SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS

SNOW FALLING ON CEDARS

Directed by Scott Hicks. Starring Ethan Hawke, Max von Sydow, Sam Shephard

SO SUBTLE and slow-moving it often grinds down to the point of catatonia, Snow Falling On Cedars is reasonably well-crafted in its own right - but you might need a few bagfuls of crack to stay awake for its entire duration, so laboured and oppressively monotonous is its pace and atmosphere. My eyelids had to fight a two-hour battle of epic proportions, and I don't believe I was the only one.

Directed by Scott Hicks (whose previous work, Shine, bagged Oscars by the bucketload), the film is an adaptation of the bestselling David Guterson novel, and is so relentlessly sombre you feel obliged to hang your head.

It's a love story of sorts, set just after World War Two, with Ethan Hawke in fairly restrained form as an armless reporter who is forced into battle with his conscience when Japanese-Yank Hatsue (Rick Yune), the victim of America's post-WWII mistrust of all things yellow, gets put on trial for murder. The situation's complicated further by the fact that they're rivals in love, and a courtroom drama proceeds to unfold at something well short of breakneck pace, while frequent flashbacks fill in the gaps.

As admirable as the film's attention to detail is, the thing simply cries out for a car chase or bar-room brawl. None of the actors disgrace themselves, admittedly - Hawke emits a convincing melancholia, and Max von Sydow's turn as a defence lawyer provides what little flashes of life the film has to offer.

Too stately, imposing and dramatically detailed to be dismissed as mere Hollywood fluff, Snow Falling On Cedars does beg a certain level of respect - but in terms of out-and-out entertainment, it's approximately as exciting as reading a cornflake packet.

Strictly for hardline fans of the novel.