|
Actors: Ethan Hawke, Max Von Sydow
|
|
| Review Summary and Plot Commentary about Snow Falling on Cedars |
|---|
In the 1950's a white fisherman is found dead. The main suspect is a Japanese man, but there is hardly any evidence against him. He gets a lawyer who fights for his innocence, while a journalist begins his own investigation, because the accused's wife was his old girlfriend.
--Jack Bauer, Resident Scholar
|
In the early 1950s, a white fisherman from an island in Puget Sound is found drowned in his own nets with a serious head wound, and the Japanese-American fisherman who last saw him is charged with murder. The reporter for the town paper (Hawke), a one-armed war veteran and once the teenaged lover of the accused's wife, fights lingering prejudice in the town and digs for the truth as the trial winds on. Scott Guterson's bestselling novel might seem a strange project for the Australian director of "Shine" to take on, but the results are pretty good. Excellent acting, especially by Hawke, and Sydow as the defense attorney (Sam Shepard has a nice cameo as Hawke's father), but the film suffers from some of the same weaknesses as the novel -- a little too pat a plot, languid pacing, and too much dependence on the geographical setting for atmosphere. The sequence in which the Japanese-Americans leave the island for the internment camps drags on interminably to wring out every last tear (and I'm in a position to complain, since my mother and most of her family spent the war in those camps, while two of my uncles fought in the US Army in the Pacific Theater).
--David Loftus, Resident Scholar
|
| Analysis of Snow Falling on Cedars |
|---|
Our unique search engine provides a wealth of detail about
books by breaking them down into many different literary
elements, all of which are searchable (click here). |
Ratings are on a 1-10 scale (Low to High)
Plot
Time/era of movie:
- 1930's-1950's
Polit/Social/Race/Gender activism
Yes
Plotlet:
- rrrrrracism!!!!!
Ethnic/Regional/Gender story?
Yes
Main Char. ethnic: (if not US Caucasian)
- Japanese
Culture clash?
- being oppressed by outside culture
Culture of surrounding area:
- American Pacific Coast
Main Character
Identity:
- Male
Profession/status:
- journalist
Age:
- 20's-30's
Is this an ordinary person caught up in events?
Yes
Hair color?
- brunette (Brown)
Hair type
- (man) short/standard straight
Body type
- (man) average
Events of movie makes character more...
- sad
Ethnicity/Nationality
- White (American)
How sensitive is this character?
- sensitive to others' feelings
Sense of humor?
- Mostly serious with occasional humor
Intelligence
- Average intelligence
Physique
- average physique
Secondary Main Character
Identity:
- Female
Hair color
- brunette (Black)
Hair style
- (woman) medium/shoulderlgn straight
Body type
- (woman) average
Unclothed?
- chest
How much in movie?
- 40%
- 60%
Ethnicity/Nationality
- Japanese
Main Adversary
Identity:
- general circumstances
How much of work is main antagonist actually present in:
- 90%-100%
Setting
United States
Yes
The US:
- Pacific NW
Forest?
Yes
Water?
Yes
Island?
Yes
Small town?
Yes
Style
Accounts of torture and death?
- generic/vague references to death/punishment
Movie makes you feel...
- concerned
Sex/nudity in movie?
Yes
What kind of sex:
- kissing
- seeing nude female butt
- sex under blankets
Any profanity?
- Occasional swearing
|
| Most similar reviews by Gordonator ranking |
|---|
| Rabbit-Proof Fence
starring Kenneth Branagh, David Gulpilil, Everlyn Sampi
|
| Sounder
starring Paul Winfield, Cicely Tyson, Kevin Hooks, Eric Hooks, Taj Mahal, Yvonne Jarrell, James Best
|
| Madadayo
starring Tatsuo Matsumura, Kyôko Kagawa, Hisashi Igawa
|
| I Live in Fear (Record of a Living Being)
starring Takashi Shimura, Toshiro Mifune
|
| Intruder In The Dust
starring David Brian, Porter Hall, Elizabeth Patterson, Charles Kemper
|
|
Resident Scholar Profiles
TOP SCHOLAR:
 Jack Bauer
SCHOLARS:
|
|
Note: the views expressed here are only those of the reviewer(s). | |
|
