bjornet

Probably a majority of the Swedish population has seen this true classic about skiing vacations in The Alps. The plot might be silly, but the movie remains splendid. Lasse Åberg manages to capture the feeling of a typical skiing vacation, with a lot of humor. Those of us who have been on a skiing vacation in Austria, can probably identify themselves with the atmosphere captured in "Sällskapsresan II, Snowroller". It might not be a masterpiece, but it remains a true classic.

Björne is a very happy and laid-back bear, who lives in an abandoned warehouse with his friends Hugo ( a dog made out of wood) and Snigel (a snail made of wool ). Björne has stayed in his warehouse for more than a decade, with Swedish TV celebrities visiting him during the shows. "Björnes Magasin" is not only a popular children's program, it is also a cult classic for teenagers and young adults, who grew up with the friendly but naive bear.

Björne and his visitors always come up with things to do, but Björne is an extremely bad looser and very clumsy. Therefore, Björne usually wants to watch a short-film or eat ginger-bread instead. Isn't it wonderful?

Snow Falling on Cedars is, unfortunately, not very interesting. Read the book by David Guterson instead. I know that this sort of comment is of the most irritating kind. It is really hard to adopt quality novels for the screen, but unlike for example "The Cider House Rules", the result in this case is almost an insult on the original work.

Director Scott Hicks seems desperate in trying to follow the original work in as much detail as possible. The result is both confusing an rather uninteresting, with little left of the tension and well-written dialogue of the novel.

In trying to capture the beautifully described feelings of the book: love, guilt, anger and depression, the result in the film is only a gloomy and dull picture that never captures the viewer.

Additionally, Ethan Hawke is surprisingly pale in his lead role. However, Max von Sydow is excellent as always in his role as lawyer Nels Gudmundsson.

I hate to say it, but if you have read the book and liked it: don't see this film. You will only be disappointed. If you haven't read the book and want to see just another American drama movie, you might appreciate Snow Falling on Cedars.