Snow Angels

As is generally the case with David Gordon Green’s work, Snow Angels has been infused with a distinctly uneven sensibility that diminishes the effectiveness of its positive attributes – although there’s little doubt that the movie, buoyed by the uniformly strong performances and inclusion of several admittedly powerful sequences, ultimately comes off as one of Green’s more consistent efforts. The film, based on the novel by Stewart O’Nan, follows several characters over the course of a few particularly eventful days within their small town lives, as fractured couple Annie (Kate Beckinsale) and Glenn (Sam Rockwell) attempt to mend their relationship and kind-hearted Arthur (Michael Angarano) embarks on a tentative romance with shy Lila (Olivia Thirlby). Generally speaking, Green sticks fairly close to the source material and effectively retains many of the book’s smaller, seemingly insignificant details (including the crumbling marriage of Arthur’s parents). It’s only when the filmmaker veers from O’Nan’s template that one’s interest begins to flag, as Green – particularly in the movie’s third act – peppers the proceedings with a number of sequences that are either overlong or flat-out superfluous. Yet there’s simply no denying the strength of Snow Angels‘ various performances, with Rockwell offering up some of the best work of his career as the complex and volatile Glenn (likewise, Angarano, Beckinsale, and particularly Thirlby are quite good here). The sporadic lulls within the narrative are consequently relatively easy to overlook, and the degree to which Green paints an indelible portrait of this small town is certainly nothing to sneeze at.

*** out of ****