Word: snow
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...make (western Canada is a perfect stand-in for the western U.S.) require smallish casts and in the dreariness of their first shots signal seriousness of intent. I don't care if we're talking No Country for Old Men or the more recent, low-budget hopelessness of Snow Angels - the seasoned moviegoer settles in for a long trek in a pickup truck, stopping only for depressed meals in dubious diners, trailer park sleepovers and a touch of concluding violence...
...hatred of recruiting originated at the Phoenix Club. Standing in knee-deep snow, I was attempting to explain how my hometown neighbor used to baby-sit the cousin of a former member. As I was told “no” for the fourth time that night, a group of water polo recruits struts in, no questions asked. I trundle back to Pennypacker, where my proctor is pouring my roommate’s alcohol down the sink...
...from Stewart O'Nan's novel, has navigated these slippery shoals before. Green's George Washington, made in 2000, when he was just 25, plunged deep into the inarticulate depths of preteen love; and his All the Right Girls brought the same meticulous, poetic attention on college-age kids. Snow Angels, though seemingly broader and more conventional, has the Green love of repeated behavioral detail. We see a woman run her fingers through her hair and, moments later, her son does the same; an estranged couple faces each other, edgily she with her hands folded, he with his hands...
...either a conversation that's sure to turn prickly or a long night of sullen introspection. They offer old doggerel - like Eleanor Roosevelt's "Yesterday is history, tomorrow's a mystery, today's a gift. That's why they call it the present" - as eternal wisdom. The men in Snow Angels have the appetites of the philanderers they see in movies but not the suave patter; a cheating husband in this town is unprepared for the inevitable lies or evasions he'll need when his wife finds out. When confronted with his indiscretions, Nate can only sputter, "Wh- why would...
...That's Green's gift: to show how people learn codes of affection and aggression from watching movies, but when they try to pull them off in crucial situations they come out awkward, embarrassed and futile. The threat of domestic tragedy looms over Snow Angels, suggesting some exotic blend of Peyton Place and Twin Peaks; but its triumph is in portraying folks who, no matter how often they flail and fail, keep reaching out for human connection...