The Snowman (Thomas Alfredson, 2017)

[therewillbeblus]

I know I'm the outlier in disliking Tinker Tailor, and having read and loved the book there's definitely some bias there, but the film seems very interested in themes rooted in blindness, confusion, and doubt specifically pertaining to spinning narratives of character motivation, and it both tries and fails to explore this in my opinion.

[JabbaTheSlut]

He’s making a correlation = causation mistake, isn’t he? Two good films have the same DP, a bad one doesn’t. Bingo, we know the cause! Nevermind that production problems resulted in a film that wasn’t even finished, it must all be down to the DP. Not the director, who organizes what’s being filmed; not the editor, the person who actually assembles the narrative; not the 20% of the story yet to be shot. The DP.

You idiot. I did not say that.

[knives]

[JabbaTheSlut]

That may be true in this case, but I do think that it’s fair to say that for Nolan the switch has caused a different visual style with lighting in particular changing as well as shot distance and amount of handheld used.

Yes, and if you look at Tinker Tailor and Let the right one in, the shots are very precise and set-ups per scene very economical. E.g. dolly tracking is used for dramatic purposes very sparingly and in precise moments. In comparison The Snowman is doing for example the horizontal slide tracking shot compulsively (among other crimes well pointed out in the youtube-autopsy linked a few posts ago).

Also Nolan, as you pointed out, his favourite telephoto lens, hand held, shoddy editing chaos of Pfister films is gone. The Hoytema films are geographically and spatially more coherent and clear.

But as pointed out, it's the director, DoP, editor, set designer, make-up, the script + every other department that makes the whole. And the director of course should have the vision of it. But. Could it possibly be that the vision of the DoP could also be of great importance?

[JabbaTheSlut]

Ahah.

[domino harvey]

He’s making a correlation = causation mistake, isn’t he? Two good films have the same DP, a bad one doesn’t. Bingo, we know the cause! Nevermind that production problems resulted in a film that wasn’t even finished, it must all be down to the DP. Not the director, who organizes what’s being filmed; not the editor, the person who actually assembles the narrative; not the 20% of the story yet to be shot. The DP.

You idiot. I did not say that.

Well, based solely on what you did just say, you’re gone, so

[therewillbeblus]

This bad movie is tearing us apart

[Mr Sausage]

Huh. After posting, I actually imagined him blowing his gasket at my post and getting banned. Don't know why. Must be psychic.

[therewillbeblus]

Or you made him do it with telekinesis, issuing total control- making you the DP of the forum.

[Monterey Jack]

This bad movie is tearing us apart

...Lisa!

[flyonthewall2983]

I read something random awhile back saying the Genesis song “Snowbound” from their 1978 album And Then There Were Three… basically gives the plot away.

[The Curious Sofa]

I was afraid that this film had pretty much ended Thomas Alfredson's career, but I read that he is currently shooting a remake of Séance on a Wet Afternoon. I don't remember the original that well, except that I found it rather mannered, but I'm curious to see what Alfredson will do with it.

[Mr Sausage]

Have you seen Kiyoshi Kurosawa's remake of it, Seance?

[The Curious Sofa]

Yes, I have, a long time ago, when I imported a Chinese DVD of it. He takes it into the supernatural as far as I remember but otherwise I don't remember much about it.

[therewillbeblus]

I didn't really like the Kurosawa but I love the original. It's got great performances, and is a strong study on deep-rooted relationship dynamics, mental illness, and grief, in addition to being a solid thriller

[The Curious Sofa]

I have to admit that Pulse is the only Kurosawa film that really resonated with me, and I have never connected with any of his other films (not even Cure). I got Seance soon after first watching Pulse.

[thirtyframesasecond]

I was afraid that this film had pretty much ended Thomas Alfredson's career, but I read that he is currently shooting a remake of Séance on a Wet Afternoon. I don't remember the original that well, except that I found it rather mannered, but I'm curious to see what Alfredson will do with it.

Funnily enough, its writer is the current holder of the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.

[Matt]

It's sad that Alfredson and team didn't return to the le Carré well after the critical and popular success of Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, and of course now it feels far too late to capitalize on that.

Wikipedia mentions some business about the rights and the estate and a pivot to TV as the impediments to a sequel. There has indeed been a run of le Carré adaptations on TV: Two seasons of "The Night Manager," "The Little Drummer Girl," as well as projects that seem to belong to le Carré's world like Oldman's "Slow Horses" as well as "The Americans." Maybe his work, dense as it is, really does suit the TV medium better.

The lure of big budget adaptations of Nordic crime novels was too strong back then, but The Snowman and Fincher's The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo quickly nailed that coffin shut.

[Ribs]

The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo was a big hit commercially and critically and winning multiple Oscars, and spawned a sequel. It’s success brought about movies like this, it definitely did not bring about this genre’s downfall.

[Mr Sausage]

My understanding is it was a modest success, but failed to meet expectations, so the other two films in the trilogy were cancelled.

That "sequel" was released seven years later and based off a novel not written by the original author.

[salad]

Working Title is apparently involved with the Netflix series called ‘Detective Hole’, that premieres next month. This series is supposed to be based on a Nesbø novel published prior to ‘The Snowman.’