Director: Marc Evans. Editor: Mags Arnold
Main Casts: Alan Rickman, Sigourney Weaver, Carrie-Ann Moss
Watched: 2nd July 2007
Cinema: GSC, 1 Utama (14:A7)
What do these people have in common – plumber, handyman, barber, cobbler, product technicians, and mechanic? I’d say, one of their most important roles is to fix things for us. When something breaks down, we send them for repair, when our hair gets kinda frizzy, we get the barber to straighten things up a little bit. To us, the idea of making things ‘alright’ again, is almost natural; why, if there’s a problem, get something done right away! Make it work again!
Obviously, it’s easy to tell when machines or mechanisms are not functioning normally. So it is with people. We know when to call a person a cuckoo, and when to send them to halfway houses. Why, if they can’t work normally as we do, send them away – fix them; psychologist, psychiatrist, whoever you are! Make them become ‘normal’ again!
I’m telling you, these coo-coo guys are having major depression, delirium, autism, attention deficit, bipolar personality disorder, schizophrenia… etc
In our rush to send them to the asylum, diagnose and ‘treat’ them, why didn’t we have time to think for a second, Why is this person called ‘crazy’ instead me? Who said that behaving like this means being ‘crazy’? Who defines ‘craziness’? Is being productive and socially acceptable, the only measure for ‘normality’?
Without knowing questions like this were to come at me, I settled comfortably at the last row of the movie box, unexpectingly wait, as the line-up of tens and twenty advertisements made their appearance.
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Alex Hughes stops for a coffee at a rest house, mid-way through his journey to Winnipeg. Seeing the shop was fully occupied, a girl comes to sit with him, and started asking him questions after questions, to which he impatiently grunted brief answers.
“Excuse me, but I’m not the ‘chatty’ type, would you please leave me alone?” he remarked, trying very hard not to sound rude, at Vivienne’s persistent attempt to strike a conversation with him.
“Do you know why I chose to sit here instead of other places?” She asked.
“That’s because you’re the one here that needs most to talk”
With a cheeky grin, “also because I need a ride home to Wawa, Ontario.”
Vivienne as a character plays more than just a 19-year old teenage girl. Alex somehow relents to her request, and the duo, cruising on the highway, begin touting each other’s good company, or the lack of it; Alex, in the latter case guards his scanty responses stringently, as if to take precaution lest he gets involved in the conversation too much.
With much congenial questions and remarks, and sometimes respectful silence from Vivienne’s part, The muscles on Alex’s face slowly soften to humour.
Alex drives out of a convenient store after Vivienne had bought some gifts for her mother. The pair starts their round of lighthearted smiles, jokes and comments. He couldn’t help but notice her child-looking admiration on the seemingly precious light sparkling rubber balls. Her joy seemed to capture something in his eyes, he needed to resume his gaze on the road, he thought to himself; darting his sight to the far right to check for oncoming cars, his eyes met a blinding stream of spot light, paralyzing the two unthinking traveler, unable to even squint; The 40-tonne lorry shoves into their puny truck together with its unstoppable force, the truck sinks helplessly into the air beside it, its metal beams crumples and caves in unquestionably. The insensitive jolt heaves the truck off the ground spinning a few rounds before smacking to halt against a roadside snow pile.
Vivienne died an instant death. Alex escapes with barely a few scratches.
• • • • •
Such was the introduction of Vivienne. Throughout the story, she qualifies as a ‘phantom character’. It’s interesting that she holds that much presence in the story despite not being on screen in person after the brief but substantial introduction. She could represent a perspective, a point of view, giving sufficient contrast to edge out other viewpoints of the living.
This story, is really a story about relationships, a very special one too. What happens when you have to live with an autistic person? And what happens when you too, have immense baggage to deal with at the same time?
Alex obliges himself to visit Vivienne’s mother, to apologize and return her the gift from her daughter. Nothing prepared him for his meeting with Linda when she allowed him into her house. She gleams with delightfulness of a child, excited to dance, when she held her sparkling gift to admire the pulsing lights. Apart from her present, all she seems to care about was that Alex’s shoes to be in perfect line with the others, him to not intrude her kitchen, to not dirty her floor, and to dry his drenched clothes. His thoughts unconvincing, his sight confusing, his feet stall, in search of explanation, as to why Linda seems indifferent to her daughter’s death, and even courteous to the driver who gave her a lift!
The life of their friendship started, when Linda requested him to stay until the waste truck comes to collect her garbage since she couldn’t bear even the slightest poke of anything considered dirty. The opportunity came longer, Alex felt responsible also to help her organize her daughter’s funeral, so he will stay a week longer.
"Vivienne did all the boring stuff, she carries out the garbage"
- - - - - § - - - - -
Private and Confidential
Director Marc Evans and Editor Mags Arnold handle the tension between Linda and Alex very well. Linda utters her thoughts, judgments and requests unrestrained, often too straight for the well-mannered, and linguistically groomed British; creating an unspeakable reserve of energy for Alex to regain confidence in making new relationships and to disclose personal history.
His comfort came instead from Linda’s neighbour, Maggie; a divorcee, not bashful to quickly develop sexual relationships with Alex. In whom he found safety to discuss about his stay with Linda, his life in very, very common terms., his feelings, eventually, his past...
Concerning Differences
The story takes great care to say its message. Many delicate scenes are woven carefully together, unrushed, allowing us a good view of the 4 characters. Its love for details helps us to understand and empathize for each viewpoint, making it a very ‘humane’ film.
It comes with a call, for humanity, too.
A call, in the midst of weirdity, strangerous, oddsome, wackerion mad-oeism, to accept, to embrace; putting down our rigid conception of the world for a moment and allow other people’s meanings to take us for a ride.
It’s an ambitious call too. It calls not for reckless, unthinking acceptance in the abstract, but a bold love, a risky attempt, to go near someone, to offer our interest to someone, our gentle presence into their life despite their bizarre attitudes, queer behaviors, and unreasonable rejections.
"I'd like you to put your arms around me and squeeze me really hard, but don't touch me with your hands."
There were many opportunities for us to pick this up along the movie, many scenes but one hammers this ambitious vision into my guilty heart.
After Vivienne’s funeral, it apparently was Wawa town’s custom to have their guests over at their home for a tea after such ceremony. So was this. Already very vexed by the many guests hovering about her small living room, seemingly doing nothing but converse about anything that comes to mind, Linda bursts out, as if to state her ownership of her ‘territory’. She turns on her music player, loud enough to discontinue everybody’s conversation.
She dances, and my, she dances like an enthralled child. She took the centre of the living room, and jumps and swings and waves at the musical trot. Her guests blush in silent aghast, some tried to stop her from her ‘completely inappropriate’ behavior for a solemn funeral. They judge that she should be grieving and crying ‘normally’. Linda’s mother came forward and stomps at her guests, insisting that Linda dances to her own delight.
Oh, what a scene, what a drama that disturbed Linda not a trivial bit. In her entranced mind, she remembers her daughter, yes; she remembers how very interesting she was. How Vivienne could understand her joy of spontaneous dancing, how she could share her thrill as they danced together, no trace of contempt on Vivienne’s face, but a similar abandonment to play with her mother; smiling enormously with loving admiration for each other. Though she doesn’t grieve like the commons, she remembers her, she misses her.
"I know, I’ll make a snowman whenever I miss Vivienne"
Character As a Frame of Mind
The notion that a character represents a frame of mind, merely a particular perspective in a situation, is not new, probably not even interesting at all to know the fact, though this idea is not readily apparent to the common audience. The approach in Snow Cake exemplifies this idea very well, rendering Vivienne, an almost non-existent character, to take on such a substantial presence on screen. Despite being invisible, glimpses of her viewpoint frequently resides in other character’s conversations; her opinion sort of hovers above the storyline, subtly hinting the resolution, her statement; giving us a kind of pre-judgment to the texture of the film.
• • • • •
'Dazlious'
Snow Cake also surprised me with a quaint little scene, where Linda and Alex play Scrabble against each other. Their rules very much resembles Facebook's version of Scrabulous; each player make up words of their own, even if it's non-existent in the dictionary. This little exchange playfully teases the linguistic conservationist, and puts us in awe of Linda's creativity. The scene is worth a posting:
'Dazlious'
Snow Cake also surprised me with a quaint little scene, where Linda and Alex play Scrabble against each other. Their rules very much resembles Facebook's version of Scrabulous; each player make up words of their own, even if it's non-existent in the dictionary. This little exchange playfully teases the linguistic conservationist, and puts us in awe of Linda's creativity. The scene is worth a posting:
- - - - - § - - - - -
Sharon Chong, published 16th July, 2007
GSC, 1 utama
:o)
Sharon Chong, published 16th July, 2007
GSC, 1 utama
:o)
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