DIRECTOR: Tomas Alfredson
STARRING: Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, Charlotte Gainsbourgm Val Kilmer, J. K. Simmons
ON AT: Movieplex Cinema, Grand Cinema & More, Happy Cinema, Cine Globe Titan, Hollywood Multiplex, Cinema City Cotroceni, Cinema City Sun Plaza, Cinema City Mega Mall, Cinema City ParkLake
From Sweden to Norway – although it’s a Norway that strangely seems populated entirely by native English speakers.
The Snowman is an adaptation of a Jo Nesbo novel – hence the mismatch between the setting and the characters’ language. A Nordic location is required, because this police procedural is about a serial killer who only strikes when the snow falls. (Set further south then, it might be a rather uneventful film.)
On the trail of the murderer is Detective Harry Hole (Michael Fassbender). As he’s a movie detective, I don’t need to add that he has a troubled home life, separated from his partner, negligent of his dependents and drinks too much.
Harry is aided and abetted by a rookie cop (Rebecca Ferguson), and I don’t need to add that she’s young, female and attractive, but hiding a painful past.
The Snowman has an impressive ensemble cast, with Charlotte Gainsbourg as Harry’s ex, J. K. Simmons as a dubious local worthy, Val Kilmer as a drunken detective and even Chloe Sevigny popping up in a small part. They are important in bringing a touch of Hollywood glamour, as in other respects the story unfolds much like a Sunday night TV murder mystery of the Poirot, Midsomer Murders school, largely because it has similar source material.
It’s not a weakness – such shows are typically well plotted and enjoyable – but The Snowman doesn’t feel particularly original (aside from the Brits taking over Oslo angle).
However, director Tomas Alfredson is a steady hand, and the premise is intriguingly developed: women going missing on snowy nights and turning up dead seem to have some connection to cold cases (ha!) from a decade ago.
After such an assured buildup, the ending feels a little convoluted and rushed – probably the result of condensing a 400-page novel into a two-hour running time. The payoff, however, is not a letdown.
Debbie Stowe