This Review Reveals Minor Details About the Plot.
Snowed In
Plot Overview
In a kind of reverse nativity scene,
there is no room in family festivities for elites: Teddy Kountze (Brady
Hepner), Jason Smith (Michael Provost), and Angus Tully (Dominic Sessa)
upper-class wealthy WASP students, so they must remain at Barton
Academy during Christmas break along with Alex Ollerman (Ian Dolley)
a younger Mormon student whose parents are on a mission in South America
and Ye-Joon Park (Jim Kaplan) from South Korea too far away to go
home to. These “philistines” will be supervised by grumpy
old professor Paul Hunman (Paul Giamatti.) The head cook remaining
is a negress—in 1970 they could be called that—Mary Lamb
(Da'Vine Joy Randolph) and the black janitor Danny (Naheem Garcia.)
One of their
rich dads treats whoever wants to a ski trip leaving behind only
Angus a bright kid but a troublemaker. His mother didn't want
him on her delayed honeymoon with her new husband, or maybe she
just didn't want him around. The professor's erstwhile promising
career had got derailed and now he has devoted himself to small
time academia, also realizing he doesn't have the body ladies like.
The uppity cook took her job so her son could get an education there,
but she couldn't afford college for him, so he was called up in the
draft but was killed before he got out and could cash in on the GI
Bill. She's still distraught. Only the janitor seems happy and content.
Under the weight
of responsibility given the Professor (“I find the world a
bitter and complicated place”) and the attendant repercussions for
failure (“And it seems to feel the same way about me”), the
shadow of the draft should the soon-to-be military-age chump lose his
student deferment, and the poverty & prejudice facing the blacks, they
manage to enjoy a party given by administrative assistant Lydia Crane
(Carrie Preston,) a Christmas dinner cooked by Mary, and a school-sanctioned
field trip led by the professor. The new year will bring trouble enough.
Ideology
Serious conflict will arise between Angus & his (step-)folk(s)
and between the professor & the headmaster Dr. Hardy Woodrup (Andrew Garman) along
the lines of, (Prov. 30:33)
“Surely the churning of milk bringeth forth butter, and the
wringing of the nose bringeth forth blood: so the forcing of wrath
bringeth forth strife.” The idea in the proverb is that a state of peace and
conciliation can change to one of conflict just as a liquid (milk)
can change to solid (butter) through constant agitation (churning.)
Or hit a critical area (nose) and it bleeds. This principle is illustrated
in the movie when stirring some brandy into a concoction of ice cream
& cherries and then lighting it on fire changes the intoxicating
liquid into an evaporated gas allowing an underage boy to enjoy
some cherries jubilee. And flipping a snow globe makes it snow.
In the first instance Prof. Hunman has been a continual irritation to students, faculty and staff over the years and he finally reaches their limit of toleration. In the second instance Angus on the field trip manipulates his way into seeing his institutionalized father Thomas Tully (Stephen Thorne) and violates one of their firm rules, which must be reported.
Production Values
“” (2023) was directed by
Alexander Payne. It was written by David Hemingson. It stars Paul Giamatti,
Da'Vine Joy Randolph and Dominic Sessa who gave excellent performances.
Carrie Preston was good as an off duty breath of fresh air.
MPAA rated it R for language, some drug use and brief sexual material. It was nicely paced unveiling as it went along the personal histories of its protagonists. Theirs was a contemplative Christmas. Runtime is 2 hours 13 minutes.
Review Conclusion w/a Christian's Recommendation
It starts with a gospel quotation and holds with the theme of Christmas without being overtly religious. The characters' individual stories arouse our sympathies coming from different directions. It would be a good movie to watch sitting by the fire.
Movie Ratings
Action Factor: Weak action scenes. Suitability For Children: Not Suitable for Children of Any Age. Special effects: Average special effects. Video Occasion: Good for a Rainy Day. Suspense: A few suspenseful moments. Overall movie rating: Four stars out of five.
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