ALARIS' REVIEWS

14th June 2009
Snow Cake (2006)

Snow Cake is a low key film about a bookish loner, Alex (Alan Rickman), and a high functioning autistic woman, Linda (Sigourney Weaver), who are brought together awkwardly in the aftermath of a tragic accident.

Snow Cake isn't the kind of film I usually seek out, but I've watched some pretty bad stuff for Alan Rickman (including the clunky An Awfully Big Adventure, 1995, and the even worse Closet Land, 1991).

Set in small town America , Snow Cake deals with grief, guilt, mental illness, and quiet friendships between ordinary people. I'm not a fan of observational vignettes (I hated Sideways, 2004), and Snow Cake drifts through scenes which are often uneventful.

However, Snow Cake is surprisingly interspersed with dry humour - it's hard to avoid dry humour in a film with Alan Rickman - and Rickman is simultaneously tragic and comical as the troubled and mildly exasperated Alex, tip-toeing his way around Linda's obsessively organised world.

Sigourney Weaver does a decent job as Linda, but her character's emotional distance coupled with Alex's wary reserve means that their scenes together are a study in understatement. Carrie-Anne Moss plays friendly neighbour, Maggie, but is unfortunately as brittle and cold as always.

I recall reading one reviewer who complained about the unlikelihood of a man of Alan Rickman's age receiving the amount of female attention that Alex does. However, in Rickman's scenes with Moss, it's pretty clear which character has the charismatic wattage, and it ain't the former model.

Fans of slow, observational films set in small towns will probably enjoy Snow Cake. However, those looking for more complex plotting, greater character change, or sharper humour, would best look elsewhere.

Verdict: A slow, quiet film that could have dug a lot deeper.

If you like Alan Rickman in non-villain mode, you might like this.