Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)

Directed by Scott Hicks
Written by Ronald Bass & Scott Hicks, based on the novel by David Guterson
Starring Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh, Max Von Sydow, Sam Shepard, James Cromwell

My Advice: Matinee.

It's Washington State in the 1950's, a time period that's normally presented as the pinnacle of American life.  "The Good Old Days."  That's as maybe, especially for Americans of Japanese descent not far removed from their treatment and incarceration during World War II.  One in particular, Kazuo (Rick Yune), is in some difficulty.  Being the last one to see a local fisherman alive before the deceased was found clubbed and drowned in his own nets, Kazuo's fate is pretty much sealed.  This draws the attention of the local newspaper journalist, Ishmael (Hawke), who has a bitter and personal stake in all this: he and Kazuo's bride Hatsue (Kudoh) were once in love with one another as children.

The standouts in this film are director/screenwriter Scott Hicks, cinematographer Robert Richardson and editor Hank Corwin.  Taking numerous timelines in the story, they managed to weave together a piece of cinematic poetry.  Weaving is the only way to describe it, since scenes bleed into one another with such grace that it takes a moment to acclimate yourself to the scene you're now watching.  For example, children run down a sidewalk, using a stick to rake along the pickets of a fence—the camera follows.  Suddenly the camera's no longer showing us the pickets of a fence; it's showing us a banister, moving along it and up to Ethan Hawke's face in the courtroom.  We're in another timeline.  And it's not just amazing transitions—it's images that have immense power and impact: children running through a immense forest, white expanses of snowy nothingness as if the world had simply been erased, boats in a tremendous impenetrable fog. 

Right behind those three is Max Von Sydow as a slightly decrepit attorney who defends Kazuo in court.  Ethan Hawke, although top-billed, is just a member of the ensemble in this film.  His turn as Ishmael is very thoughtfully understated.  Also of note are a slew of character actors, including the always dead-on James Cromwell, James Rebhorn and Sam Shepard. 

If there's a drawback to this film (and this is going to sound strange), it's that it times the switching back and forth between timelines seems forced from a plot perspective.  It's like The Sweet Hereafter on crack.  I found myself overawed by the cinematography and editing to the point of distraction, where the story became hard to follow.  Like the old adage says, "Nothing exceeds like excess."  I would have wanted the plot points and the storyline to become more of the focus rather than the technical aspects.  But regardless of any problems I have with the meat of the film, it's the most visually poetic film of the year.  See on the big screen for the full impact of the images, catch on the small screen for the rest.