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The Snowman director explains what went wrong

Photo credit: YouTube
Photo credit: YouTube

From Digital Spy

Crime thriller The Snowman opened last week to moderate box office and a largely negative critical response, with damning comments including:

The Telegraph

"The Snowman goes wrong quickly, permanently, and in a spiral, turning into a nonsensical nightmare of Scandi-noir howlers from which you sometimes feel you may never awaken."

Screen International

"As Marco Beltrani's score works at a dizzying level to paper over the cracks, The Snowman dribbles to an exquisitely-shot finale with a sad sense of loss for the talent involved and the project this might have been."

Total Film

"All the signs pointed to a hit chiller: great cast, a director with fantastic form and a celebrated Jo Nesbø novel to draw from. So it's a huge shame, then, that The Snowman is a bit grey and slushy when it should have been cool and crisp."

Photo credit: Universal
Photo credit: Universal

Another day, another bad movie, so what? Only this movie really should have been good.

Based on a novel by celebrated crime writer Jo Nesbo, directed by Tomas Alfredson, who made Let the Right One In and Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, starring Michael Fassbender and with none other than Thelma Schoonmaker as editor, it really ought to have been a masterpiece.

But we've seen it, and trust us, it's not.

Talking to The Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation (via Yahoo), Alfredson said it was partly down to scheduling.

"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," he said. "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."

He also said the production was rushed.

"It happened very abruptly, suddenly we got notice that we had the money and could start the shoot in London," he added.

That doesn't exactly explain why the story is kind of stupid and the whole film feels like something you'd see on TV in the '90s, but still...

If you still want to see it for yourself, The Snowman is out in cinemas now.


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