Snowman's Land

This "thriller" has a wandering yet fittingly weird plot, but the film sets the role of acting (and the lines actors are given to work with) into unusually high relief. A laconic loser whose expression almost never changes (with perfectly greasy hair) is coupled with a younger, fun-loving guy very much NOT of the overdone stoner-dude type that populates so many American movies. It takes a lot to worry this childlike "man," and the actor is possessed of a sweet, rubbery face of infinite expressiveness that makes the story a true joy to watch. For example, the transformations that flicker across his increasingly lustful countenance as a hot babe talks about sex are a wonder -- this is method acting at its most delightful. He's got a metal plate in his head that makes it bullet-resistant, which could have been cartoonish, but is somehow just right for his character. He's a 33-year-old (my guess) who never left junior high. His companion pulls his weight in the other direction with his world-weary ennui (not to mention boredom, anxiety and flickers of intelligence and terror). It's weirdly fun to watch an occasionally very suspenseful movie carried along by two such un-German Germans (to those familiar with Germans as they're usually portrayed). I was very entertained by this film.

Snowman's Land is a superb exercise in suspense. While the story is character driven and remains absurdly plausible until the end, Snowman's Land is in no way predictable. Walter, a sub-par hit man, is summoned to a remote mountain lodge to work for a crime boss who had disappeared from the scene several years before. Walter's colleague and fellow hit man turns out to be an old acquaintance, Mickey, who has his own history of botched jobs and brushes with death. The action is a sustained, deliberate adrenaline rush that eschews the cut-happy editing blitz of most dark comedies about the criminal underworld. Snowman's Land makes full use of the ecosystem at hand and it seems like the celluloid itself is covered in a fresh dusting of snow.

I saw 'Snowman's Land' at La Mostra Valencia film festival in 2010 and was struck by the black humour of the film, the atmospheric imagery, the quirky soundtrack and the tight plotting. Great acting by the anti-hero too! The film is mostly set in an mysterious and dangerous location (a forest in winter) hundreds of miles east of Germany. This isolated and haunted place creates an on-going tension, enhances the plot and emphasizes the struggle of the characters who have to use their wits to survive each day. A memorable, dark and entertaining film. I look forward to seeing more from this director in the future.

Will McCarthy

In the dark realm of comedic exposition, films come and go. Location is always a factor. Dark and cold tend to coexist as partners in a loop.(Think Fargo) And this film displays both the dark, in humor, and the cold within the setting.

The emotional setting is clearly set in opening pieces to amusing extent. The acting and character development support this quite well.

Soooooo.....

Our aging, anti-hero,(a hit man) kills the wrong guy, in a botched job, and ruins his own dwindling reputation as a killer to the effect that he has been put to pasture. A former colleague offers him a job baby-sitting a former client that had been reported as dead. "Former" is an operative term here.

Our guy accepts the job, stoically, and goes forth into the dark unknown of the wintered Carpathian mountains in Eastern Europe to fatefully encounter yet another former colleague whose wits seem at odds with his lack of...well...wit.

They soon learn that all is not well in this frigid paradise, as a wonderfully cliché, gangster, bitch shows up and happens to enjoy being the clients toy. She has her own agenda and somehow becomes dead while our heroes are present. Sorry, no spoilers. That's the premise.

Dark comedy ensues as loyalties consume all to twisted ends. The acting is quite good and direction is directed upon a cast and film crew that know their setting. Scripting seems fairly tight and is carried forth by the basic pivot of the whores death...Although, I feel this plot device may have been developed more in the intro to the setting. But then, she was caprice in a shell.

All in all, a great romp and the dialog was well suited to the characters and situations. Only a European crew could do this the way it was done. I highly recommend this film to any fan of dark comedy, especially those with a mood for snow and ice, haha.

Snowman's Land is about a couple of hit men who are sent to a remote snow-bound house to fulfil an unspecified mission. While there they accidentally kill a crime-lord's wife and shortly after this, things begin to spiral out of control.

This German crime film is essentially character driven. There are a number of quirky personalities who populate the narrative. And some humour is certainly derived from the interactions between these people. Most of the strength of the film comes from this, as the storyline is basically quite weak. The plot-line is extremely loose, where things happen and twists in the story occur with very little overall purpose. The interaction between the femme fatale and the hit men, for example, has the potential to lead the story into interesting territory but it never unfortunately really happens. Instead, her accidental murder more or less becomes an irrelevance and the story moves on into a less interesting direction. Generally speaking, the focus of the movie is very much more on deriving humour rather than thrills from the crime story framework.

Snowman's Land is by no means a poor film; it's just one that could have been so much more. While it is funny and inventive at times, it is also a bit too unfocused for its own good too. Worth checking out if you like quirky crime comedies though.