On Saturday night we attended the Brooklyn BAM “Sundance Institute” premiere of “Snow Angels,” David Gordon Green‘s follow-up to his 2004 film, “Undertow.”
Undertow’s disparate tones (part “Goonies,” part “Deliverance,” part Robinson Crusoe meets “Apocalypse Now”) were polarizing to many and the film pretty much came and went without much fanfare, but we’re happy to report that “Snow Angels” is a return to form.
An honest, and often brutal, examination of collapsing relationships, the story was adapted by Green from Stewart O’Nan’s 1993 novel. In the post-screening Q&A Green noted that ‘Angels’ was his first writing pay gig and the script was originally intended for another director (he didn’t say who), but eventually he took over the project.
A modest, scaled-back small town drama, Green’s vision was straightforward this time. Gone were the lingering, atmospheric moments and in fact, Green alluded to this after the film, noting he enjoyed screen adaptations, because without a narrative in place, he tends to wander.
Stylistically, it’s the most conservative Green has ever been with a staid, subtle and graceful tone through out. The actors do much of the emotional heavy-lifting, but there are some understated glimpses of the beautiful cinematography by longtime-collaborator Tim Orr. For a movie that’s pretty bleak and tragic, it’s also certainly his most humorous and it does an incredible balancing act of imbuing characters with humanity via a sense of comedic relief in the middle of heavy, unsettling scenes.
Also present during the film were “Snow Angels” actors Sam Rockwell and relative newcomer Olivia Thirlby, (the cast is rounded out by Kate Beckinsale, Michael Angarano and Griffin Dunne) plus friends and supporters, a hobbling Cinqué Lee, and Piper Perabo (who if you want to get all US Weekly about it, appears to be dating Rockwell).
Green has a knack for curating ambient, ethereal music and ‘Angels’ was no different with a gorgeous and haunting score. Utilizing longtime collaborator David Wingo (of Ola Podrida) and his new music partner, IDM artist Lusine (aka Jeff McIlwain), their understated score continues Green’s plaintive and simple beautiful acoustics augmented by subtle electronic twinkling and ambient washes (it appears former collaborator Michael Linnen is out of the picture for now?) A Wingo/McIlwain track is on the latter’s myspace page (it’s unclear if this is a song from the film or an unreleased collab).
The film featured songs by Bread, Mono, the Godspeed You! Black Emperor offshoot, A Silver Mt. Zion and Explosions in the Sky (whose song, “What Happens After,” was the only track written originally for the film – thanks Wingo for that little chesnut of info). Dub Electronic artist Shane Hartman (aka Uno Dose) contributes four songs to the film and the track, “New Orleans Slaughterhouse” can be heard on his myspace page.
The entire list of songs is here on Stewart O’Nan’s website (which also includes Peter Gabriel’s “Sledgehammer” and a track by ‘8os hair-metal act, Harem Scarem).
[Speaking of interesting google finds, remember Bust-Ass (Danny McBride) from “All The Real Girls”? His myspace page is here (he apparently has a role in “The Pineapple Express” as well).]
While ‘Angels’ come out until spring 2008, I think fans who he lost after “Undertow,” will return to the fold. Next up: a shot at comedy greatness. Green has joined the Judd Apatow buddy comedy/world domination crew and just finished filming, “The Pineapple Express,” with Knocked-Up”s Seth Rogen and Spider Man’s James Franco (I swear I’ve written that about 10 times on this blog). It looks like he’ll have two films out in ’08 as ‘Pineapple’ just got scheduled for next summer.
After that, he is signed on to write and direct, of all things, a John Grisham nonfiction book, “The Innocent Man: Murder and Injustice in a Small Town” for George Clooney’s “Smoke House” production company.
The mostly forgettable Q&A (lame questions people) had few highlights; Green’s desire to cast those with an innate comic capability and the story of Kate Beckinsale’s unexpectedly funny fart jokes were two memorable parts. Rockwell noted that he had done some born-again research for his character and both he and Thirlby emphasized the inviting improvisation as their favorite part of shooting the film.
I think Emile Hirsch has moved-on from the fraternity hazing film, “Goat,” that Green was working on, but we’d love to see that one come to fruition (although according to a rumor posted on the IMDB board just yesterday, a “positive” announcement regarding the film is expected to be made soon. Here’s hoping).
You can see some commercials that Green has made (Truth.org and Anti-Drug Media campaigns – the spots incidentally were recognized by adcritic.com and Boards Magazine as top spots to watch.) here.
*Update* We finally uploaded the Silver Mt.Zion song used in the film.
Download: Mono – “Thousand Paper Cranes”
Download: Explosion In the Sky – “First Breath After Coma”
Download: A Silver Mt. Zion – “This Gentle Hearts Like Shot Birds Fallen”
After all this we would be remiss if we did not mention our “If I Were David Gordon Green” soundtrack playlist.