Smilla's Sense of Snow (1997)

Leaving aside Asian Movies, The character of Smilla is probably the best heroine I've seen since Genieve Bujold in Coma. Julia Ormond is terrific. but much as I hate to admit it, if I think about it, now after watching the movie, Gabriel Byrne's performance is rather flat. There are brief, but welcome appearances from Peter Capaldi and David Hayman. The story itself becomes rather formulaic once she gets on board that ship, but up to then I found this to be an intiguing thriller. I also liked the character of the ship captain's son. I probably should really only give this a 7, but let's say, barely an 8, and most of that is really for Smilla

I have watched this movie without having read the book, and I expected something different, more exploring of the Inuit people of Greenland and their story. All of this is only casually spoken of in the movie. It's in the story and in Smilla's words (by the way, this British Smilla isn't really believable as a half Inuit woman). At the end the movie *is* convincing. Maybe a little less culturally involved compared to what I was expecting. It's a nice European action movie with a glimpse of Greenland and her sad story. The ending is often criticized as scarcely believable, but it's OK. I have seen worse, and so have you if you have ever seen any Hollywood action blockbuster. Julia Ormond is good even if I wouldn't believe she has Greenlandic native blood. Richard Harris is perfect as the bad guy.

Smilla's Sense Of Snow is a fascinating snowbound thriller that you never think will end up in the places it does, based on how we enter the story. It begins with a striking, enigmatic prologue set I the north. An Inuit ice fisher witnesses a massive meteor descend upon the tundra, and races to escape with his sled and dogs. Flash to Copenhagen, where we meet moody, emotionally challenged Smilla, played by Julia Ormond in a career best for the actress, showing an icily inaccessible protagonist, clearly damaged by an unconventional childhood, who slowly melts into a warmer person through the bond she forms with a young Inuit boy, son of a drunken, neglectful mother. When the boy is found dead in an apparent suicide, Smilla refuses to accept the prognosis and feverishly hunts for clues as to what might have really happened. She's led, along with the plot, to some outcomes so unexpected and outlandish that at times we feel like we're in a pseudo Bond film, as the intimate, personal first act gives way to some fantastical, somewhat far fetched elements which I won't spoil here. This was a deal breaker for a lot of critics and confused many viewers, which could have contributed to the film's lack of success, but I find these aspects interesting, adding to the film's refusal to play by generic narrative rules and yearning to take us somewhere we truly couldn't guess. Others are drawn into the intrigue, including mysterious Gabriel Byrne as a mechanic who is more than he seems, Bob 'clever girl' Peck as a prying government operative, Tom Wilkinson aRobert an amoral researcher, Loggia as Smilla's debonair father, Jim Broadbent as a suspicious doctor, Peter Capaldi, and Richard 'Dumbledore Harris' as a shady scientific prick. It can all seem like a muddle for some people, and indeed many pan it for being too odd and unpredictable. I love it though. Ormond has never been better, we feel her pain of losing the child right when he was the only thing in her life that brought forth warmth from her, in an otherwise chilly persona. That emotion is a steady beacon of guiding light for us to grasp onto in a story that's filled with all too many icy, unfeeling aspects. A winner for me, there's nothing quite like it.

Smilla Jaspersen (Julia Ormond) is a loner living in Copenhagen who befriends a young Inuit boy from Greenland. He's unwanted and one day he falls off the roof of their apartment to his death. Nobody cares except Smilla. Only her sense of snow convinces her that he was murdered. Her investigation dives deeper and deeper into intrigue and danger.This has great atmosphere. I absolutely love the desolate tone of the snowy north and of Smilla's life. Julia Ormond really personify the iciness of this world. It's moodiness really pushing the story into a great mystery. But it does get into unrealistic territory. It's not so much a mystery rather as an action adventure. The ending in the ice really made the whole thing too outlandish. The mood of the earlier parts are lost.