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SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS Send This Review to a Friend
A good, solid story based on David Guterson's best-selling novel, "Snow Falling on Cedars" is told on screen with such a heavy hand that watching it becomes tiresome despite the worthy issues covered, including the disgraceful treatment of Japanese-Americans during World War II and racism that persists against any group seen as outsiders. The material itself carries enough potency for a director to rely on its impact in its purest form. But director Scott Hicks, who co-wrote the screenplay with Ron Bass, drowns it with cinematic frills, flashbacks and melodramatic effects.
On a fictional island in America's northwest, a past injustice and a former teenage romance become entwined. The drama focuses on a trial in which Japanese-American Kazuo Miyamoto, played solemnly by Rick Yune, is falsely accused of murdering a man who owned land that Miyamoto's family lost when sent to an internment camp. Miyamoto had been endeavoring to buy back the land from its new owner, a fisherman, who then died in an accident; the prosecution says he was murdered. Ethan Hawke portrays Ishmael, who was in love with Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), now Miyamoto's wife. Ishmael could hold the key to getting the man acquitted.
The acting is passable but drowned in the pretentious, ponderous style of the film, which comes alive only when the great actor Max Von Sydow gives an impassioned plea in court as the defense lawyer. "Snow Falling On Cedars" disappoints despite its significant story. A Universal Pictures release.
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