Snow Angels DVD Review
Small town lives, both highs and lows, are captured eloquently in Snow Angles, a film with lots of subplots that serve to propel the film to a tragic ending. High school trombone player Arthur (Michael Angarano) works at a restaurant with Annie (Kate Beckinsale), who was his babysitter/crush years ago; they both work at the restaurant with Barb (Amy Sedaris); Anne is married to Glenn (Sam Rockwell), and they have a daughter, Tara (Gracie Hudson); and Lila (Olivia Thirlby) is new at the high school and likes Arthur.
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Like all lives, there’s much more bubbling beneath the surface. Annie and Glenn are estranged due to Glenn’s drinking problem. After they split, he attempted (and failed) suicide, and Annie became the only capable caretaker of their daughter, Tara. Annie is making ends meet as a waitress in a Chinese restaurant, and her co-worker, Barbara, is not only her best friend, but also married to the man (Nicky Katt) Annie is having an affair with. And Arthur work there, too, as the dishwasher.
Beckinsale (Vacancy, Van Helsing, Underworld, Laurel Canyon, Brokedown palace) plays Annie as deftly as Jennifer Aniston’s Justine Last in The Good Girl, or Marisa Tomei’s Natalie Strout in In The Bedroom. Rockwell (Joshua, Matchstick Men) pulls off the sympathetic yet clearly unstable Glenn quite well. Lead Angarano (“24”, Lords of Dogtown), as young as he is, holds his own in this film, brining a sense of hopefulness to the plot. The delightful Thirlby (United 93) is also well cast as the other bright point in the plot. And Sedaris (Stay, Romance & Cigarettes, Strangers With Candy) is excellent in her small role as best friend.
Director David Gordon Green (George Washington, All the Real Girls) captures daily life poetically in Snow Angels, and works well in the adaptation of the novel of the same name by Stewart O’Nan. Rather than any character’s story dominating, Green ensures that all plots are given equal opportunity and, in the end, that all weave together into the conclusion.
The film is presented in 2.35:1 aspect ratio, with optional anamorphic widescreen transfer on one side and a full screen version on the other. Audio is available in Dolby Digital 5.1 in both English and a French dub, and subtitles are available in Spanish, French, and English. There are no extras.
Much like The Good Girl and In The Bedroom, Snow Angels is by no means an uplifting film. Rather, it is a snapshot of life, warts and all, and is a well acted and well written drama that’s worth watching. Snow Angels is rated R for “language, some violent content, brief sexuality and drug use.”