Verdict: it was excellent. Smart, stylish, political, thought-provoking. The cast (Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, John Hurt, Song Kang-ho, Octavia Spencer, Ed Harris, many many others) was amazing, as expected. Some aspects of the premise fall apart if you think about them too literally, but they aren’t meant to be taken literally — it’s an allegory, and on that level it works perfectly. Definitely recommended, if you have the chance.
Fortunately, the theater was nearly full at 1pm on a Friday, and the audience was buzzing at the end. So hopefully the tiny shoebox theater at the AMC Metreon will sell out every showing, and the theater will be inspired to move it to another screen, and/or keep it longer, and/or expand to other venues. It’s a good sign, anyway. UPDATE: Here's a list of all the theaters in the US that have current or future showings scheduled. Sounds like most of the openings are on Wednesday, 7/2, and a few more on July 4th.
Also playing at the Metreon: the new Transformers movie, which also opened today. Here, and probably half a dozen other theaters in this city. Think about how many gazillions of dollars that big, noisy blockbuster film is going to make today. Nothing against big, noisy blockbuster films! I often enjoy them myself. But how many of the people lining up to see it would have gone to see Snowpiercer instead, if they knew it existed? How many of them would have had a more enjoyable experience, and gotten something to think about along with their action fix? All because Harvey Weinstein thinks we’re not smart enough to handle allegory, subplots, character development. The next time someone starts complaining about Hollywood movies and how bad they are, I know what example I’m going to point to.
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