Film Review: “Snowpiercer”

OUT OF 4

Director Bong Joon-ho (“The Host” and “Mother”) adapts a graphic French comic book titled LeTransperceneige into a visually brilliant sci-fi thriller that is Korean- made,  but uses the English language. It is an “indie” film must- see sensation which will only reach 353 screens in America and will depend on a VOD releasing strategy through Radius TWC.

The film is set in a near future world where an experiment to solve global warming has failed, plunging the Earth into a global deep- freeze,  killing off   all its inhabitants except for those on a high speed, self-contained bullet train that circumnavigates the world.

The one per-cent are up front in the luxury cars that include a nightclub, health spa and gourmet restaurant. The indigent populate the filthy, rolling tenements at the back of the train. Chris Evans of the tent pole “Captain America” franchise stars as the leader of a violent car-by car revolt as the belligerent have-nots try to improve their fate by pushing to the front of the train. In a philosophical sense the train is an allegory for the human condition.

Featuring a stellar cast, that will open doors internationally, which besides Evans, includes Octavia Spencer and Alison Pill to attract U.S. filmgoers,  and,  Tilda Swinton and John Hurt to insure the film’s art house credentials.

The director’s sensational mise en scene is complemented by Ondrej Nekvasil’s production design, Hong Kyung-pyo’s cinematography and Steve M. Choe’s masterful editing.

“Snowpiercer” deserves your attention as it reflects intelligently on our age of moral and social collapse with a wonderfully entertaining, life enhancing experience.

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