Snow Cake

Name: Snow Cake
Genre: Drama, Romance
Released: April 27, 2007
Duration: 112 min
Rating: 54
Cast: Alan Rickman, Carrie-Anne Moss, Sigourney Weaver

2007

METASCORE

Mixed or average reviews based on 15 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Universal acclaim based on 20 Ratings

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8.4

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8.4	User Score Universal acclaim based on 20 Ratings

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Snow Cake

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: April 27, 2007 | Not Rated

Starring: Alan Rickman, Carrie-Anne Moss, Sigourney Weaver

Summary: Alex Hughes, recently freed from prison, begrudgingly picks up a vivacious 19-year-old hitchhiker, Vivienne, while driving through Ontario. When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her home town, Vivienne dies instantly. Shocked and stranded in snowbound Wawa, Alex is drawn to seek out Vivienne’s mother, an autistic woman, to talkAlex Hughes, recently freed from prison, begrudgingly picks up a vivacious 19-year-old hitchhiker, Vivienne, while driving through Ontario. When the car is hit by a truck on the outskirts of her home town, Vivienne dies instantly. Shocked and stranded in snowbound Wawa, Alex is drawn to seek out Vivienne’s mother, an autistic woman, to talk to her in person about the fate of her daughter. [IFC First Take]… Expand

Director: Marc Evans

Genre(s): Drama, Romance

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 112 min

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Critic Reviews

Claudia Puig

Most noteworthy for the performance of Sigourney Weaver as Linda, an autistic woman. Read full review

TV Guide Magazine Maitland McDonagh

Sigourney Weaver and Alan Rickman imbue screenwriter Angela Pell's characters with a quiet authenticity that's surprisingly moving. Read full review

Ella Taylor

Does sidle up to the brink of mawkishness, but it pulls back so nicely into Weaver's rich, hard-headed evocation of Linda's limitations. Read full review

Noel Murray

If only Snow Cake had hewed closer to this idea of showing what an adult autist's life and experiences are like, rather than getting caught up in Rickman's rote re-awakening, it could've been as powerful as it strains to be. Read full review

Kirk Honeycutt

The mental and physical landscape would do justice to an Atom Egoyan film, but in this film, the key dramatic moments feel as forced as they are predictable. Read full review

Derek Elley

Boosted by a delish performance from Carrie-Anne Moss as a local vamp who helps unthaw the Englishman, but holed beneath the waterline by a gratingly miscast Sigourney Weaver as the persnickety autistic. Read full review

Stephanie Zacharek

The picture is so drab and listless that it often feels like punishment, even though Rickman gives a fine performance, one that's heartfelt as well as characteristically elegant (not to mention sexy). Read full review

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DawdlingPoet

Nov 20, 2021

I thought this film was really quite moving. Its quite emotional but in a perhaps subtle way. I found it very interesting how Alex reacted after the accident, his feelings of grief and guilt and his clear concern and compassion for Vivienne's mother, Linda. I think I found it especiallyI thought this film was really quite moving. Its quite emotional but in a perhaps subtle way. I found it very interesting how Alex reacted after the accident, his feelings of grief and guilt and his clear concern and compassion for Vivienne's mother, Linda. I think I found it especially interesting as the two main characters, while they do slowly open up to each other, bit by bit, they also clearly keep their guard up, certainly at first and Alex comes across as a particularly intriguing, almost a black sheep sort of a person. There definitely felt, to me anyway, that there was a strong mystery element to this film and I felt intrigued to discover more about both Alex and Linda's backgrounds, their history. Of course there is more to them than may first appear, although it is a fairly slow paced film in general but I found myself surprised by some of the insights I slowly discovered about the characters, about what potentially made them the way they were (perhaps moreso Alex than Linda). I felt it covered some important moral ground, including how we express grief and the grieving process, guilt and forgiveness, cultural or/and societal expectations of such.

I felt Alex was quite a complicated person, a reserved but quite compassionate person, with many of his own issues and I found the character development quite good. Obviously Linda is also a complicated person, although with her autism you could say that she comes across as much more simple way (I genuinely don't mean that in an offensive or degrading/demeaning sense, I mean it moreso in a say what you really think , or how you really feel, kind of a way). Ot seemed to me that Linda came across as somehow more self assured, while also being quite shy and insecure (understandably so), she can seem pretty headstrong and even defiant, in her own way.

I felt that the dialogue was particularly good. The characters are well developed and in general the script seemed to be very well thought out - it isn't jam packed with cliches, neither did it feel especially predictable. I felt this film worked so well as the characters were very well portrayed and the script seemed to be well thought out. The topics are covered quite sensitively and I thought it was quite thought provoking.

Cast wise, the late Alan Rickman plays Alex and he plays him very well, appearing as (like I say) a very guarded and reserved person but ultimately quite a sensitive person. The raw feelings both Alex and Linda clearly (to me anyway) seemed to carry around came across quite clearly. Linda is played by Sigourney Weaver and I felt she also did particularly well in her role, portraying the childhood innocence aspect of Linda via her autism. I felt that Sigourney played her role with a good amount of dignity, her facial expressions seeming quite genuine and not offensive, if that makes any sense? lets say I didn't get the feeling that the cast were doing a basic roughshod job of playing the complicated characters they undoubtedly were and I appreciated and respected that.

I'd also like to mention, cast wise, that Emily Hampshire portrays Vivienne Freeman, who obviously doesn't have a great amount of screen time but I felt that she made her mark, as an actor portraying an important character, as Vivienne seems a very lively, vivid and independent young woman who is fairly memorable in her own way.

If there are to be any criticisms made about this film, I think all I could perhaps say is that there is a romance related side story which perhaps wasn't entirely necessary and also that the ending was maybe a little Hollywood? although there are some plot twists present which took me by surprise. To sum up, I felt this was a very well made film, which covered some sensitive ground in a good way. It features some interesting characters and there are some plot twists which took me by surprise - the character development and casting is very good and it was, for me, quite a memorable film, so personally I'd give it a 5 star rating, although I realise that there are one or two aspects that may put others off a little (or may disappoint some), so I'll go with a 4 star rating and a strong recommendation (see next section) instead.

Also, just to add that for anyone curious about the film title, its meaning is explained during the film. I won't add anymore so as not to spoil it.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

AnnaW.

Sep 8, 2007

Wonderfully witty yet full of pathos, I have watched this movie several times and I wept each time.

2 of 2 users found this helpful

brajakum

Jan 25, 2012

Not the most significant movie dealing with the issue of autism, since it lacks the screenplay originality and power, but Sigourney Weawer is excellent as always.

2 of 2 users found this helpful20

ChadS.

May 10, 2007

In the nick of time, just before "Snow Cake" has a chance to eat itself and choke on its own cuteness, the plug is pulled on one crowd-pleasing genre and settles into another populist breed of film. The transition is sudden and somewhat cruel, because the filmmaker, you suspect, has a In the nick of time, just before "Snow Cake" has a chance to eat itself and choke on its own cuteness, the plug is pulled on one crowd-pleasing genre and settles into another populist breed of film. The transition is sudden and somewhat cruel, because the filmmaker, you suspect, has a disdain for such movies. What "Snow Cake" turns into can only be described as "Rain(wo)man". If you overlook the film's contrived(and highly coincidental) backstory, which explains how a misanthrope like Alex Hughes(Alan Rickman) would stick around with a whimsical autistic woman(Sigourney Weaver), your heart is bigger than your brain. Linda's next-door neighbor, Maggie(Carrie-Anne Moss), at first seems like an unlikely person to be living in a Canadian backwater like Winnipeg, until you realize that she's lying about who-left-who. Their fleeting romance is the best thing about "Snow Cake".… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful

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