Smilla Jaspersen (Julia Ormond) is a loner living in Copenhagen who befriends a young Inuit boy from Greenland. He's unwanted and one day he falls off the roof of their apartment to his death. Nobody cares except Smilla. Only her sense of snow convinces her that he was murdered. Her investigation dives deeper and deeper into intrigue and danger.
This has great atmosphere. I absolutely love the desolate tone of the snowy north and of Smilla's life. Julia Ormond really personify the iciness of this world. It's moodiness really pushing the story into a great mystery. But it does get into unrealistic territory. It's not so much a mystery rather as an action adventure. The ending in the ice really made the whole thing too outlandish. The mood of the earlier parts are lost.
Smilla's Sense of Snow
1997
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Smilla's Sense of Snow
1997
Action / Crime / Drama / Mystery / Sci-Fi / Thriller
Plot summary
Based on Peter Hoeg's bestseller, this film is set in snowy Copenhagen where a small boy is found dead after he fell off a roof. Smilla Jasperson, a close friend who lives in the same house begins to suspect murder because she knows that the boy was afraid of heights and would not have played on the roof. As she begins to investigate, she is pulled deeper and deeper into a conspiracy that could very well mean her death.
Uploaded by: FREEMAN
Director
Top cast
Movie Reviews
Great mood but outlandish icy ending
a little far out, but it doesn't freeze
I can't tell whether or not they were trying to make a point with this movie, but it's worth seeing (if only once). After a 6-year-old boy is found dead in Copenhagen, everyone assumes that he committed suicide. Everyone except Smilla Jasperson (Julia Ormond). She suspects foul play, and intends to do whatever possible to find the truth...even if it leads her all the way to her native Greenland.
Like I said, it almost seems like the sort of movie that they just made for fun (or do only Americans do that?). There's plenty of twists and turns, but I couldn't determine whether or not they were trying to make a point. Oh well...
High Hopes Dashed By Horrible Last 40 Minutes
This is a fairly low-key for a crime story, a tale about a woman trying to find out why a young boy fell from a rooftop to his death. I had high hopes for this movie but the last 35-40 minutes were so disappointing that I'd never watch this again. That ending had so many holes to it, it was mind-boggling.
I like Julia Ormand, who plays the lead character, but she's a bit surly and rough with this character. I also enjoyed seeing scenery in Denmark and Greenland, not the normal sites for crime film movies. Few films, I imagine, have been made in Greenland with its brutal temperatures. (There is a fascinating very short featurette on Greenland that comes with the DVD.)
Perhaps worth a rental, but only with a discount coupon, meaning don't spend more than $3 to look at this. Heck, you can buy it for $5 most places, which tells you something.