From writer Arend Remmers and director Adolfo Kolmerer comes Snowflake, a twisted tale of murder, revenge and forgiveness that also seems to take an interesting look into German society, and how we can all learn to get along.
Snowflake kicks off with a pair of brothers, Javid and Tan, who unknowingly murder the parents of Elianna - an attractive twenty something year old, who seems to be pretty well off as she has a family bodyguard who she turns to for help in hiring a hit-man to exact her revenge on Javid and Tan. This endeavor doesn't go as smoothly as she hoped as the hit-man, and soon hit-men, turn out to be deranged murderers who she can't reason with, movie obsessed deliverers of cliché one-liners or neo-Nazi fascists who ALL fail to carry out the hit.
Javid and Tan learn about all of Elianna's hit-man dealings from a script found in the backseat of a car they steal. This script, titled "Snowflake", goes into precise detail recounting everything that the brothers do as they do it. The script is about them, or, IS the movie you're watching. Here is where I would include some joke about the film being meta, but this is something that I'll address in a bit.
The brothers then use the script as a guide to staying one step ahead of Elianna's killers.
If any of that wasn't enough to grab your attention, the brothers also meet a blood covered angel, Elianna is referred to her hit-men by God and Hyper Electro Man dished out some superhero vigilante justice to a small army of neo-Nazi goons...are ya still with me?
Several other critics have referenced Quinton Tarantino and his film Pulp Fiction when describing Snowflake. This is largely due to how the film's narrative is, at times, non-linear. It has several stories, or groups of characters, that intertwine as their events unfold. With each pass, more is uncovered about the character's backstory, their motivations and their relationship with one another. This is a great, and not so easy, way to tell a story that organically adds an element of mystery and intrigue.
Upon watching the trailer, I thought to myself; "What IS this?", "How are all these things happening?". And the answer to those questions is that Snowflake is layered with interesting and colorful characters of all walks of life - mostly murderers. I think it's one hell of a creative story and my hat goes off to Remmers and Kolmerer for being able to blend all of the characters and story elements together so well. The acting is tight and there seemed to be real chemistry between the actors.
Not only does the film balance murder and death while also being clever, fun and funny, it also seems to be socially aware. In recent years, Germany has been forced to deal with an "immigration crisis" generated by welcoming over one million migrants and refugees into the country. Since then, there has been much debate whether or not this was a good idea as it's raised many social and security concerns.
I could be reading too much into this, but Snowflake seems to have borrowed from these events slightly. Without giving too much away Javid and Tan's adventure begins as teenagers when their family home was burned down - killing their parents. A sinister act carried out to eliminate blighted properties and their poor minority inhabitants. This seems to echo real life sentiments with rising class tensions and fear of what problems these migrants may bring with them. As a result, there isn't enough elbow room for everyone to get along without their fears getting the better of them, and without them feeling wronged in some way and retaliating.
As depicted in the film, this sends the brothers on a path of destruction and murder as they search for those responsible for their parents death. And this is where I think Snowflake delivers a powerful message about society - how we act, and then react to eachother. As the brothers seek revenge, they senselessly and casually kill Elianna's parents. She in turn seeks revenge and hires hit-men. Here we have a viscous cycle of death, revenge and suffering.
After Javid's run in with an angel, he learns the benefits of patients and forgiveness and tries to prevent he and Tan from becoming the villains in their own story, literally. How Meta (And now we've come full circle folks).
Snowflake became surprisingly enlightened and positive by the end, which wasn't something I expected from a story so fantastical.
I thoroughly enjoyed Snowflake, and I highly recommend checking it out if you get a chance. Of course I wasn't the only one who enjoyed Snowflake, as it won awards for Best Feature Film and/or Best Directing at Cinepocalypse Genre Film Festival, Negative Fest, and Horrible Imaginings Film Festival among others. It was released earlier this month on BLU, DVD & VOD from the fine people of Artsploitation Films.
Review by Cory Carr of the Slaughter Film Podcast
