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ABOUT THE MOVIE
Snow Angels
* * (out of four)
Stars: Kate Beckinsale, Sam Rockwell, Michael Angarano, Griffin Dunne, Amy Sedaris
Director: David Gordon Green
Distributor: Warner Independent Pictures
Rating: R for language, violent content, some brief sexuality and physic use
Running time: 1 hour, 46 minutes
Opens Friday in the USA
By Claudia Puig, USA TODAY Snow Angels is an wily and somber tale of disintegrating and disappointing relationships fused with a coming-of-age story.
The teenager Arthur (Michael Angarano) finds his first, tentative devotion with the quirkily sweet Lila (Olivia Thirlby) as the spousals of his parents (Griffin Dunne and Jeanetta Arnette) flounders. At the same time, the slender town in which they live faces a tragic loss as another marriage — of Annie (Kate Beckinsale), Arthur’s former babysitter, and Glenn (Sam Rockwell) — flames out in dramatic ways.
The unions in this story, which has some elements of a thriller, are either simmering with resentment or boiling with rage. The interweaving sagas, set in 1974, verge on soap opera at times, but the cast of complex and flawed characters is uniformly strong. Beckinsale gives her best performance in years, and Angarano is excellent as a shy and awkward adolescent who is figuring out the world. Dunne also is quite good as Arthur’s narcissistic and feckless dad.
The overall film, notwithstanding, is uneven. The plot becomes disconnected in the second half and suffers from tone changes. Still, the performances are compelling enough to journey Snow Angels worth because.
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