Wednesday, July 9, 2014

Snowpiercer

The year is 2031 and the world is cold. Ice cold. Deadly cold. Seventeen years earlier – which is to say, now – measures were taken to correct global warming. The experiment was a disaster, freezing Earth completely and killing everyone and everything in the process. The few who lived are those aboard the Snowpiercer, a massive train that takes exactly one year to circle the globe. As the film begins, we become aware of the class system on the Snowpiercer. Those in the front of the train lavish in excess, while those in the back rot. They sleep on top of each other, covered in their own filth, eating “protein blocks” of shit. Many of them are scarred and missing limbs, for reasons I won’t disclose. All of them are ready for change.

That change is to take place at the behest of Curtis (Chris Evans, by far the best he’s been) a determined young man ready to take control of the train. He has followers, namely his right hand Edgar (Jamie Bell, fiery and fierce), and a vengeful mother, Tanya (Octavia Spencer, showing us something new). Gilliam (John Hurt) is their leader, but because he’s weathered with age and missing appendages, it’s Curtis who leads the charge.
There are barriers to cross. Locked doors, soldiers with guns, and a hilariously off-kilter person in charge named Mason. (I say “person” because I was never sure if Mason was a man or a woman. At one point, I could’ve sworn that a soldier referred to Mason as “Sir,” but because Mason is played perfectly by Tilda Swinton, it is of no consequence that the gender of the character is ambiguous.) Mason runs the day-to-day on the train, but the leader is a hidden man named Wilford. Wilford controls the train’s engine, and Curtis knows that if you take the engine, you take the train. And if you take the train, you take the world. So is his mission.

I’ve described the first 10 minutes of the film, the subsequent 116 are yours. And, believe me, these are minutes that should be discovered, preferably on the largest screen you can find. Although the film is contained within the suffocating walls of the Snowpiercer, it is massive in scope. Each breach forward is a venture into a new world. It allows the director, Korean mastermind Bong Joon-ho, to explore his limitless vision and create a new set piece every few minutes. The revolving scenery of the film is what helps move it along so briskly. There’s always something new for our eyes to fixate on – nothing is what it seems, and whether physical or philosophical, everything is a challenge.
As a viewer, my only minor challenge was getting through the film’s somewhat weighty conclusion. Rather famously, after The Weinstein Company acquired the American rights to Snowpiercer, Harvey Weinstein demanded that 20 minutes be cut from the picture. Joon-ho refused, and Weinstein kept the film in a holding pattern. The director didn’t budge, and the film now plays as Joon-ho intended. With that noted, I can see where Weinstein was coming from by suggesting the film be trimmed. Certainly 20 whole minutes could not be removed, but slimming down some of the third act monologuing could’ve help sustain the fast and furious pace of everything that came before. Many will disagree with me, but my ultimate point is that I got what the characters were saying (and, more tellingly, what they were going to do) long before their grand soliloquies were finished.

This is not meant to detract anyone from Snowpiercer. It is a great sci-fi film that deserves to be seen and discussed. The blatant political commentary alone is enough to fuel hours of post-movie conversation. I loved the time I spent with it and will be eager to revisit it in the future.

Bong Joon-ho is a premiere member of the Korean New Wave cinema movement. His previous three films, Memories of Murder, The Host and Mother, were excellent studies of how people behave when pushed too far. Snowpiercer keeps with that theme, and it proves to be a very worthy English-speaking debut from a visionary filmmaker who always, thankfully, has something interesting to say. B+

31 comments:

  1. I agree with this review wholly. I honestly didn't feel like the grandstanding was a big problem for me (though saying it was a big problem for you may be an overstatement). I agree with this being Evans' best performance to date and it really served as a reminder to me of all the promise he showed in a film like Sunshine a little while back. This is what sci-fi should be like - you get the spectacle while also getting some substance. If this had been as heavily promoted as Transformers 4, it probably would have made decent money.

    By the way check out Barking Dogs Don't Bite (Joon-Ho's first feature), it's a decent little character based black comedy. I doubt you will ever see anything like it lol.

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    1. Oh I've seen Barking Dogs Don't Bite - I've seen every film I mentioned in my Korean Cinema post ;). I just didn't mention it here because it didn't seem to fall in the theme I was reaching at. But yeah, what a flick.

      Anyway, really glad we agree on this one. Wouldn't be great if more sci-fi spectacles actually did have substance like this one? I loved how smart and engaging this film was.

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  2. I liked this film a bit less than you (maybe a B or B-), but we're more or less in agreement. This is one of the rare cases in which a little compromise--trimming maybe 5 or 10 minutes in the final act--would've resulted in a much better, more coherent film. That said, there's a lot of really interesting ideas and spectacular visuals packed into this film. I wonder if Bong isn't advocating for anarchy: If the system is dysfunctional and even the best intentioned people (Curtis) are unable to bring about positive change, just throw it all into the fire and let it burn. On the flip side, you can't help but wonder if the authoritarian system was a better option than killing nearly every human being on the planet so two of them can be free.

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    1. That last comment proffered by W.J., an otherwise on-the-ball person who sometimes forgets to sign his posts. :-)

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    2. Ha, all good man. Like I said on my Korean Cinema post, I knew you and I were going to see eye and eye on this one. I completely agree that, had 5 minutes or so been cut from the end, it could've been a slightly better film. And your final two sentences are great conversations starters - exactly what I was talking about concerning this flick's post-movie discussion.

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  3. I've been hearing a lot about this movie. It sounds like one that might be worth checking out.

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    1. Definitely man. A very good use of the genre.

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  4. I really loved it. Between this and Captain America 2, Evans is pretty much the hero of the year. What I like about his performance here is that it is like retrospectively brilliant. And Tilda, maaaaan! I'm kind of a sucker for dystopian stories done well and this totally falls in that category. I LOVED the production design in this sooo much.

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    1. Oh yeah, all of the technical aspects of the film were flawless, no doubt. The production design definitely deserves an Oscar nomination. I really enjoyed Evans' delivery of his big monologue as well, but I did think Wilford's was far too long. Still, a really fun movie all the same.

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  5. This sounds like a smart, visually interesting film. It might be worth seeing in theaters.

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    1. Definitely a yes on all fronts. Highly recommend seeing it on the big screen.

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  6. It's SO good. You rarely see a blockbuster like this. I loved it and it's now one of my favourite movies of all time.

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    1. Hell yeah! And the thing is, I wouldn't even consider it a blockbuster. A $39 million budget is still pretty modest for a film of this scope. That's partly why I like it so much.

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  7. A film that people should see more as I'm glad Bong Joon-Ho stuck to his vision of what he wanted to do. Chris Evans' monologue I think is his crowning achievement. He definitely displays a lot of humility and weight into that moment. He's come a long way since being the goof in Not Another Teen Movie.

    BTW, did you see the video of him visiting the Criterion Collection building? There is a lesson to all of this when you lend a film to Chan-wook Park.

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    1. Definitely a film people should see. And just to be clear, I loved everything about Evans' solo monologue, I just thought the subsequent ones with Wilford ran a tad too long. But all in all, it was a great film. I just saw him in the Criterion closet. Hilarious. Also, that's the most movies I've ever seen someone take from that closet. Loved it.

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  8. Damn, this film looks amazing! I'm not that familiar with South Korean filmmakers apart fram a few, but along with this review and your previous post, I think I am going to find myself greatly enjoying these films, with this being at the top of my list!

    It's great to see Evans outside of a Marvel film, and Swinton, well, she can do no wrong. I think Ebert best said it when he said that she is an actress who doesn't project emotions as much as embody them. She was also brilliant in Only Lovers Left Alive and The Grand Budapest Hotel. Apparently she has also signed on for the new Coen Brothers film, which is just amazing.

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    1. Such a good film, I really hope you get a chance to see it! Evans is superb here, and I agree, great to see him stretching his range. I loved Swinton in Burn After Reading, so I'm thrilled that she'll be working with the Coens again. They're really assembling a great cast for that movie.

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  9. I can't wait for see this film! I too heard about the whole distribution/cutting debacle. Snowpiercer will be my first feature from Bong Joon-ho. Another well-written review.

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    1. Thanks Angela! Really hope you like this one. And if you get a chance, I highly recommend some more of Joon-ho's films. The Host is a lot of fun.

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  10. It's one of those movies that had a weird idea, and just rolled with it for as long as it could. For that, I have to respect it. But what made it even better was that it was actually pretty fun. Good review Alex.

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    1. Yeah man, for sure. I had no idea what it was about when I saw it, but I really admired its minimalist story backed with epic scope.

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  11. Great review, man. This is an exceedingly weird film despite hewing as close as it does to blockbuster tropes (though, as you say above, it's not really a blockbuster). I'm still undecided if I love it because of its unevenness or in spite of it, but if nothing else it's memorably unique.

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    1. Thanks man. I'm right there with you. It took my a few days to write this review, because I was on the fence for a while. Same exact way I felt about Stoker when I first saw it. Time revealed to me that Stoker was a really solid film. But at first... I didn't know. Wonder what'll happen with Snowpiercer...

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  12. Glad you liked it! I should be seeing it soon, but it's great to hear that Evans gives his best performance. I've been waiting to see more out of him since Cellular.

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    1. Oh yeah, definitely his best performance by far. There's a rage to him that I wasn't aware of until this film. He's really quite great in it. Ahh... Cellular, that was such an amusing little film.

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  13. Nice review, sir. I just saw this movie, and I must say, it was one hell of a ride. I disagree with you on the ending, but to each their own. You're right on Evans, though. This is definitely his best work. Spencer and Bell, too, did fantastic.

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    1. Definitely a thrilling ride - glad you enjoyed it. Bell and Spencer were great, and Evans really surprised me. I didn't have a problem with his monologue, just with the length of Harris'.

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  14. Brilliant write up, it was a very unusual film, but I had such a blast watching it. I loved the inner themes and that the main female protagonist was Octavia Spencer.
    My favourite scene was the bit with Alison Pill haha.

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    1. Thanks man! I loved that Pill scene as well. So creepy, and it ended with such a nice little twist. That was a perfectly Joon-hoian moment there.

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  15. I liked Snowpiercer because the whole film is full of moments (like your favorite scene from Pulp Fiction) in which Curtis is put to choose between left (the back of the train) or right. It's a film that moves forward. I enjoyed it. Definitely B+.

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    1. GREAT point. I love the way you worded that. So, so true.

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