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Snow Falling on Cedars Play Trailer

Snow Falling on Cedars (1999)

tomatometer

40

Average Rating: 5.2/10
Reviews Counted: 91
Fresh: 36 | Rotten: 55

Though Snow Falling on Cedars is beautiful to look at, critics say the story becomes dull and tedious to sit through.

27

Average Rating: 4.6/10
Critic Reviews: 26
Fresh: 7 | Rotten: 19

Though Snow Falling on Cedars is beautiful to look at, critics say the story becomes dull and tedious to sit through.

audience

66

liked it
Average Rating: 3.4/5
User Ratings: 8,056

My Rating

Movie Info

Nine years after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, a small town in the Pacific Northwest still struggles with the troubling legacy of U.S. policies against Asian-Americans. In December 1950, just off the shores of San Piedro Island in Washington, a Japanese-American man named Kazuo Miyamoto (Rick Yune) stands accused of murder after his close friend Carl Heine (Eric Thal) is found drowned in icy waters. As the trial gets under way, with Alvin Hooks (James Rebhorn) prosecuting Kazuo and Nels

PG-13,

Drama, Romance

David Guterson, Ron Bass, Scott Hicks

May 30, 2000

Universal Studios - Official Site External Icon

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Snow Falling on Cedars Trailer & Photos

Critic Reviews for Snow Falling on Cedars

All Critics (107) | Top Critics (29) | Fresh (36) | Rotten (57) | DVD (13)

A visual and emotional feast.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: CNN.com
Paul Clinton (CNN.com)
CNN.com
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Pretty but chilly.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Steve Murray
Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Top Critic IconTop Critic

It's second to none in its ability to specify a world and immerse us in it.

January 1, 2000
Jay Carr
Boston Globe
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Impeccably crafted but dramatically dull.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Variety
Todd McCarthy
Variety
Top Critic IconTop Critic

I found much of it as dispiriting as a museum tour conducted in soporific tones by an overexposed TV pundit.

January 1, 2000
Michael Wilmington
Chicago Tribune
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Snow Falling on Cedars makes its most powerful impression in totally silent stretches.

January 1, 2000 Full Review Source: Detroit News
Susan Stark
Detroit News
Top Critic IconTop Critic

Shot either in extreme, eye-swelling close-ups or in excessively composed, arty landscapes, I now know more about the blood vessels in these actors' noses than I care to.

July 5, 2011 Full Review Source: Honolulu Star-Advertiser
Burl Burlingame
Honolulu Star-Advertiser

Good movie for adults and older teens.

December 28, 2010 Full Review Source: Common Sense Media
Nell Minow
Common Sense Media

... it powerfully re-creates the history, captures the essence of Guterson's characters, and carries us through hypnotized by breathtaking cinematography.

December 6, 2004
Jeffrey Overstreet
Looking Closer

...the movie is, for the most part, just unreasonably dull.

November 12, 2002 Full Review Source: Reel Film Reviews
David Nusair
Reel Film Reviews

Badly hobbled by an over-emphasis upon cinematic technique that obliterates the emotional undertow of the story.

August 21, 2002 Full Review Source: Spirituality and Practice
Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat
Spirituality and Practice
View all critic reviews (107)

Audience Reviews for Snow Falling on Cedars

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This film has that rare hypnotic beauty and power. Scott Hicks, who most certainly is one of the most underrated directors of our times, has made a film so gorgeous and so atmospheric that it just takes my breath away everytime i see it. With a support from great photographer Robert Richardson, director Hicks turns this grim and melancholic mystery/love - story into a something poetic and even quite experimental. The screenplay which Hicks himself wrote along with Ron Bass is a ambitious work that asks lot from the viewer and rewards a patient one. There are many flashbacks and many storylines here, but ultimately it works quite well. For me this story that begins as a murder-mystery and then turns into a something much more, is truly touching. It has certainly too many familiar moments at courtroom, but those quietly eerie shots of a small-town that is nearly completely snowbound and those grand magical forests which are like taken straightly from the pages of fairytale, brings also magical quality into this film that adds something unique to the story. Snow falling on Cedars is a film also blessed with a unbelievably good cast which include actors like Max Von Sydow, Sam Shepard, Ethan Hawke, Richard Jenkins and outstanding Youki Kudoh. it is always such a pleasure to see film where actors seem to understand the nuances of the story and don't fall into overdoing their characters. This is simply not a film only for entertainment, this is also art. Snow Falling on Cedars might have some major flaws, but it also has a quite a atmosphere too.
March 30, 2010
emilkakko
Emil Kakko

Super Reviewer

Beautiful performances, cinematography, editing, and score. BUT I must say watching this film again with a total paranoid cynic who doesn't think films should get wrapped up in the awesomeness of their own beauty has harshed my mellow a bit. The montages and flashback/forward editing ARE slightly self-indulgent and they take time away from the most iconic (3 second) shot of the movie - that of the Japanese internment camp prisoners walking on the docks under a blissfully ignorant American flag. If you're gonna make a statement, damn well make it right!
June 7, 2007
aliceinpunderland
Alice Shen

Super Reviewer

Snow Falling on Cedars Quotes

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    1. Nels Gudmundsson: Accident rules every corner of the universe... except perhaps the chambers of the human heart.
    – Submitted by Chad E (21 months ago)

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