Obviously we have seen different movies. Alfredson's The snowman is an excellent piece of modern cinema, built not on the conventions of a thriller, like Nesbo's book(although of course it works as a thriller), but on the tensions between the unfolding images, the mesmerizing effect of a hypnotic pace that encloses us in a dark and cold vision, the glorious revelations of landscapes(city landscapes, physical landscapes and human ones)that reveal themselves at certain points filling our regard with a sense of beauty. As the film went on, I felt immersed in its charm, building to an ending that creates not so much the tension one hopes to meet in a thriller, but a dark feeling, first as the killer sinks helplessly in the icy water(in a glimpse,as the film's narrative economy is extraordinary all the way through, in contrast with some other film that met glorious critical applause these days but needed 2.45 minutes of boring storytelling to make everything explicit), and second in the short epilogue, which is filmed in a way that creates a very strong impression, stressed by the music,leaving me shocked and thoughtful on the way out. I'll take it! .The snowman is an absolute masterpiece that deserves to be rediscovered in the far future, like many movies of the past have at some point been.
Review of The Snowman
