“I just thought it was so brilliantly written and so... human,” effuses Carrie- Anne Moss, entering the Guinness Book Of Records for luvvie gushing in Snow Cake’s vomitous Making Of. She’s not alone; other contenders include Sigourney “I lived with an autistic woman!” Weaver and upbeat Brit-director Marc Evans, who grins like a cheerleader on Prozac. But just as you reach for a barf bag, along comes Alan Rickman, the King of Lugubrious Irony, to stave off your chunder with a single raised eyebrow.
The Making Of is a microcosm of the movie itself, with Rickman’s doleful hero reining in this Rain Woman’s excesses. He’s Brit-abroad Alex, thrown into the life of autistic Linda (Weaver) after a fatal car accident and drawn to her childlike sense of wonder... Flapping her arms and bouncing about on trampolines, Weaver matches Dustin Hoffman move for move, but Rickman’s performance keeps the sentimental slush in the deep freeze. His exasperated, impatient turn gives this life-affirming bereavement tale as many unexpected sneers as its inevitable tears (it’s no surprise to learn the role was written specially for him).
Seventeen minutes of deleted scenes prove satisfying, distilling the movie’s tragic-comic melancholy; one being a trip to McDonalds that lets Rickman put the arch into the Golden Arches, while Linda threatens snow-sculpture vandals with a BB gun: “Move away from the snowmen!” It just goes to show: sometimes you can have your cake and eat it too.
DVD Extras:
Trailer
Deleted Scenes
Making Of
