Snow Falling on Cedars Movie Review 1999

Visually beautiful but remarkably dull adaptation of David Guterson's novel. In 1954, journalist and WWII vet, the portentiously named Ishmael Chambers (Hawke), confronts his past when he's assigned to report on the trial of Japanese-American Kazuo Miyamoto (Yune), who's accused of murdering a fellow fisherman (Thal) in a small community north of Puget Sound. Kazuo just happens to be married to Ishmael's former flame, Hatsue (Kudoh)--their romance having been thwarted by the prejudicial times. Lots of impressionistic flashbacks complicate matters while the story meanders along, not helped by Hawke's blank-faced performance.

Distribution

Universal Studios Home Video, 100 Universal City Plz., Universal City, CA 91608-9955, Phone: (818)777-1000, Fax: (818)866-1483, URL: http://www.universalstudios.com, Remarks: Does not handle retail queries from consumers; contact your local video distributor.

Available on VHS, DVD
Running time 128 minutes.

Cast and Crew

Genres

Flashback, Concentration/Internment Camps, Order in the Court, Period Piece: 1950s, Period Piece: 1940s, Interracial Affairs, Front Page

Screenplay

Scott Hicks, Ronald Bass

Cast

Ethan Hawke, Youki Kudoh, Rick Yune, Sam Shepard, Max von Sydow, James Cromwell, James Rebhorn, Richard Jenkins, Eric Thal, Celia Weston, Max Wright

Cinematography

Robert Richardson

Director

Scott Hicks

Music

James Newton Howard

Producer

Kathleen Kennedy, Frank Marshall, Harry Ufland, Ronald Bass, Universal Studios