The portents were dire. I rose to find the cat had been violently ill into the laundry basket. Unpleasant, but still more appealing than nachos served at the hideous multiplex, and certainly more fragrant than their popcorn.
I was assigned a film by the name of the Snowman, and agree to offer critique on the proviso that if anyone starts singing ‘I’m walking in the air,’ I will leave and never speak of it again. I am not indifferent to the charms of Mr Briggs’ most famous work but I will not tolerate festive bonhomie in October.
Following the usual nonsense claiming that the purchase of a mobile phone will be the gateway to a lifetime of hand-gliding, snowboarding, and sex with attractive young people the film begins, and it is my duty to report to you that it is a masterpiece.
A staggering and emotionally powerful piece about building snowmen in the wake of huge societal hostility.
Michael Fassbender plays a broken bureaucrat determined to prevent an anonymous hero building snowmen throughout Oslo in a sort of tragic homage to the insight and wit of the likes of Moore and Giacometti
The entire piece is a profound allegory of the State, as represented by Fassbender, viewing joy, the snowmen, as inherently disruptive, and crushing the joy as Fassbender moves to ensnare the snowman builder.
So profound is the message inherent in the film that I expect the building of snowmen to become a new means of descent in authoritarian regimes, and I certainly wouldn’t be surprised if the snowmen become an instrument of social change.
I am moved to the core.
There is also something about a murder, but that is best ignored.
Screen Idle star rating
***** even though I believe star ratings are inherently reductive.
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