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| 1. Shine Director: Scott Hicks | |
 | list price: $19.98
our price: $19.98 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 078061755X Catlog: Video Sales Rank: 7764 Average Customer Review: 
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Amazon.com essential video Reviews (37)
The real David Helfgott actually contributed as a musician (pianist, of course) for this wonderful film about his life, dramatizing his struggles through his childhood and breakdown as an adolescent. Yet it isn't about gloomy and depressing accounts but about survival and living to the best of one's abilities. Those who have little patience with people who are schizophrenic may become a bit uneasy at the performance of Geoffrey Rush who played the adult Helfgott. Rush's acting was impeccable and very believable, which is why some might be a little agitated or confused at the stuttering and incomplete and rambling dialog by Rush's character. But have patience in getting to understand Helfgott as the movie progresses. It can confuse the viewer since there are flashbacks and flash forwards. But you know, this was one beautifully produced movie. It has had high replay, because the film simply touches the heart. Just relax and allow the movie (and Helfgott's character) absorb you. By the end, you'll really FEEL how much of a journey that David Helfgott traveled to arrive where he did. And for those who enjoy Lynn Redgrave, my gosh. Her portrayal of Gillian was superb. Redgrave didn't even get any type of top billing and she didn't appear until late in the movie, yet I felt like Gillian and David were my own family by the end. The DVD's special features include a movie trailer, a video clip of an award presented to Rush (look for Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise together in the audience) and a somewhat unusually- formatted Q/A with director Scott Hicks (about a dozen questions are displayed and when you select one, a video with an answer by Hicks plays). "Shine" wasn't meant to be a tearjerker movie, but it got to me. I sometimes can't watch even the trailer without getting a lump in my throat. Lovers of piano concertos and also those who appreciate classical music would be especially grateful for this cinematic gem.
The music in this film is just outstanding, and it will make you want to go and learn to play the piano. Everyone in this film does an excellent job. This movie just draws you into it. I'm a man who has always liked the scary movies, and also the funny ones, never drama. But this movie just blew me away with it's joy of the human spirit. My heart still races when I hear the beautiful music of the film. Great job to everyone. I'd really like to know more about this main character as far as what's he doing now, and did he play any part in the making of the film. This is just a tremendous movie!
Dihelson Mendonca ... Read more | |
| 2. Hearts in Atlantis Director: Scott Hicks | |
 | list price: $9.94
our price: $9.94 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: B00005UQEI Catlog: Video Sales Rank: 10489 Average Customer Review: 
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Reviews (172)
This film revisits territory mapped out in a previous film based on a King story, "Stand By Me," in which the idyllic world of youth, marked by standard childhood preoccupations (friends, a new bike) and terrors (the neighborhood bully) is invaded by the macabre or supernatural, which stands for the unknowns of the wider world. King has used this device repeatedly and effectively. Played by a gifted cast, it works again here, although it offers few surprises. Brautigan's psychic power is handled in a low-key manner, which has frustrated some reviewers. However, the should remember that this film is really about Bobby and Ted's ability is a device by which the filmmakers show Bobby's maturation.
Bobby and Ted become friends, although his mother is uneasy over their relationship from the start. Ted hires Bobby to read him the newspaper each week and also asks him to look out for "low men" (low in the Dickensian sense). Bobby dismisses this later task as some sort of private joke until he learns that there are indeed strange people after his friend. This introduces the element of fear into Bobby's life, not only as he realizes that his friend might have to go away, but as he comes to understand that his selfish mother has no love to share with him. Consequently the film moves back and forth between the sweetness of nostalgia, which reaches its highest point when Bobby and Carol share "the kiss by which all others in your life will be judged," and the fear that Bobby's precarious world is going to crumble apart. When this world does fall apart, in several different ways, Bobby does more that survive. He grows up. "Hearts in Atlantis" is a period piece, but the television being black & white and the cars having fins fades into the background as King investigates the eternal world of adolescence. Ted has a strange gift, the reason why he is being sought out by the shadowy figures that arrive in town, but we keep pushing that out of the way because it only gets in the way of the relationship between Ted and Bobby. Of course, having such a gift bears a price that becomes unavoidable. Director Scott Hicks and cinematographer Piotr Sobocinski invest Bobby's neighborhood with a grandeur that we know is nothing more than the product of young mind's, who insist on seeing things better than they are. The images are reinforced by William Goldman's literate script, which transforms King's story into poetry, and the actors are equal to the words in their performances. The result is a lovely little intimate film.
The oldies-filled soundtrack is one of the best things going for the movie, offering familiar and mostly upbeat tunes, even if the placement might feel too obvious. Others have mentioned what a fantastic job the younger actors do, and Anthony Hopkins is competent here, though it has to be noted that he wasn't working with stellar material to begin with. Overall, Hearts in Atlantis offers some good scenes and music, but serious Stephen King and Anthony Hopkins fans are likely to be disappointed.
Anthony Hopkins does an excellent job in playing the mysterious character of Ted as well as the rest of the cast who round out this effecting tale of lost innocense and relationships lost. I found the story to be quite interesting and it kept my attention throughout. I found the relationship between Ted and Bobby very moving and sad all at the same time. Even if one is not a fan of Stephen King, give this one a shot. It is more along the lines of "The Green Mile" rather than an "It" or a "Dreamcatcher." The last lines of the movie sum this wonderful film up nicely and leave the viewer feeling a strange combination of sadness and inspiration all at once. I highly recommend this film. One of Stephen King's best adaptations. My complements to director Scott Hicks. ... Read more | |
| 3. Shine Director: Scott Hicks | |
 | list price: $19.98
our price: $19.98 (price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0780620445 Catlog: Video Sales Rank: 61713 Average Customer Review:
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
Reviews (37)
The real David Helfgott actually contributed as a musician (pianist, of course) for this wonderful film about his life, dramatizing his struggles through his childhood and breakdown as an adolescent. Yet it isn't about gloomy and depressing accounts but about survival and living to the best of one's abilities. Those who have little patience with people who are schizophrenic may become a bit uneasy at the performance of Geoffrey Rush who played the adult Helfgott. Rush's acting was impeccable and very believable, which is why some might be a little agitated or confused at the stuttering and incomplete and rambling dialog by Rush's character. But have patience in getting to understand Helfgott as the movie progresses. It can confuse the viewer since there are flashbacks and flash forwards. But you know, this was one beautifully produced movie. It has had high replay, because the film simply touches the heart. Just relax and allow the movie (and Helfgott's character) absorb you. By the end, you'll really FEEL how much of a journey that David Helfgott traveled to arrive where he did. And for those who enjoy Lynn Redgrave, my gosh. Her portrayal of Gillian was superb. Redgrave didn't even get any type of top billing and she didn't appear until late in the movie, yet I felt like Gillian and David were my own family by the end. The DVD's special features include a movie trailer, a video clip of an award presented to Rush (look for Nicole Kidman and Tom Cruise together in the audience) and a somewhat unusually- formatted Q/A with director Scott Hicks (about a dozen questions are displayed and when you select one, a video with an answer by Hicks plays). "Shine" wasn't meant to be a tearjerker movie, but it got to me. I sometimes can't watch even the trailer without getting a lump in my throat. Lovers of piano concertos and also those who appreciate classical music would be especially grateful for this cinematic gem.
The music in this film is just outstanding, and it will make you want to go and learn to play the piano. Everyone in this film does an excellent job. This movie just draws you into it. I'm a man who has always liked the scary movies, and also the funny ones, never drama. But this movie just blew me away with it's joy of the human spirit. My heart still races when I hear the beautiful music of the film. Great job to everyone. I'd really like to know more about this main character as far as what's he doing now, and did he play any part in the making of the film. This is just a tremendous movie!
Dihelson Mendonca ... Read more | |
| 4. Snow Falling on Cedars (Special Edition) Director: Scott Hicks | |
 | list price: $9.98
(price subject to change: see help) Asin: B000053VWI Catlog: Video Sales Rank: 10772 Average Customer Review:
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Reviews (115)
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.
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.
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?
"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 | |
| 5. Snow Falling on Cedars Director: Scott Hicks | |
 | list price: $9.99
(price subject to change: see help) Asin: 0783241275 Catlog: Video Sales Rank: 9485 Average Customer Review:
US | Canada | United Kingdom | Germany | France | Japan |
Reviews (115)
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.
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.
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?
"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 | |
| 6. Snow Falling on Cedars Director: Scott Hicks | |
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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.
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.
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?
"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 | |
| 7. Space Shuttle Director: Scott Hicks | |
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| 8. Space Shuttle:Mission to the Future Director: Scott Hicks | |
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| 9. Space Shuttle Director: Scott Hicks | |
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| 10. Space Shuttle Director: Scott Hicks | |
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| 11. Hearts in Atlantis Director: Scott Hicks | |
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This film revisits territory mapped out in a previous film based on a King story, "Stand By Me," in which the idyllic world of youth, marked by standard childhood preoccupations (friends, a new bike) and terrors (the neighborhood bully) is invaded by the macabre or supernatural, which stands for the unknowns of the wider world. King has used this device repeatedly and effectively. Played by a gifted cast, it works again here, although it offers few surprises. Brautigan's psychic power is handled in a low-key manner, which has frustrated some reviewers. However, the should remember that this film is really about Bobby and Ted's ability is a device by which the filmmakers show Bobby's maturation.
Bobby and Ted become friends, although his mother is uneasy over their relationship from the start. Ted hires Bobby to read him the newspaper each week and also asks him to look out for "low men" (low in the Dickensian sense). Bobby dismisses this later task as some sort of private joke until he learns that there are indeed strange people after his friend. This introduces the element of fear into Bobby's life, not only as he realizes that his friend might have to go away, but as he comes to understand that his selfish mother has no love to share with him. Consequently the film moves back and forth between the sweetness of nostalgia, which reaches its highest point when Bobby and Carol share "the kiss by which all others in your life will be judged," and the fear that Bobby's precarious world is going to crumble apart. When this world does fall apart, in several different ways, Bobby does more that survive. He grows up. "Hearts in Atlantis" is a period piece, but the television being black & white and the cars having fins fades into the background as King investigates the eternal world of adolescence. Ted has a strange gift, the reason why he is being sought out by the shadowy figures that arrive in town, but we keep pushing that out of the way because it only gets in the way of the relationship between Ted and Bobby. Of course, having such a gift bears a price that becomes unavoidable. Director Scott Hicks and cinematographer Piotr Sobocinski invest Bobby's neighborhood with a grandeur that we know is nothing more than the product of young mind's, who insist on seeing things better than they are. The images are reinforced by William Goldman's literate script, which transforms King's story into poetry, and the actors are equal to the words in their performances. The result is a lovely little intimate film.
The oldies-filled soundtrack is one of the best things going for the movie, offering familiar and mostly upbeat tunes, even if the placement might feel too obvious. Others have mentioned what a fantastic job the younger actors do, and Anthony Hopkins is competent here, though it has to be noted that he wasn't working with stellar material to begin with. Overall, Hearts in Atlantis offers some good scenes and music, but serious Stephen King and Anthony Hopkins fans are likely to be disappointed.
Anthony Hopkins does an excellent job in playing the mysterious character of Ted as well as the rest of the cast who round out this effecting tale of lost innocense and relationships lost. I found the story to be quite interesting and it kept my attention throughout. I found the relationship between Ted and Bobby very moving and sad all at the same time. Even if one is not a fan of Stephen King, give this one a shot. It is more along the lines of "The Green Mile" rather than an "It" or a "Dreamcatcher." The last lines of the movie sum this wonderful film up nicely and leave the viewer feeling a strange combination of sadness and inspiration all at once. I highly recommend this film. One of Stephen King's best adaptations. My complements to director Scott Hicks. ... Read more | |
| 12. Shine Director: Scott Hicks | |
OUTSTANDING movie presented on an average DVD
SHADOW PLAY
Great soundtrack, but something missing overall...