that come & go (suspect J.K. Simmons has the most fun in vocal inconsistency), Michael Fassbender’s the police dick too busy missing killer clues & forgetting which woman is his wife to bother with a steady accent. (Wait! That’s me forgetting who his wife is! Sorry.) In defense, director Tomas Alfredson claims the released film (a serial murder procedural that features murder by garrotte and snowmen left as death markers) had the plug pulled before he finished and then got re-edited. Against him are set pieces showing a distinct lack of action chops. The big climax where the murderer loses the upper hand on three more victims a botch for the books.* A couple more like this and producers will again start blaming climate for under-performance.
WATCH THIS, NOT THAT/LINK: *Anderson’s breakthru pic, LET THE RIGHT ONE IN/’05, also snowbound. But since it’s about a vampire, iron-poor blood part of the story. https://maksquibs.blogspot.com/2011/08/lat-den-ratte-komma-in-let-right-one-in.html
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