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The Snowman(2017 film)

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The Snowman
In child-like handwriting is scribed "MISTER POLICE YOU COULD HAVE SAVED HER I GAVE YOU ALL THE CLUES" above a doodle of a snowman.
Theatrical release poster
Directed byTomas Alfredson
Screenplay by
Based onThe Snowman
byJo Nesbø
Produced by
Starring
CinematographyDion Beebe
Edited by
Music byMarco Beltrami
Production
company
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release dates
  • 7 October 2017(2017-10-07)(Haifa)
  • 14 October 2017(2017-10-14)(United Kingdom and Sweden)
  • 20 October 2017(2017-10-20)(United States)
Running time
119 minutes[1]
CountryUnited Kingdom
LanguageEnglish
Budget$35 million[1]
Box office$43.1 million[1]

The Snowmanis a 2017 British[2]psychological thrillerfilm directed byTomas Alfredsonand written byPeter Straughan,Hossein Amini,and Søren Sveistrup. The story is based on the 2007 novelof the same namebyJo Nesbø.The film starsMichael Fassbender,Rebecca Ferguson,Charlotte Gainsbourg,Val Kilmer,andJ. K. Simmons,and follows inspectorHarry Holeas he tracks aserial killerwho builds snowmen at his crime scenes.Principal photographybegan on 18 January 2016 inNorway,before moving toLondonandSweden.

The Snowmanpremiered on 7 October 2017 at theHaifa International Film Festival,and was theatrically released on 14 October 2017 in the United Kingdom and Sweden, and on 20 October 2017 in the United States byUniversal Pictures.The film grossed $43 million worldwide against a $35 million budget, and it was widely panned by critics, who called it "clichéd and uninvolving."[3][4]Alfredson later attributed many of the film's problems to the film's rushed production schedule.

Plot

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At a remote cabin, a boy and his mother, Sarah, are visited by his abusive biological father, a police officer named Jonas. Jonas strikes and sexually assaults Sarah, who threatens to tell Jonas's wife about their illegitimate son. Jonas leaves and Sarah follows in her car with her son. During the chase, she drifts into a catatonic state, letting go of the steering wheel. The boy escapes as the car crashes into a lake. Despite his pleading, his mother remains seated and sinks.

Years later,Harry Holeis an inspector with theNorwegian Police Service'sOslodistrict. He struggles with alcoholism and a recent break-up with Rakel, mother of a boy named Oleg whom Harry loves like a son. After receiving a mysterious letter signed with a childlike drawing of a snowman, Harry meets new recruit Katrine Bratt and accompanies her investigation into the disappearance of Birte Becker, a woman with a husband and daughter. The two find a snowman at Becker's home.

Harry realizes Katrine has taken police files without permission. He learns she's looking for a link between several missing persons cases and another case, from nine years before, that was investigated by an alcoholic inspector named Gert Rafto. Katrine convinces Harry to join a new investigation into the disappearance of Sylvia Otterson, whom they find alive and well at her farm. Shortly after they leave, a masked figure beheads Sylvia with an electrified cable harness. A call comes in requesting Harry specifically so he and Katrine return to the farmhouse. There they meet Sylvia's identical twin, Ane. Sylvia's body is inside her barn and her head atop a snowman.

Katrine believes corrupt businessman Arve Støp is responsible for the deaths. Traveling to Bergen to investigate further, Harry runs into Rakel's new boyfriend Mathias, a cosmetic surgeon, and realizes he forgot he had promised to take Oleg on a camping trip the same day. In Bergen, Harry finds that Inspector Rafto died by an apparentself-inflicted gunshot woundto the head. Harry then discovers Katrine is Rafto's daughter.

It's discovered that the recent victims each visited the clinic of Dr. Vetlesen, who also oversees Støp's high-classprostitution ring.When Becker's phone is reactivated, the signal is traced to Vetlesen's house. Katrine goes to arrest Vetlesen herself but finds him dead of a gunshot wound to the head, along with the remains of Birte Becker and another missing person, Hegen Dahl. The police rule Vetlesen's death a suicide and suspend Katrine for breaking protocol.

Katrine, hoping to trick Støp into confessing to killing her father, flirts with him at a public event. He invites her to his hotel room where she sets up a hidden camera but to no avail; she is attacked and drugged by a masked figure who severs a finger on her right hand. The attacker uses the finger to unlock her work tablet and wipe all its data. The next morning, Harry finds Katrine dead inside a car decorated by the outline of a snowman on its roof.

Rakel visits Harry, admitting she is conflicted and misses him. They start kissing passionately but are interrupted by a phone call from Mathias. Following a lead left behind by Katrine, Harry reinterviews Filip and finds out he met with a hormone specialist and visiting consultant who ends up being Mathias. Meanwhile, Mathias kidnaps Rakel and Oleg, taking them to a cottage inTelemark.Harry locates the cottage and finds Mathias holding the mother and child hostage. Mathias is revealed to be the boy from the first scene, hating his mother for abandoning him and eventually targeting mothers whom he judges are harming their children. Harry frees Rakel from a cable harness but loses a finger. Mathias escapes and Harry chases him onto a frozen lake. Mathias shoots Harry then walks towards him. The ice beneath him breaks apart and he falls into the water, dragged beneath the ice by the current.

The final scene shows Harry, having had his missing finger replaced by a metal prosthesis, volunteering for a new homicide case.

Cast

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Jo Nesbø,who wrote the novel on which the film is based, was supposed to have a small cameo, but his scenes were cut.[5]

Production

[edit]

Pre-production

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According toVariety,the initial hope with the film was to create a series in the vein of theAlex Crossfilm adaptations.[6]Screen Ranthas suggested that the film was inspired by the success ofThe Girl with the Dragon Tattoo(2011).[7]

For a while,Martin Scorsesewas attached to direct,[8]but he dropped out in 2013.[9]Tomas Alfredsonwas hired to direct the following year.[10]Prior to Alfredson, the studio had consideredMorten TyldumandBaltasar Kormákur,although they declined.[11]By September 2015,Michael Fassbenderwas in talks to star in the film,[12]andRebecca FergusonandCharlotte Gainsbourgwere in talks to join the cast by that October and December, respectively.[13][14]

Filming

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Principal photographyon the film commenced on 18 January 2016 inOslo,Norway.[15]Fassbender was spotted on set on 21 January, in theBarcodearea of Oslo, shooting a scene on the tram.[16]A large scene depicting a party, which required over 300 extras, was shot inOslo City Hallon 5 February.[17]Production moved toRjukanon 9 February, and toBergenon 23 February. Filming in Bergen including scenes on the mountain ofUlriken,Bryggenand the Skansen firestation. Production moved back to Oslo for the remainder of filming, in mid-March. This included scenes atRestaurant Schrøder,where Harry Hole is a regular in the novel series.[18]Filming also took place inDrammen,and on theAtlantic Ocean Road,and ended on 1 April 2016.[19]

Reshoots and additional filming took place in Norway during the spring of 2017.

Production problems

[edit]

In response to the negative critical reviews, Alfredson blamed the heavily condensed pre-production and rushed filming schedule, in which 10–15 per cent of the screenplay remained unfilmed. This led to narrative problems when editing commenced:

Our shoot time in Norway was way too short, we didn't get the whole story with us and when we started cutting we discovered that a lot was missing. It's like when you're making a big jigsaw puzzle and a few pieces are missing so you don't see the whole picture.[20][21]

Alfredson also stated that he had a lack of time to prepare the film properly:

It happened very abruptly, suddenly we got notice that we had the money and could start the shoot in London.[20][21]

ActorVal Kilmersuffered from an enlarged tongue during filming due to recent treatment for throat cancer.[22]As such, many of his scenes were filmed without the actor visibly speaking as so to allow easier dubbing during post-production. To that end, all of Kilmer's dialogue is dubbed.[23]

Marketing

[edit]

Universal Pictures released a poster on 18 July 2017, and the first trailer for the film premiered the following day. An international trailer was released on 5 September. The poster, featuring a child-like drawn doodle of a snowman and a note to the police, became a popularInternet memeshortly after its release.[24]

Release

[edit]

The Snowmanpremiered at theHaifa International Film Festivalon 7 October 2017. It was theatrically released on 13 October 2017 in the United Kingdom and 20 October 2017 in the United States.[25]

Reception

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Box office

[edit]

The Snowmangrossed $6.7 million in the United States and Canada, and $36.4 million in other territories, for a worldwide total of $43.1 million, against a production budget of $35 million.[1]

In the United States and Canada,The Snowmanwas released alongsideBoo 2! A Madea Halloween,Geostorm,andOnly The Brave,and was expected to gross around $10 million from 1,813 theaters in its opening weekend.[26]After making $1.3 million on its first day (including $270,000 from Thursday night previews), weekend predictions were lowered to $4 million. The film went on to debut to $3.2 million, finishing 8th at the box office.[27]In its second weekend, the film dropped 64% to $1.2 million, falling to 17th place at the box office.[28]The film was then pulled from 1,291 theaters in its third week, and fell 86% to $167,685, finishing 33rd.[29]

Critical response

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The Snowmanwas panned by critics, who derided what they saw as the film's scattered and incomprehensible plot line, as well as a lack of direction for its main cast members.[4]On review aggregatorRotten Tomatoes,the film has an approval rating of 7%, based on 198 reviews, with an average rating of 3.2/10. The website's critical consensus reads, "A mystery that feels as mashed together and perishable as its title,The Snowmansquanders its bestselling source material as well as a top-notch ensemble cast. "[30]OnMetacriticthe film has a weighted average score of 23 out of 100, based on 40 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews".[31]Audiences polled byCinemaScoregave the film an average grade of "D" on an A+ to F scale.[27]

Justin Changof theLos Angeles Timesgave the film a negative review, writing "There's probably a good movie or several buried in the frigid wilds of Nesbø's fiction, and with more time and cultural nuance and fewer cooks in the kitchen, it might well be realized. Watching this bungled slopsicle of a movie, it's hard not to conclude that somebody let the wrong one in."[32]Variety's Guy Lodge also called the film a disappointment, saying: "IfThe Snowmanwere merely a chilly, streamlined precis of a knottier page-turner, it could stolidly pass muster. The sad surprise here, considering how deftly Alfredson and Straughan previously navigated the far more serpentine plot machinations of aJohn le Carréclassic [Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy], is the snowballing incoherence of proceedings. "[33]Manohla DargisofThe New York Timescalled the film a "leaden, clotted, exasperating mess".[34]Alison Willmore ofBuzzFeed Newssaid that the film was "an inept misfire — the kind of entrancing train wreck that makes you long for a behind-the-scene tell-all to explain what, exactly, went so wrong."[35]

Peter BradshawofThe Guardiangave it 3/5 stars, calling it "a serviceable, watchable thriller, with very gruesome images, coagulating around psychopathologies of father obsession and son obsession".[36]Geoffrey Macnab ofThe Independentalso gave it 3/5 stars, saying that it was "a very slick slice of Scandinavian noir but one whose plot slaloms become increasingly preposterous."[37]

References

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  2. ^"The Snowman (2017)".British Film Institute.Archived fromthe originalon 21 May 2022.Retrieved6 September2022.
  3. ^Giles, Jeff (19 October 2017)."Only the Brave Is a Powerful Tribute".Rotten Tomatoes.Archivedfrom the original on 8 August 2019.Retrieved20 October2017.
  4. ^ab"'The Snowman' Reviews: What the Critics Are Saying ".Variety.19 October 2017.Archivedfrom the original on 20 October 2017.Retrieved20 October2017.
  5. ^"Jo Nesbø har fått rolle i Hollywood-filmen" Snømannen "".VG Nett.27 April 2016.Archivedfrom the original on 30 October 2017.Retrieved20 July2017.
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  9. ^Hembree, Kyle (16 April 2013)."Martin Scorsese Will Not Direct 'The Snowman'".ScreenRant.Archivedfrom the original on 11 November 2017.Retrieved10 May2022.
  10. ^Kroll, Justin (29 April 2014)."'Let the Right One In' Director Boards Jo Nesbo's 'The Snowman' (EXCLUSIVE) ".Variety.Archivedfrom the original on 21 January 2018.Retrieved10 May2022.
  11. ^Han, Angie (29 April 2014)."Tomas Alfredson Boards 'The Snowman', Replacing Martin Scorsese".Slashfilm.Archivedfrom the original on 26 September 2017.Retrieved26 September2017.
  12. ^Ford, Rebecca (8 September 2015)."Michael Fassbender in Talks to Star in Crime Drama 'The Snowman' (Exclusive)".hollywoodreporter.com.Archivedfrom the original on 11 September 2015.Retrieved15 September2015.
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  33. ^Lodge, Guy (11 October 2017)."Film Review: 'The Snowman'".Variety.Archivedfrom the original on 2 November 2019.Retrieved11 May2022.
  34. ^Dargis, Manohla (19 October 2017)."Review: 'The Snowman' Is a Thrill-Free Thriller Tied in Knots".The New York Times.ISSN0362-4331.Archivedfrom the original on 21 October 2017.Retrieved11 May2022.
  35. ^Willmore, Alison."Literally Just 11 Ridiculous Things That Happen In" The Snowman "".BuzzFeed News.Archivedfrom the original on 11 May 2022.Retrieved11 May2022.
  36. ^Bradshaw, Peter (12 October 2017)."The Snowman review – Michael Fassbender plays it cool in watchable Jo Nesbø thriller | Peter Bradshaw's film of the week".The Guardian.Archivedfrom the original on 11 May 2022.Retrieved11 May2022.
  37. ^Macnab, Geoffrey (12 October 2017)."Film reviews round-up: The Snowman, Loving Vincent, The Party, The Lego Ninjago Movie, The Ritual".The Independent.Archivedfrom the original on 11 May 2022.Retrieved11 May2022.
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