Yeti Review
Jonathan Romney 2017.10.19
Going to a movie theater is similar to going to a restaurant, especially the glamorous one: the more fancy the ingredients on the menu, the less you need to taste it. Similarly, the more prominent the celebrities on the cast and crew list, the better to stay away for the sake of safety.
"The Snowman" directed by Thomas Alfredson is adapted from Yu Nesbo's 2007 novel of the same name. The original work is a suspenseful thriller with twists and turns, and the protagonist is the troubled policeman Harry Holler. The cast includes Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gansbu, JK Simmons, Fang Kimmer, Toby Jones and Chloe Sevigny . The screenwriters are Peter Straun , Hossing Amini , and Soren Swaistrup , the producer of the outstanding Danish drama "Murder." In 2007, "Murder" gained a reputation as a "Nordic Noir" among a wide audience. The photographer is Dion Bibi. Producers include Martin Scorsese. Of the two editors, one is Selma Schumek. The Swedish director Alfredson has directed the stunning vampire art-thriller "Don’t Go In" (08), and later directed the impeccable adaptation of Le Carré’s novel "The Potmaker, Tailor, Soldier," Spy" (11). The art director Maria Djukovic once contributed an excellent design to "The Potmaker" and also participated in the film.
I really want to write a respectful exclamation mark after each name. Where can such a movie go? The answer is: "Snowman" probably represents the bottom line that "name" is not "real". As for why it is so bad, Alfredson explained in an interview: The film was filmed before it was ready, and the shooting time was too short, so some key scenes were not completed. "It's like putting together a big jigsaw puzzle," he said. "A few pieces are missing, so I can't put together the whole picture."
For those of us who like movies to be obscure, it sounds convincing. Hey, the fragments of "The Snowman" are too few, too big, too thick, and can't be completely put together. However, from the point of view that it has nothing to do with production, the movie is likely to hit the streets. Six years ago, David Fincher’s adaptation of Stig Larson’s "Girl with a Dragon Tattoo" was already like a cold meal; dramatic conflicts were based on gloomy, permanent topics, and shocking violence against women. The reason why it feels new is that Lithbeth Sarander is much tougher and tougher than her male colleague. "The Snowman" is a cliché story that puts bloody women on the beautiful scenery.
In Nesbo's book, Oslo police officer Harry Holler (Fassbender) often nearly collapsed due to his painful work and broken private life, but he always mustered up the courage to take the next case. At the beginning of Alfredson's movie version, he can be seen walking into the bus stop with a night walker. He is a typical movie drunk: give a close-up of his hand, it can be seen that he held the vodka bottle for one night, and until now, he just let go. At this point in Harry's pain, the film did not appear to be convincing. He stayed outside in the cold for at least one night, but it didn't look dirty enough, and when Fassbender took off his shirt, he looked like the perfect Swedish male figure in "Men's Health".
"The Snowman" was awkward at the beginning. In the overture, the young man watched his mother drive into the frozen lake, and his spirit was deeply shocked. Good-we guess this kid is the real murderer. The book is okay, but in the movie, we always want to find someone to play the grown-up child. In Alfredson's casting, there is not much to choose.
You hope to find a red herring in Nordic cuisine, but "The Snowman" is messy like a mess after a seafood feast in Oslo. Chloe Sevigny played the allegedly dead woman, who was actually alive; later it was revealed that Sevigny was playing identical twins. One was found dead, and the other shook his head-at this time only one sister still had a head-muttered: "Her soul is free."
Sevigny's line can introduce these. The movie is really squandering. Anne Reid, the representative of Roger Michel's "Mother's Spring", played a witness in "Snowman", and contributed a short performance that was the best in the film. Toby Jones glanced knowingly. Charlotte Gansbu, who plays Holler's ex-wife, wanders around, whispering like silk. JK Simmons wears a big beard.
The weirdest character is to describe the haggard Kimmer, like a paper David Johnson, with an accent that vaguely resembles the Nordic version of John Heston; he looks like he came out of "Greasy Killer." But there is indeed an actor worth watching, namely David Dansik. He also starred in "The Potmaker, the Tailor", and with Jane Campion's recent work "Top of the Lake of Mystery: Chinese Girl", the cunning and flamboyant villain is enough to become a new version of Claus Kinsky, or a new version of Dan. Deya. In "Snowman", he is active every second of his appearance, just like a gynecologist and part-time pimp who wears too short pants and nail polish to his toenails.
However, the actor's performance has not changed, this style may be regarded as "Nordic minimalism" style, but it still feels numb. Especially Fassbender and Ferguson, it feels like filming in Norwegian, and then dubbed it hastily. In the last "Mission: Impossible", Ferguson performed well, but was at a loss in "Snowman". She played the police officer Catelyn Blatter when conducting her own secret investigation, behaving like a brave and independent Sarander-until she praised the more experienced Holler ("You walk with the legend.") .
However, it was later proved that Ferguson was showing black stockings in the movie. This is one of the failures of the movie. Blatter seduces the wealthy Avi Stowe played by Simmons with charm. He is a womanizer, dress like this to attract his attention. Undoubtedly, the old pervert wanted to see this. However, the film did not consider this psychology, because Ferguson took off the stockings before the meeting, so this is only a welfare for the audience.
It's also pretty stupid when it comes to handling machinery. There is a gadget called EviSync, which can be used to record testimony. It works, but the user has to take this thing heavier than the iPad. The small equipment used by the murderer to cut the skull was placed in a clean box, and judging from the signs of wear, it was unexpectedly bright. (Is it possible to order online, or does it need to be customized? Anyway, it looks expensive, so we look for someone who has a lot of crowns in his pocket. Narrow the scope of the suspect.)
"Snowman" also has a major failure: the unfortunate mother of the opening title is played by the Swedish woman Sophia Hailin. The autistic policewoman Saga Nolan she played in "Bridge" is so good. Together with "Murder", "Bridge" made the reputation of "Nordic Black". "Snowman" chose her to play such a small role, like a superficial effort to get closer to this outstanding type.
Nesbo's novels are thick and intricate; God knows how anyone thinks they can fit a book into a two-hour movie. Perhaps because of this, "Snowman" lists the names of three screenwriters, and perhaps because of this, Selma Skunmek and Claire Simpson are written in the editing column: It shows that the emergency rescue work has not worked.
"Snowman" looks like a very untenable, sometimes ridiculous imitation, and it feels like we are watching a parody-maybe it's a "European movie". Alfredson added a unique Swedish flavor to his previous work "Don't Get Near", making the monotonous city a place for vampires to commit crimes; "Murder" and "Bridge" are excellent because they lead to the likes of Malmö , The dark side of a city like Copenhagen. And the winter of "Snowman" has a flavor of Christmas in Dickens's writings. The character can't just get on the train, we also need to hear the howling of the train across the vast snowy field; however, it feels like this movie is about to hear the jingling of bells all the way during the sleigh race. The best shot of the film is the snow-covered opening title: the unknown Vigeland design sculpture appeared, which is the strangest attraction in Oslo.
This film may be the last breath of the Nordic film noir’s entry into the international market: the United States has remakes "Murder" and "Bridge", and the Swedes and Kenneth Branagh each filmed Henning Mankell’s "Vie". "Rand", this part of Nordic culture, goes from novelty, to imitation, to boring self-parody. This last part was written by a Scandinavian director who should have done better. It's a shame.
However, I still have confidence in this type of suspense. We watched detectives from Denmark, Norway and Sweden, and one crab is not as good as one crab. I would also like to see the police story in Finland, it is best to get the god of Aki Kaurismaki. Police immersed in vodka, in a 50s-style bar in Helsinki, gloomily staring at the jukebox, listening to the tango and mountain rock that came out of it. At the same time, his dog went out to solve the case.
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