Reviews (115)

Touching and very empowering!
There's something magical about dreamy landscapes and lush settings where complex stories take place. Movies with this advantage tend to wrap their viewers in a rich blanket of visual and auditory imagery, bringing them further into the story while dazzling the senses. "Snow Falling on Cedars" is like an unfolding dream, one with snowy hills and trees and a meticulous ensemble of stunning images with a warm heart pulsating throughout its story. Scott Hicks' 1999 film version of David Guterson's acclaimed novel is every bit as moving and powerful as its source material, while also becoming something richer and deeper.

The complexity of this movie is what pleases me the most, because every Hicks is able to take the novel's different stories and tie them all together to one another as the author intended. The movie opens when police find a fisherman caught in his own net on a crystal clear lake surrounded by ice-capped mountains all around. Upon reaching the docks, the police start asking questions about the man's whereabouts the night before. Moving ahead, a trial begins, and we learn that a Japanese fisherman, Kabuo Miyamoto, is on trial for the murder of the deceased, Carl Heine. Attending the trial is his wife, Hatsure Imada Miyamoto, and the local paper's owner and sole reporter, Ishmael Chambers, who has a past with the defendant's wife.

The trial takes place in the winter, as the snow is just beginning to fall in San Piedro Island, on the northwest shores of the United States. It is home to thousands of Japanese immigrants who had migrated to the country from their homeland before the United States' entrance into World War II. This furthers the story as we watch through flashbacks the herding of the Japanese residents to internment camps in the nearby state of Washington. And amidst all the turmoil of memories brought up by the trial, Ishmael and Hatsue are forced to remember the time they shared as children and teenagers, playing together on the beach and beginning a relationship that was considered inappropriate at the time by both their familes and friends.

Each of these plots all become interconnected through the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, which can seem a bit draggy at times, but never fails in its knowledge of court proceedings and moments of tension. For the most part, the trial is very interesting, but it is the intense and passionate relationship that Ishmael and Hatsue relive in their memories that keeps the drama of this film moving. Their relationship is seen in so many different lights: we see it through the eyes of they themselves (Ishmael cares not for what others might think, while Hatsue is more reserved about her feelings towards the relationship), as well as quietly seeing it through the eyes of their parents, who each have some moment in the movie where they voice their opposing opinions about having relationships with their own ethnic group as opposed to a differing one. Their passionate journies together on the beach, picking strawberries and among the cedar trees will sweep you up and carry you away as you lose yourself into their romance.

While being a fictional piece, there is also a great deal of history residing in this film's plot. Like the book, the movie tells of the movement to rush Japanese residents of the United States to internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. While the movie does not capture all of the occurences and feeling that the book portrays when the Japanese are being investigated all over the island, upon further examination, you'll find that it's not really needed. The focus of the film at that time is the impending separation of Ishmael and Hatsue as she is about to go off to the camps and he is drafted soon after. They will see one another once before leaving, a quick glance, which is one of the most moving moments in motion picture history.

There is so much empowerment and moving epic storytelling in a like this, partly because there is so much to tell, and partly because the filmmakers choose to tell the story in a more-than-conventional way. Instead of taking a direct approach to focusing on just the characters themselves, director Hicks and director of photography Robert Richardson choose to add focus to the island setting itself, incorporating vast shots of the beauty of the snowy town to show the conditions the people live in, furthering the emotional factor of the story while also giving the viewer a sense that there is much isolation and loneliness in certain scenes where its impact is prudent to the plot. James Newton Howard has also set an entire new precedent in the art of music making, and his score for "Snow Falling on Cedars" is moving, brilliant, and adds nothing but visceral and enticing chords and haunting melodies that serve as the biggest aspect of striking the emotions of the audience.

I tried envisioning a better acting cast for this movie after seeing it, and will admit that I thought of a few people to play different roles, but soon realized that it would change the entire feeling of the story. Ethan Hawke is perfectly fit for the role of Ishmael. He is such a wonderful actor, and his ability to show emotions of sadness and despair with such authenticity make him a perfect casting choice for the role. Youki Kudoh, playing the character of Hatsue, is the total embodiment of innocence, virtue and mystery that is imperative for the role. Hatsue goes through so many different events and emotions in her lifetime, and Kudoh handles the role with a grace and feeling all her own. She makes the audience believe in her emotional and social struggle, while also playing out Hatsue's ever-changing feelings for Ishmael as if it were on off-screen romance as well. James Cromwell, James Rebhorn, and Max von Sydow play the three major roles of the courtroom characters, and they add their own spark of intensity to the trial proceedings right where each is needed. Rebhorn must also be commended for his ability to act like a complete jerk in court, while making the audience believe that his actions are solely in the name of defending the law. Sydow is, as always, a comic relief, his wit and humor jumping in to give us a laugh or two between the testimonies of various witnesses.

The book on which this film is based is truly inspired, opulent and hypnotic in every aspect of it conveyance of the story it so wonderfully tells. The movie captures that same opulence and inspiration, but goes deeper in emotional depth and involvement. Through Hicks' imagery and Howard's musical score, we are taken on a breathtaking journey into the heart of a small town where a love that once lay in the forest is brought back to life too late to be reconciled, but will remain in the hearts of characters and the audience forever.

LUSH ADAPTATION OF DIFFICULT BOOK
One cannot deny the awesome beauty of some of the camerawork in this adaptation of David Guterson's SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS. SNOW FALLING was a slow, lethargic, but overall compelling novel; the movie version is the same. Scott Hicks' direction is frustrating yet magnificent at times. For instance, in Max von Sydow's brilliant summation, the camera never leaves Max's face, and the sequence is overwhelming due to the power of von Sydow's speech. It's a key highlight of the movie. However, earlier on, Hicks tries the overdubbing of too many key scenes; for instance, when Hasue is reading her letter, he overdubs it several times, and it becomes irritating rather than moving; he tries this on other occasions and as a gimmick, it doesn't improve the overall effect. The acting ensemble is marvelous: Ethan Hawke, though not as compelling as he should have been, does well in displaying his anger, hurt, frustration and love; Youki Kodoh as the wife of the accused is wonderful, her spritely demeanor hiding a gigantic love for her husband and for Hawke; Rick Yune (Die Another Day) shows the difficulty in expressing emotion as was taught by his father; James Rebhorn as the prosecutor is great, one of his best roles; James Cromwell does well as the judge in a poorly adapted role; Sam Shepard is very good as Hawke's idealistic father; Celia Weston evokes the nasty prejudice of the time as the victim's coldhearted mother; Richard Jenkins is good as the sheriff caught up in something he's not used to--murder; and Eric Thal is good as the victim, should have had a little more screen time to flesh out his role, and make us feel a little more for him.
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS is a lush, beautifully done film, with an Oscar worthy von Sydow performance; it's hard to stay with it, but if you do, I think you'll be rewarded.

How the bitterness of the past can haunt one in the present
I can attest to the adage that the first person one falls in love with is forever, regardless of whether that person gets married to someone else or not. Well, in Snow Falling On Cedars, that sort of past comes back to haunt young reporter Ishmael Chambers when he discovers the husband of his first love Hatsue is being tried for the murder of fisherman/husband/father Carl Heine. The case for the prosecution is that Kazuo, Hatsue's husband, murdered Carl with a flat wooden object, such as a kendo stick (wooden swords used in stick fighting), and all because of the loss of seven acres of land owned by Kazuo's father when Kazuo's family was interned during WW2. Kazuo had demanded the return of the land, but because of two payments missed, his family forfeited the land, which came into Carl's possession. He is defended by an elderly lawyer, Nels Gudmundsson (veteran Swedish actor Max von Sydow in a strong performance), who as a Scandinavian, detects the race issue here. Pearl Harbor has not been forgotten, in other words. All the while, Ishmael sits high up on the balcony of the trial room, observing the defendant and his wife. He is clearly still bitter about the past, as he might have ended up with Hatsue had not circumstances dictated otherwise. This bitterness is manifested when he sits on some information key to Kazuo's defense.

Set in the fishing village of San Piedro, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, the film shuttles back and forth between the present, in the 1950's, and the past, in the late 30's to 40's. The film shows Ishmael falling in love with Hatsue Imada, a Japanese girl, and both their mothers disapproving of interracial relationships. The overall overcast setting lends to the forboding, oppressive atmosphere, but it works well in the forest, where Hatsue has a little hidey hole in the depths of a large cedar tree, a clandestine meeting place for the young lovers. However, the dizzying array of echoed and repeated voices, and montages connecting various bits of the past can be rather trying.

Of course, the attack on Pearl Harbor stirs up anti-Japanese sentiments, setting the stage for what has been called the largest wholesale violation of civil rights in US history: the rounding up of Japanese-Americans from their homes, confiscation of anything traditional, called "old country", and mass deportation to camps like Manzanar, which is the camp the Miyamotos end up in.

However, Ishmael's father, Arthur, the editor of the local paper, is very progressive, and protests the roundups, which leads to threatening calls and cancellations of subscriptions. At the time of the trial, his father has died, and he discovers to his discomfort that his father's liberal reputation is overshadowing him.

The Japanese traditions of girls being groomed to be graceful, e.g. sitting on one's knees without moving, the wearing of kimonos, etc. is something my late mother could relate to, as she too was Japanese. Hatsue's mother is one forbidding her relationship to Ishmael. Similarly, my mother's father, had he lived, would never have allowed her to marry my father, otherwise your humble reviewer's race would have been different.

While Ethan Hawke does well as the brooding Ishmael, he's overshadowed by other performers, such as von Sydow, Youki Koudoh (Hatsue), and Sam Shepard (Arthur Chambers). As the film progresses, one begins to understand his bitterness.

I haven't read Guterson's novel, so I don't know how closely the movie follows it. Regardless, it's a slow-paced movie, but not grabbing at times; somehow, the mixture of adolescent romance, and racial courtroom drama that lacks punch. But the message of learning to let go of the past, and the conditions that would allow one to let go, comes through towards the end.

A black-and-white movie made in color ...
Grim.

The title tells it all. The plot is already summed up quite tidily in other reviews. I would just add a few remarks.

English is not Kudoh Yuki's native language. In this movie she does one better than Meryl Streep by actually demonstrating mastery of an entire foreign language by speaking American English with an American accent. Of course, she was already good at it, but we have to remember that Hatsue, being born and bred on American shores, was a native speaker. I thought Kudoh was very convincing. Yes, acting is not all about utterances, and her facial expressions may have been formulaic to some point, but this movie is worth watching just for seeing Ms. Kudoh do her stuff.

And the movie had a profound message. Because of that and the fact that the story took place in a part of the world I was born in, I found the two hours generally satisfying.

Here and there I found the behavior of the characters mystifying - especially crowd behavior.

Why, for example, the silent march to the ferry dock? Forced evacuation of citizens based solely on race was truly a glaring violation of the Bill of Rights, but it was not mass genocide. The long walk scene was as drawn-out as it was grim. It featured a nagging bass in the soundtrack and dejected victims stunned to silence. Together they portrayed a stark black-and-white simplicity that I would question. I imagine that at least the children would still be children and think they were all taking part in some community outing. While the scene captured a certain psychological truth, it also was a bit too heavy-handed. We of the here-and-now know far too much and they knew way too little.

But the movie is definitely worth the time and money.

What I'd like to know, though, is why did they bother to shoot this in color?

The rare thing of freeing yourself from an obsession
Once upon a time, before the attack on Pearl Harbor to be specific, young Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke), the son of editor (Sam Shepard) of the local newspaper in a small town in the Pacific Northwest fell in love with Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), the daughter of a Japanese American family. Put then Pearl Harbor happens and despite editorials reminding everybody what it means to be an American, all of the Japanese in the area have their property confiscated and are bussed off to the Manzanar concentration camp (that was the term used back them). The twist of fate in "Snow Falling on Cedars," the 1999 film based on the novel by David Guterson, is that in 1951 Ishmael is running his father's newspaper and finds himself covering a murder trial in which the accused is Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune), the man Hatsue married in the camp.

"Snow Falling on Cedars" is a film that combines a love triangle with a murder trial, but the character who is really on the spot is Ishmael. The trial has to do with the death of a fisherman, whose corpse turns up in the nets of another boat. The deceased had just bought the property that Kazuo's family had been planning to buy but the war and prejudice combined to deny them the property. The prosecutor (James Rebhorn) sees clear motive and Kazuo provides the opportunity. Most importantly, Kazuo is Japanese, and even if he fought for the U.S. Army in the war that is not enough to outweigh his race with the locals, even if the judge (James Cromwell) is clearly disgusted by the implications and Kazuo's attorney is the local sage and voice of reason (Max Von Sydow). But for Ishmael the trial is more personal and you know he is thinking that if Kazuo is convicted that he might have another chance with Hatsue. Besides, the evidence looks compelling, at least until Hatsue takes the stand and defends her husband.

The over racism of the people of this small town both during and after the war is quite disturbing, even though director Scott Hicks does not overplay his hand. Hicks attempts some ambitious ways of telling this story, where he uses a variety of visual styles to convey the different perspectives and realities. The effect is somewhat reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," intentionally so to my mind, since both films deal with how we each have our own perspectives on reality. The result is that we become convinced of Kazuo's innocence and wonder when Ishmael will not only come to the same conclusion but act upon it, for it is clear he is the pivotal figure in the tale.

The title of this film has a definite sense of the poetic, and Hicks does a nice job of capturing both the poetic and the sense of a real community that was divided long before the war started (when the Japanese Americans are relocated we see one side of the school bus is empty, because they always sat on one side of the bus). Ishmael had proposed to Hatsue and the way the war altered their lives is obvious, as is the great injustice of it all, so Ishmael can hardly be faulted for wanting things back the way they almost were.

Ultimately, I appreciate the great irony that the true American in the story is Nels Gudmundsson, the lawyer played by Max Von Sydow. His character immigrated to the United States and when he defends Kazuo there is a constant current of rage and anger in every thing he says and does in court because the people of this town are rejecting all of the values and principles that made him come to this country. When he tells Ishmael "It takes a rare thing, a turning point, to free oneself from any obsession, be it prejudice or hate, or, even love," we know that we have heard the moral of the story and that Ishmael will finally be moved to action.

My only problem with "Snow Falling on Cedars" is, I think, clearly my own problem. My outrage over the treatment of the Japanese was such that the love of Ishmael and Hatsue, and even the trial of Kazou seem so trivial in comparison. Even a verdict of innocence is the proverbial example of too little too late. Then ago, part of the point here is that neither these characters nor the country deserve to be left off the hook for what it did to its own citizens. ... Read more

Amazon.com

The first feature by Hawaii-born filmmaker Kayo Hatta, 1995's Picture Bride takes us into unexplored story territory in its tale of a young Japanese woman (Youki Kudoh of Jim Jarmusch's Mystery Train) who leaves her home in 1918 to become the mail-order wife of a sugar plantation laborer (Akira Takayama) in Honolulu. Her first shock is discovering that her husband is actually 20 years older than his photograph; after that, life just becomes hard as the intensity and dangers of plantation work eclipse all joy. Hatta achieves an admirable authenticity in her portrait of the island community and the ghosts it (literally) harbors; she also gives us a strong sense of racial and class divisions that crackle like live wires through Oahu's booming industries at the start of the century. Tamlyn Tomita is excellent as the woman who becomes Kudoh's closest ally and friend in this new world, and the late Toshirô Mifune has a memorable, small part as a traveling narrator of silent films. This is an original, fascinating, and touching work. --Tom Keogh ... Read more

Reviews (7)

"See the real paradise."
The film "Picture Bride" is a simple story of Riyo (Youki Kudoh), a young Japanese girl who travels to Hawaii in the early 1900s to meet her new husband, Matsuji (Akira Takayama). This is an arranged marriage, and both parties are required to show the photographs they have of each other to the authorities as a means of identification. Unfortunately, Matsuji's photo is about 20 years old, and Riyo is shocked when she meets her husband for the first time. While the wedding goes on as planned--Riyo doesn't actually have much choice here--the marriage begins on a very shaky footing.

Riyo's frail appearance belies her strong, determined character. From the moment she arrives at the sugar plantation where she is to work as a field labourer, she decides to start saving money to pay back her husband and eventually return to Japan--and this isn't easy earning just pennies a day from back-breaking labour. Riyo meets and befriends Kana (Tamlyn Tomita) who earns extra money by taking in laundry. Riyo soon assists Kana and starts hoarding money for the trip home. Their friendship ameliorates Riyo's loneliness but does little to improve relations with the well-meaning, kind Matsuji.

Apparently, more than 20,000 women travelled to Hawaii as 'picture brides.' Riyo's story is just one of many, but no doubt, her experiences mirror the experience of picture brides in general. Conditions in the sugar cane fields were harsh and sometimes hazardous, but the film also emphasizes that a racial hierarchy exists in the sugar plantation--as badly as the Japanese were treated by the European overseers, Filipinos appear to be treated even worse. It seems ironic at best that thousands of people found themselves as dis-enfranchised labourers in a part of the world that is so idyllic. Living in paradise does not bring happiness or even contentment; happiness is an inner state, and the story illustrates this effectively. Fans of Toshiro Mifune will be pleased to note that he makes a brief appearance as a travelling entertainer. The film includes many scenes of breathtaking beauty, but by far the most memorable is the scene in which paper lanterns are placed on the river to remember the dead--displacedhuman.

This movie is PRICELESS and WONDERFUL! Now where is the DVD?
I don't understand why Miramax has put out plenty of DVD's already and some not even worth the plastic they are burned into, and has NOT taken the time to release this classic on DVD??? Hey Miramax, if you are listening, please, please, please, please put this movie on DVD!!! Even without special features, it would be worth letting the public watch in DVD-quality!!!

Lanterns on the Water
This gentle and beautifully photographed film takes place in 1918 Honolulu, Hawaii and deals in a very real manner with the difficulties of being a Picture Bride. During this time period many young Japanese, Okinawan, and Korean girls traveled to Hawaii to be wives of men who had saved up enough money to send for them. Rijo (Youki Kudoh) finds it her only option when her father dies and a secret forces her to leave Japan.

She will discover her mate Matsuji (Akira Takahami) to be much older than the picture he sent and life in the sugar cane fields not suited to a city girl. But she will also discover, ever so slowly, a beautiful place where the dead often visit the living as ghosts on the wind. She resists her life and is saving up to return to Japan while making it clear there will be no love for Matsuji.

As time passes she finds a friend in Kana (Tamlyn Tomita), who lets her help with laundry she does after the back breaking work in the fields to earn money so she can leave Hawaii and return to her home. The two young women become close until tragedy strikes. Matsuji has done everything he knows to make the pretty Rijo stay and be his wife. He has even taken Kana's advice and played 'Rudolph Valentino' but to no avail.

After Kana is taken away she tells Matsuji her secret and flees to the ocean for home. But Rijo has forgotten this is a place where ghosts are in the wind and she will see Kana once more. This film is about love and ghosts and will end with lanterns on the water to light the journey for the dead. As Matsuji tells Rijo, when he was in Japan he did not believe in ghosts but here in Hawaii he feels it is right.

A film of great and gentle beauty filled with fine performances and lush cinematography, this is one you simply can't miss....

Such a gorgeous film!
Stunning cinematography and an engaging plot make this film a must-see, especially for Japanophiles and social historians. You experience the emotions of a Japanese "picture bride," who must find a way to live with an elderly stranger for a husband, in a place far from home. The circumstances which bring her to Hawaii are also a fascinating education in superstitions and prejudices existing at the turn of the century on both sides of the Pacific. Just beautiful.

A visual masterpiece
Absolutely stunning cinematography. It also provides a wonderful insight into our human fears of rejection, loneliness, and unrequited love. ... Read more

Reviews (115)

Touching and very empowering!
There's something magical about dreamy landscapes and lush settings where complex stories take place. Movies with this advantage tend to wrap their viewers in a rich blanket of visual and auditory imagery, bringing them further into the story while dazzling the senses. "Snow Falling on Cedars" is like an unfolding dream, one with snowy hills and trees and a meticulous ensemble of stunning images with a warm heart pulsating throughout its story. Scott Hicks' 1999 film version of David Guterson's acclaimed novel is every bit as moving and powerful as its source material, while also becoming something richer and deeper.

The complexity of this movie is what pleases me the most, because every Hicks is able to take the novel's different stories and tie them all together to one another as the author intended. The movie opens when police find a fisherman caught in his own net on a crystal clear lake surrounded by ice-capped mountains all around. Upon reaching the docks, the police start asking questions about the man's whereabouts the night before. Moving ahead, a trial begins, and we learn that a Japanese fisherman, Kabuo Miyamoto, is on trial for the murder of the deceased, Carl Heine. Attending the trial is his wife, Hatsure Imada Miyamoto, and the local paper's owner and sole reporter, Ishmael Chambers, who has a past with the defendant's wife.

The trial takes place in the winter, as the snow is just beginning to fall in San Piedro Island, on the northwest shores of the United States. It is home to thousands of Japanese immigrants who had migrated to the country from their homeland before the United States' entrance into World War II. This furthers the story as we watch through flashbacks the herding of the Japanese residents to internment camps in the nearby state of Washington. And amidst all the turmoil of memories brought up by the trial, Ishmael and Hatsue are forced to remember the time they shared as children and teenagers, playing together on the beach and beginning a relationship that was considered inappropriate at the time by both their familes and friends.

Each of these plots all become interconnected through the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, which can seem a bit draggy at times, but never fails in its knowledge of court proceedings and moments of tension. For the most part, the trial is very interesting, but it is the intense and passionate relationship that Ishmael and Hatsue relive in their memories that keeps the drama of this film moving. Their relationship is seen in so many different lights: we see it through the eyes of they themselves (Ishmael cares not for what others might think, while Hatsue is more reserved about her feelings towards the relationship), as well as quietly seeing it through the eyes of their parents, who each have some moment in the movie where they voice their opposing opinions about having relationships with their own ethnic group as opposed to a differing one. Their passionate journies together on the beach, picking strawberries and among the cedar trees will sweep you up and carry you away as you lose yourself into their romance.

While being a fictional piece, there is also a great deal of history residing in this film's plot. Like the book, the movie tells of the movement to rush Japanese residents of the United States to internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. While the movie does not capture all of the occurences and feeling that the book portrays when the Japanese are being investigated all over the island, upon further examination, you'll find that it's not really needed. The focus of the film at that time is the impending separation of Ishmael and Hatsue as she is about to go off to the camps and he is drafted soon after. They will see one another once before leaving, a quick glance, which is one of the most moving moments in motion picture history.

There is so much empowerment and moving epic storytelling in a like this, partly because there is so much to tell, and partly because the filmmakers choose to tell the story in a more-than-conventional way. Instead of taking a direct approach to focusing on just the characters themselves, director Hicks and director of photography Robert Richardson choose to add focus to the island setting itself, incorporating vast shots of the beauty of the snowy town to show the conditions the people live in, furthering the emotional factor of the story while also giving the viewer a sense that there is much isolation and loneliness in certain scenes where its impact is prudent to the plot. James Newton Howard has also set an entire new precedent in the art of music making, and his score for "Snow Falling on Cedars" is moving, brilliant, and adds nothing but visceral and enticing chords and haunting melodies that serve as the biggest aspect of striking the emotions of the audience.

I tried envisioning a better acting cast for this movie after seeing it, and will admit that I thought of a few people to play different roles, but soon realized that it would change the entire feeling of the story. Ethan Hawke is perfectly fit for the role of Ishmael. He is such a wonderful actor, and his ability to show emotions of sadness and despair with such authenticity make him a perfect casting choice for the role. Youki Kudoh, playing the character of Hatsue, is the total embodiment of innocence, virtue and mystery that is imperative for the role. Hatsue goes through so many different events and emotions in her lifetime, and Kudoh handles the role with a grace and feeling all her own. She makes the audience believe in her emotional and social struggle, while also playing out Hatsue's ever-changing feelings for Ishmael as if it were on off-screen romance as well. James Cromwell, James Rebhorn, and Max von Sydow play the three major roles of the courtroom characters, and they add their own spark of intensity to the trial proceedings right where each is needed. Rebhorn must also be commended for his ability to act like a complete jerk in court, while making the audience believe that his actions are solely in the name of defending the law. Sydow is, as always, a comic relief, his wit and humor jumping in to give us a laugh or two between the testimonies of various witnesses.

The book on which this film is based is truly inspired, opulent and hypnotic in every aspect of it conveyance of the story it so wonderfully tells. The movie captures that same opulence and inspiration, but goes deeper in emotional depth and involvement. Through Hicks' imagery and Howard's musical score, we are taken on a breathtaking journey into the heart of a small town where a love that once lay in the forest is brought back to life too late to be reconciled, but will remain in the hearts of characters and the audience forever.

LUSH ADAPTATION OF DIFFICULT BOOK
One cannot deny the awesome beauty of some of the camerawork in this adaptation of David Guterson's SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS. SNOW FALLING was a slow, lethargic, but overall compelling novel; the movie version is the same. Scott Hicks' direction is frustrating yet magnificent at times. For instance, in Max von Sydow's brilliant summation, the camera never leaves Max's face, and the sequence is overwhelming due to the power of von Sydow's speech. It's a key highlight of the movie. However, earlier on, Hicks tries the overdubbing of too many key scenes; for instance, when Hasue is reading her letter, he overdubs it several times, and it becomes irritating rather than moving; he tries this on other occasions and as a gimmick, it doesn't improve the overall effect. The acting ensemble is marvelous: Ethan Hawke, though not as compelling as he should have been, does well in displaying his anger, hurt, frustration and love; Youki Kodoh as the wife of the accused is wonderful, her spritely demeanor hiding a gigantic love for her husband and for Hawke; Rick Yune (Die Another Day) shows the difficulty in expressing emotion as was taught by his father; James Rebhorn as the prosecutor is great, one of his best roles; James Cromwell does well as the judge in a poorly adapted role; Sam Shepard is very good as Hawke's idealistic father; Celia Weston evokes the nasty prejudice of the time as the victim's coldhearted mother; Richard Jenkins is good as the sheriff caught up in something he's not used to--murder; and Eric Thal is good as the victim, should have had a little more screen time to flesh out his role, and make us feel a little more for him.
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS is a lush, beautifully done film, with an Oscar worthy von Sydow performance; it's hard to stay with it, but if you do, I think you'll be rewarded.

How the bitterness of the past can haunt one in the present
I can attest to the adage that the first person one falls in love with is forever, regardless of whether that person gets married to someone else or not. Well, in Snow Falling On Cedars, that sort of past comes back to haunt young reporter Ishmael Chambers when he discovers the husband of his first love Hatsue is being tried for the murder of fisherman/husband/father Carl Heine. The case for the prosecution is that Kazuo, Hatsue's husband, murdered Carl with a flat wooden object, such as a kendo stick (wooden swords used in stick fighting), and all because of the loss of seven acres of land owned by Kazuo's father when Kazuo's family was interned during WW2. Kazuo had demanded the return of the land, but because of two payments missed, his family forfeited the land, which came into Carl's possession. He is defended by an elderly lawyer, Nels Gudmundsson (veteran Swedish actor Max von Sydow in a strong performance), who as a Scandinavian, detects the race issue here. Pearl Harbor has not been forgotten, in other words. All the while, Ishmael sits high up on the balcony of the trial room, observing the defendant and his wife. He is clearly still bitter about the past, as he might have ended up with Hatsue had not circumstances dictated otherwise. This bitterness is manifested when he sits on some information key to Kazuo's defense.

Set in the fishing village of San Piedro, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, the film shuttles back and forth between the present, in the 1950's, and the past, in the late 30's to 40's. The film shows Ishmael falling in love with Hatsue Imada, a Japanese girl, and both their mothers disapproving of interracial relationships. The overall overcast setting lends to the forboding, oppressive atmosphere, but it works well in the forest, where Hatsue has a little hidey hole in the depths of a large cedar tree, a clandestine meeting place for the young lovers. However, the dizzying array of echoed and repeated voices, and montages connecting various bits of the past can be rather trying.

Of course, the attack on Pearl Harbor stirs up anti-Japanese sentiments, setting the stage for what has been called the largest wholesale violation of civil rights in US history: the rounding up of Japanese-Americans from their homes, confiscation of anything traditional, called "old country", and mass deportation to camps like Manzanar, which is the camp the Miyamotos end up in.

However, Ishmael's father, Arthur, the editor of the local paper, is very progressive, and protests the roundups, which leads to threatening calls and cancellations of subscriptions. At the time of the trial, his father has died, and he discovers to his discomfort that his father's liberal reputation is overshadowing him.

The Japanese traditions of girls being groomed to be graceful, e.g. sitting on one's knees without moving, the wearing of kimonos, etc. is something my late mother could relate to, as she too was Japanese. Hatsue's mother is one forbidding her relationship to Ishmael. Similarly, my mother's father, had he lived, would never have allowed her to marry my father, otherwise your humble reviewer's race would have been different.

While Ethan Hawke does well as the brooding Ishmael, he's overshadowed by other performers, such as von Sydow, Youki Koudoh (Hatsue), and Sam Shepard (Arthur Chambers). As the film progresses, one begins to understand his bitterness.

I haven't read Guterson's novel, so I don't know how closely the movie follows it. Regardless, it's a slow-paced movie, but not grabbing at times; somehow, the mixture of adolescent romance, and racial courtroom drama that lacks punch. But the message of learning to let go of the past, and the conditions that would allow one to let go, comes through towards the end.

A black-and-white movie made in color ...
Grim.

The title tells it all. The plot is already summed up quite tidily in other reviews. I would just add a few remarks.

English is not Kudoh Yuki's native language. In this movie she does one better than Meryl Streep by actually demonstrating mastery of an entire foreign language by speaking American English with an American accent. Of course, she was already good at it, but we have to remember that Hatsue, being born and bred on American shores, was a native speaker. I thought Kudoh was very convincing. Yes, acting is not all about utterances, and her facial expressions may have been formulaic to some point, but this movie is worth watching just for seeing Ms. Kudoh do her stuff.

And the movie had a profound message. Because of that and the fact that the story took place in a part of the world I was born in, I found the two hours generally satisfying.

Here and there I found the behavior of the characters mystifying - especially crowd behavior.

Why, for example, the silent march to the ferry dock? Forced evacuation of citizens based solely on race was truly a glaring violation of the Bill of Rights, but it was not mass genocide. The long walk scene was as drawn-out as it was grim. It featured a nagging bass in the soundtrack and dejected victims stunned to silence. Together they portrayed a stark black-and-white simplicity that I would question. I imagine that at least the children would still be children and think they were all taking part in some community outing. While the scene captured a certain psychological truth, it also was a bit too heavy-handed. We of the here-and-now know far too much and they knew way too little.

But the movie is definitely worth the time and money.

What I'd like to know, though, is why did they bother to shoot this in color?

The rare thing of freeing yourself from an obsession
Once upon a time, before the attack on Pearl Harbor to be specific, young Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke), the son of editor (Sam Shepard) of the local newspaper in a small town in the Pacific Northwest fell in love with Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), the daughter of a Japanese American family. Put then Pearl Harbor happens and despite editorials reminding everybody what it means to be an American, all of the Japanese in the area have their property confiscated and are bussed off to the Manzanar concentration camp (that was the term used back them). The twist of fate in "Snow Falling on Cedars," the 1999 film based on the novel by David Guterson, is that in 1951 Ishmael is running his father's newspaper and finds himself covering a murder trial in which the accused is Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune), the man Hatsue married in the camp.

"Snow Falling on Cedars" is a film that combines a love triangle with a murder trial, but the character who is really on the spot is Ishmael. The trial has to do with the death of a fisherman, whose corpse turns up in the nets of another boat. The deceased had just bought the property that Kazuo's family had been planning to buy but the war and prejudice combined to deny them the property. The prosecutor (James Rebhorn) sees clear motive and Kazuo provides the opportunity. Most importantly, Kazuo is Japanese, and even if he fought for the U.S. Army in the war that is not enough to outweigh his race with the locals, even if the judge (James Cromwell) is clearly disgusted by the implications and Kazuo's attorney is the local sage and voice of reason (Max Von Sydow). But for Ishmael the trial is more personal and you know he is thinking that if Kazuo is convicted that he might have another chance with Hatsue. Besides, the evidence looks compelling, at least until Hatsue takes the stand and defends her husband.

The over racism of the people of this small town both during and after the war is quite disturbing, even though director Scott Hicks does not overplay his hand. Hicks attempts some ambitious ways of telling this story, where he uses a variety of visual styles to convey the different perspectives and realities. The effect is somewhat reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," intentionally so to my mind, since both films deal with how we each have our own perspectives on reality. The result is that we become convinced of Kazuo's innocence and wonder when Ishmael will not only come to the same conclusion but act upon it, for it is clear he is the pivotal figure in the tale.

The title of this film has a definite sense of the poetic, and Hicks does a nice job of capturing both the poetic and the sense of a real community that was divided long before the war started (when the Japanese Americans are relocated we see one side of the school bus is empty, because they always sat on one side of the bus). Ishmael had proposed to Hatsue and the way the war altered their lives is obvious, as is the great injustice of it all, so Ishmael can hardly be faulted for wanting things back the way they almost were.

Ultimately, I appreciate the great irony that the true American in the story is Nels Gudmundsson, the lawyer played by Max Von Sydow. His character immigrated to the United States and when he defends Kazuo there is a constant current of rage and anger in every thing he says and does in court because the people of this town are rejecting all of the values and principles that made him come to this country. When he tells Ishmael "It takes a rare thing, a turning point, to free oneself from any obsession, be it prejudice or hate, or, even love," we know that we have heard the moral of the story and that Ishmael will finally be moved to action.

My only problem with "Snow Falling on Cedars" is, I think, clearly my own problem. My outrage over the treatment of the Japanese was such that the love of Ishmael and Hatsue, and even the trial of Kazou seem so trivial in comparison. Even a verdict of innocence is the proverbial example of too little too late. Then ago, part of the point here is that neither these characters nor the country deserve to be left off the hook for what it did to its own citizens. ... Read more

Reviews (115)

Touching and very empowering!
There's something magical about dreamy landscapes and lush settings where complex stories take place. Movies with this advantage tend to wrap their viewers in a rich blanket of visual and auditory imagery, bringing them further into the story while dazzling the senses. "Snow Falling on Cedars" is like an unfolding dream, one with snowy hills and trees and a meticulous ensemble of stunning images with a warm heart pulsating throughout its story. Scott Hicks' 1999 film version of David Guterson's acclaimed novel is every bit as moving and powerful as its source material, while also becoming something richer and deeper.

The complexity of this movie is what pleases me the most, because every Hicks is able to take the novel's different stories and tie them all together to one another as the author intended. The movie opens when police find a fisherman caught in his own net on a crystal clear lake surrounded by ice-capped mountains all around. Upon reaching the docks, the police start asking questions about the man's whereabouts the night before. Moving ahead, a trial begins, and we learn that a Japanese fisherman, Kabuo Miyamoto, is on trial for the murder of the deceased, Carl Heine. Attending the trial is his wife, Hatsure Imada Miyamoto, and the local paper's owner and sole reporter, Ishmael Chambers, who has a past with the defendant's wife.

The trial takes place in the winter, as the snow is just beginning to fall in San Piedro Island, on the northwest shores of the United States. It is home to thousands of Japanese immigrants who had migrated to the country from their homeland before the United States' entrance into World War II. This furthers the story as we watch through flashbacks the herding of the Japanese residents to internment camps in the nearby state of Washington. And amidst all the turmoil of memories brought up by the trial, Ishmael and Hatsue are forced to remember the time they shared as children and teenagers, playing together on the beach and beginning a relationship that was considered inappropriate at the time by both their familes and friends.

Each of these plots all become interconnected through the trial of Kabuo Miyamoto, which can seem a bit draggy at times, but never fails in its knowledge of court proceedings and moments of tension. For the most part, the trial is very interesting, but it is the intense and passionate relationship that Ishmael and Hatsue relive in their memories that keeps the drama of this film moving. Their relationship is seen in so many different lights: we see it through the eyes of they themselves (Ishmael cares not for what others might think, while Hatsue is more reserved about her feelings towards the relationship), as well as quietly seeing it through the eyes of their parents, who each have some moment in the movie where they voice their opposing opinions about having relationships with their own ethnic group as opposed to a differing one. Their passionate journies together on the beach, picking strawberries and among the cedar trees will sweep you up and carry you away as you lose yourself into their romance.

While being a fictional piece, there is also a great deal of history residing in this film's plot. Like the book, the movie tells of the movement to rush Japanese residents of the United States to internment camps after the bombing of Pearl Harbor in December 1941. While the movie does not capture all of the occurences and feeling that the book portrays when the Japanese are being investigated all over the island, upon further examination, you'll find that it's not really needed. The focus of the film at that time is the impending separation of Ishmael and Hatsue as she is about to go off to the camps and he is drafted soon after. They will see one another once before leaving, a quick glance, which is one of the most moving moments in motion picture history.

There is so much empowerment and moving epic storytelling in a like this, partly because there is so much to tell, and partly because the filmmakers choose to tell the story in a more-than-conventional way. Instead of taking a direct approach to focusing on just the characters themselves, director Hicks and director of photography Robert Richardson choose to add focus to the island setting itself, incorporating vast shots of the beauty of the snowy town to show the conditions the people live in, furthering the emotional factor of the story while also giving the viewer a sense that there is much isolation and loneliness in certain scenes where its impact is prudent to the plot. James Newton Howard has also set an entire new precedent in the art of music making, and his score for "Snow Falling on Cedars" is moving, brilliant, and adds nothing but visceral and enticing chords and haunting melodies that serve as the biggest aspect of striking the emotions of the audience.

I tried envisioning a better acting cast for this movie after seeing it, and will admit that I thought of a few people to play different roles, but soon realized that it would change the entire feeling of the story. Ethan Hawke is perfectly fit for the role of Ishmael. He is such a wonderful actor, and his ability to show emotions of sadness and despair with such authenticity make him a perfect casting choice for the role. Youki Kudoh, playing the character of Hatsue, is the total embodiment of innocence, virtue and mystery that is imperative for the role. Hatsue goes through so many different events and emotions in her lifetime, and Kudoh handles the role with a grace and feeling all her own. She makes the audience believe in her emotional and social struggle, while also playing out Hatsue's ever-changing feelings for Ishmael as if it were on off-screen romance as well. James Cromwell, James Rebhorn, and Max von Sydow play the three major roles of the courtroom characters, and they add their own spark of intensity to the trial proceedings right where each is needed. Rebhorn must also be commended for his ability to act like a complete jerk in court, while making the audience believe that his actions are solely in the name of defending the law. Sydow is, as always, a comic relief, his wit and humor jumping in to give us a laugh or two between the testimonies of various witnesses.

The book on which this film is based is truly inspired, opulent and hypnotic in every aspect of it conveyance of the story it so wonderfully tells. The movie captures that same opulence and inspiration, but goes deeper in emotional depth and involvement. Through Hicks' imagery and Howard's musical score, we are taken on a breathtaking journey into the heart of a small town where a love that once lay in the forest is brought back to life too late to be reconciled, but will remain in the hearts of characters and the audience forever.

LUSH ADAPTATION OF DIFFICULT BOOK
One cannot deny the awesome beauty of some of the camerawork in this adaptation of David Guterson's SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS. SNOW FALLING was a slow, lethargic, but overall compelling novel; the movie version is the same. Scott Hicks' direction is frustrating yet magnificent at times. For instance, in Max von Sydow's brilliant summation, the camera never leaves Max's face, and the sequence is overwhelming due to the power of von Sydow's speech. It's a key highlight of the movie. However, earlier on, Hicks tries the overdubbing of too many key scenes; for instance, when Hasue is reading her letter, he overdubs it several times, and it becomes irritating rather than moving; he tries this on other occasions and as a gimmick, it doesn't improve the overall effect. The acting ensemble is marvelous: Ethan Hawke, though not as compelling as he should have been, does well in displaying his anger, hurt, frustration and love; Youki Kodoh as the wife of the accused is wonderful, her spritely demeanor hiding a gigantic love for her husband and for Hawke; Rick Yune (Die Another Day) shows the difficulty in expressing emotion as was taught by his father; James Rebhorn as the prosecutor is great, one of his best roles; James Cromwell does well as the judge in a poorly adapted role; Sam Shepard is very good as Hawke's idealistic father; Celia Weston evokes the nasty prejudice of the time as the victim's coldhearted mother; Richard Jenkins is good as the sheriff caught up in something he's not used to--murder; and Eric Thal is good as the victim, should have had a little more screen time to flesh out his role, and make us feel a little more for him.
SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS is a lush, beautifully done film, with an Oscar worthy von Sydow performance; it's hard to stay with it, but if you do, I think you'll be rewarded.

How the bitterness of the past can haunt one in the present
I can attest to the adage that the first person one falls in love with is forever, regardless of whether that person gets married to someone else or not. Well, in Snow Falling On Cedars, that sort of past comes back to haunt young reporter Ishmael Chambers when he discovers the husband of his first love Hatsue is being tried for the murder of fisherman/husband/father Carl Heine. The case for the prosecution is that Kazuo, Hatsue's husband, murdered Carl with a flat wooden object, such as a kendo stick (wooden swords used in stick fighting), and all because of the loss of seven acres of land owned by Kazuo's father when Kazuo's family was interned during WW2. Kazuo had demanded the return of the land, but because of two payments missed, his family forfeited the land, which came into Carl's possession. He is defended by an elderly lawyer, Nels Gudmundsson (veteran Swedish actor Max von Sydow in a strong performance), who as a Scandinavian, detects the race issue here. Pearl Harbor has not been forgotten, in other words. All the while, Ishmael sits high up on the balcony of the trial room, observing the defendant and his wife. He is clearly still bitter about the past, as he might have ended up with Hatsue had not circumstances dictated otherwise. This bitterness is manifested when he sits on some information key to Kazuo's defense.

Set in the fishing village of San Piedro, somewhere in the Pacific Northwest, the film shuttles back and forth between the present, in the 1950's, and the past, in the late 30's to 40's. The film shows Ishmael falling in love with Hatsue Imada, a Japanese girl, and both their mothers disapproving of interracial relationships. The overall overcast setting lends to the forboding, oppressive atmosphere, but it works well in the forest, where Hatsue has a little hidey hole in the depths of a large cedar tree, a clandestine meeting place for the young lovers. However, the dizzying array of echoed and repeated voices, and montages connecting various bits of the past can be rather trying.

Of course, the attack on Pearl Harbor stirs up anti-Japanese sentiments, setting the stage for what has been called the largest wholesale violation of civil rights in US history: the rounding up of Japanese-Americans from their homes, confiscation of anything traditional, called "old country", and mass deportation to camps like Manzanar, which is the camp the Miyamotos end up in.

However, Ishmael's father, Arthur, the editor of the local paper, is very progressive, and protests the roundups, which leads to threatening calls and cancellations of subscriptions. At the time of the trial, his father has died, and he discovers to his discomfort that his father's liberal reputation is overshadowing him.

The Japanese traditions of girls being groomed to be graceful, e.g. sitting on one's knees without moving, the wearing of kimonos, etc. is something my late mother could relate to, as she too was Japanese. Hatsue's mother is one forbidding her relationship to Ishmael. Similarly, my mother's father, had he lived, would never have allowed her to marry my father, otherwise your humble reviewer's race would have been different.

While Ethan Hawke does well as the brooding Ishmael, he's overshadowed by other performers, such as von Sydow, Youki Koudoh (Hatsue), and Sam Shepard (Arthur Chambers). As the film progresses, one begins to understand his bitterness.

I haven't read Guterson's novel, so I don't know how closely the movie follows it. Regardless, it's a slow-paced movie, but not grabbing at times; somehow, the mixture of adolescent romance, and racial courtroom drama that lacks punch. But the message of learning to let go of the past, and the conditions that would allow one to let go, comes through towards the end.

A black-and-white movie made in color ...
Grim.

The title tells it all. The plot is already summed up quite tidily in other reviews. I would just add a few remarks.

English is not Kudoh Yuki's native language. In this movie she does one better than Meryl Streep by actually demonstrating mastery of an entire foreign language by speaking American English with an American accent. Of course, she was already good at it, but we have to remember that Hatsue, being born and bred on American shores, was a native speaker. I thought Kudoh was very convincing. Yes, acting is not all about utterances, and her facial expressions may have been formulaic to some point, but this movie is worth watching just for seeing Ms. Kudoh do her stuff.

And the movie had a profound message. Because of that and the fact that the story took place in a part of the world I was born in, I found the two hours generally satisfying.

Here and there I found the behavior of the characters mystifying - especially crowd behavior.

Why, for example, the silent march to the ferry dock? Forced evacuation of citizens based solely on race was truly a glaring violation of the Bill of Rights, but it was not mass genocide. The long walk scene was as drawn-out as it was grim. It featured a nagging bass in the soundtrack and dejected victims stunned to silence. Together they portrayed a stark black-and-white simplicity that I would question. I imagine that at least the children would still be children and think they were all taking part in some community outing. While the scene captured a certain psychological truth, it also was a bit too heavy-handed. We of the here-and-now know far too much and they knew way too little.

But the movie is definitely worth the time and money.

What I'd like to know, though, is why did they bother to shoot this in color?

The rare thing of freeing yourself from an obsession
Once upon a time, before the attack on Pearl Harbor to be specific, young Ishmael Chambers (Ethan Hawke), the son of editor (Sam Shepard) of the local newspaper in a small town in the Pacific Northwest fell in love with Hatsue (Youki Kudoh), the daughter of a Japanese American family. Put then Pearl Harbor happens and despite editorials reminding everybody what it means to be an American, all of the Japanese in the area have their property confiscated and are bussed off to the Manzanar concentration camp (that was the term used back them). The twist of fate in "Snow Falling on Cedars," the 1999 film based on the novel by David Guterson, is that in 1951 Ishmael is running his father's newspaper and finds himself covering a murder trial in which the accused is Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune), the man Hatsue married in the camp.

"Snow Falling on Cedars" is a film that combines a love triangle with a murder trial, but the character who is really on the spot is Ishmael. The trial has to do with the death of a fisherman, whose corpse turns up in the nets of another boat. The deceased had just bought the property that Kazuo's family had been planning to buy but the war and prejudice combined to deny them the property. The prosecutor (James Rebhorn) sees clear motive and Kazuo provides the opportunity. Most importantly, Kazuo is Japanese, and even if he fought for the U.S. Army in the war that is not enough to outweigh his race with the locals, even if the judge (James Cromwell) is clearly disgusted by the implications and Kazuo's attorney is the local sage and voice of reason (Max Von Sydow). But for Ishmael the trial is more personal and you know he is thinking that if Kazuo is convicted that he might have another chance with Hatsue. Besides, the evidence looks compelling, at least until Hatsue takes the stand and defends her husband.

The over racism of the people of this small town both during and after the war is quite disturbing, even though director Scott Hicks does not overplay his hand. Hicks attempts some ambitious ways of telling this story, where he uses a variety of visual styles to convey the different perspectives and realities. The effect is somewhat reminiscent of Akira Kurosawa's "Rashomon," intentionally so to my mind, since both films deal with how we each have our own perspectives on reality. The result is that we become convinced of Kazuo's innocence and wonder when Ishmael will not only come to the same conclusion but act upon it, for it is clear he is the pivotal figure in the tale.

The title of this film has a definite sense of the poetic, and Hicks does a nice job of capturing both the poetic and the sense of a real community that was divided long before the war started (when the Japanese Americans are relocated we see one side of the school bus is empty, because they always sat on one side of the bus). Ishmael had proposed to Hatsue and the way the war altered their lives is obvious, as is the great injustice of it all, so Ishmael can hardly be faulted for wanting things back the way they almost were.

Ultimately, I appreciate the great irony that the true American in the story is Nels Gudmundsson, the lawyer played by Max Von Sydow. His character immigrated to the United States and when he defends Kazuo there is a constant current of rage and anger in every thing he says and does in court because the people of this town are rejecting all of the values and principles that made him come to this country. When he tells Ishmael "It takes a rare thing, a turning point, to free oneself from any obsession, be it prejudice or hate, or, even love," we know that we have heard the moral of the story and that Ishmael will finally be moved to action.

My only problem with "Snow Falling on Cedars" is, I think, clearly my own problem. My outrage over the treatment of the Japanese was such that the love of Ishmael and Hatsue, and even the trial of Kazou seem so trivial in comparison. Even a verdict of innocence is the proverbial example of too little too late. Then ago, part of the point here is that neither these characters nor the country deserve to be left off the hook for what it did to its own citizens. ... Read more