Clark Middleton, John Hurt, Luke Pasqualino, Octavia Spencer, Chris Evans
A shift in gears took place at the movies in South Florida this past Fourth of July weekend. The smashing post-apocalyptic thriller Snowpiercer pulled into the Miami Beach Cinematheque for an exclusive theatrical run in Miami, and a strange and beautiful thing happened: People unaccustomed to visiting an arthouse rubbed shoulders with regular patrons for a generous helping of dystopian thrills. For all the holdouts who refused to make the trek to South Beach, you are forgiven. Now that South Korean auteur Bong Joon-ho's English-language debut is out on DVD and Blu-ray in the U.S., however, there's no excuse to delay watching it in the comfort of your living room or on your laptop screen.
Snowpiercer claims that the road to mankind's demise was paved with good intentions. In order to combat the onset of global warming, an experiment involving a coolant gas and the Earth's atmosphere turns the planet into a gargantuan icicle, decimating most lifeforms on the surface. Seventeen years later, the survivors find themselves circumnavigating the world aboard the titular locomotive, a marvel of engineering that also serves as a nifty microcosm of humanity.
In the front are the one-percenters, creatures of privilege that don't much mind that their extravagant lifestyle, while confined to a (rather improbably) roomy set of train cars, comes at the expense of the less disadvantaged souls trudging on in squalor in the rear. Not surprisingly, a revolt is in the works, spearheaded by Curtis (Chris Evans, sporting the kind of scruff Captain America would frown upon) and masterminded by frail, peg-legged Gilliam (John Hurt), Dumbledore to his hunky protégé's Harry Potter. (Gilliam's name alone should tip you off as to one of the biggest creative influences here.)
Whether or not this revolution has a shot at succeeding depends on whether or not Curtis, second-hand-man/bestie Edgar (Jamie Bell) and the rest of their motley crew can take advantage of a weakness in the armed forces' security measures. What sucks you right into the airtight dystopian universe that Bong (Memories of Murder, Mother) has rendered on screen from the French graphic novel “Le Transperceneige” is the attention to the nuts and bolts of his metallic social allegory. The South Korean director's attention to framing, the lived-in staging of the working-class masses' quarters, makes you feel like you're right on board with this tenacious band of rebels.
Rather than just giving viewers an instant payoff, Bong takes the time to establish the film's rigid hierarchical structure, so by the time Curtis and company go through with their plans, that rush you feel is not just from the expertly staged action sequences, but the satisfaction of a narrative in which all its elements flow together like a well-oiled machine. It becomes clear, once the rebels begin to confront mortal, seemingly insurmountable obstacles, that we're in the hands of a master storyteller and a peerless craftsman. Fans of Brazil will doubtlessly approve of the hissable antics of Minister Mason, a rotten-to-the-core bureaucrat played by an exquisitely annoying Tilda Swinton. Devotees of South Korean cinema will be overjoyed to see the versatile Song Kang-ho (The Good, the Bad, the Weird) as a drug-addicted engineer who can literally open doors for the rebels.
Just when you think you know what's going to happen next in Snowpiercer, Bong and co-screenwriter Kelly Masterson throw you a curveball. None of the characters are immune in this ruthlessly Darwinian environment, and part of taking this perilous journey along with them is experiencing the pain of loss, which is intricately interweaved with quiet moments of wonder. The filmmakers have given a distinct personality to every car that separates Curtis from taking control of the engine at the very front, be it a serene greenhouse or a happily fascistic classroom.
Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Ewen Bremner, Ko Ah-sung, Octavia Spencer
It will come as no surprise to Bong fans that Snowpiercer is an aesthetically vibrant work. Some of the carefully composed shots give the impression of a comic book's panels coming to life. What truly bowled me over was the way the first-rate cast handles the film's cumulative metaphorical weight. Evans, in particular, displays a heretofore unseen level of nuance that should silence his naysayers.
Nit-pickers may question the plausibility of some of this train's features, and yes, the social satire, with strong echoes of Alan Moore and Jonathan Swift, is occasionally heavy-handed. The bottom line, however, is that Snowpiercer delivers the kind of heady, politically astute genre thrills that have become all too rare in studio films. It's eccentric without being overbearing, and when it's over, you're not left feeling pummeled into submission like that other sci-fi film that came out in time for Independence Day, but eager to discuss its thematic and stylistic flourishes with your circle of friends and fellow movie buffs. The ideal summer spectacle for grown-ups, one of the best films of the year, is now a must-own addition to your video library.
The reason why Snowpiercer, which is every bit as commercially viable to a mass audience as it sounds, did not play at a multiplex near you is a depressing story of behind-the-scenes headbutting between artist (Bong) and studio head (Harvey Weinstein) which, as far as I'm concerned, ended in a self-inflicted gunshot wound that deprived an audience that would have welcomed the film with open arms from being able to see it.
Thankfully, that obstacle is no longer in place. So what are you waiting for?
