The snow is a wintry environment that can evoke countless moods. Whether to create a sense of elegant wonder, a wintry setting for fantasy, the cold, arid, desolate nature of nothingness, or to remind an audience of the climate, the snow is a great tool . The snow creates a sense of versatility for filmmakers, not only for the holiday mood, but also for projecting the atmosphere onto the story, a subtext, just like the rain. It could be a great way to juxtapose violence as blood paints the white floor or that feeling of everything being new again. There’s even a Western genre dedicated to the snow thanks to a recent collection of Criterion. These are the best movies set up or against the snow.
10/10 The edge
A common divide between the working class and the wealthy elite they work for, combined with jealous anger and bouts of domestic unrest, The edge takes men not built for the wilderness and reduces them to their essence. Starring Alec Baldwin and Anthony Hopkins – as befits a man with a seemingly boundless knowledge of all things – as their helicopters descend on them in the mountains. What follows is a near-death-defying battle of wits with a crazed, man-eating bear who wants their blood. What takes them to the deep end is seeing two men reach past their shortcomings and go wild while also fighting what they left at home.
9/10 Snow piercer
.jpg)
Bong Joon-ho has a penchant for weaving critiques of social classes and hierarchies into many of his action thriller films. Of Snow piercer, he found the perfect source material to make his first American film. With a thick cast of Chris Evans, Tilda Swinton, Song Kang-ho, John Hurt and Ed Harris, director Bong plunges us into a snow-covered hell in a post-apocalyptic world, where the population is forced to live on a never -ending train ride. With the social hierarchy ingrained in the train and the setup of the story, the poorest are forced to live in the back. Led by Evans, the rear of the train takes up arms and begins a revolution to move forward.
8/10 Cliff hanger
Actually That hard on a mountain, Cliff hanger is said to be one of the most dangerous movies ever made. Brace yourself for extremity with combat, explosions and collisions atop the snowy mountains as Sylvester Stallone tries to redeem his begotten past. Featuring a scheming John Lithgow planning the robbery of the US Treasury Plane. The heist takes a dangerous turn in the snow-filled Rocky Mountains. With a team augmented by the vastly underused Leon as the lead henchman, the climber, played by Stallone, is tasked with cutting down the hostages. No stranger to the snow – after making die hard 2 – director Renny Harlin made a hit, as the film grossed $255 million.
7/10 I’m thinking about ending things
“Time moves through us,” says Jessie Buckley. The unfathomable, blood-curdling existential dread and romance associated with the ideas of loving and being loved is at the heart of Charlie Kaufman’s latest film. He is a writer-director who is terrified of losing his ideas and obsessed with who will remember them once they are completed. I’m thinking about ending things wants a whole life to be lived and breathed, just like Synecdoche, New York. Through the dizzying time shifts and pauses, in reality, the uneasy slump of getting old, “did it happen or was it a dream?” platitudes, Kaufman has faithfully adapted a novel, but this is undoubtedly his work – one of his best.
6/10 Home alone
The Christmas movie classic gets its wonderfully warm family feel not only from the amazing cast of actors and Chris Columbus’s sleek, Spielbergian direction, but also from the beautiful snowy landscape in which the McAllisters live in the quiet Illinois suburbs. Stranded at his house after an emotional blowout with his family, young Kevin (the revealing Macaulay Culkin) enjoys his alone time. But forced by two bumbling crooks, he takes on the hilariously fickle Joe Pesci. Playing the PG version of the persona he made famous under the guise of Martin Scorsese, Pesci is outsmarted by the boy. Home alone is a classic for a reason and one that is perfect for the snowy, cold weather.
5/10 The big hotel in Budapest
Wes Anderson’s underlying humanity never quite came through as with The big hotel in Budapest. A film about the crushing blow of fascism and what it can do to a country. But a film about memory and storytelling also fits nicely in Anderson’s mold. A writer (Tom Wilkinson) reflects on his life with his younger self (Jude Law) about eccentric janitor Monsieur Gustave H. (Ralph Fiennes) and how love is the only answer to war. It’s Anderson’s most awarded Oscar film to date and one neatly adorned with an elegant blanket of snow.
4/10 The shining
.jpg)
In line with Stanley Kubrick’s dark sense of humor that permeates all his work and the inertia of fear that pierces through his films, Jack Nicholson, the movie idol, goes berserk in The shining, adding a new dynamic to Kubrick’s oeuvre. The movie’s dead snow setting only heightens the sense of isolation that sends the craziness to a climax. Inflicting trauma on his family as he slowly loses his mind, Nicholson’s performance is one of over-the-top theatrics, going full throttle as he dives down the rabbit hole, but also coloring the character with the classic Jack speak. “Here’s Johnny!” — Kubrick cast the role perfectly and created a new role that became iconic.
3/10 The thing
King of the 1980s horror movie, Carpenter’s The thing is a feat of editing, practical effects and his keen sense of creating an atmosphere of paranoia. By trapping a team of research scientists in the heart of the Arctic while an unknown alien presence infiltrates their grounds, imitating and copying every flesh it comes in contact with, Carpenter created a mainstay of the body horror genre. As Kurt Russell and Keith David navigate the crew’s paranoia and their suspicions of who controls the power dynamic, The thing slowly turns into a body horror gore fest where no one can be trusted.
2/10 Fargo
In 1996, the Coen brothers decided to take a step towards the minimal, sparse landscape of noir that put their name on the map. Fargo is an early crime masterpiece by the Coens that behaves like a savage tale of desperation and simple criminals who don’t follow any moral code. Filled with an incredible starring role from Coen muse Frances McDormand, who earned her first Oscar, Fargo mixes the funny goofball seriousness of the Midwest with brutal, senseless violence to a chilling degree. Because the snow-filled mask of the surface creates an undertone where blood is lost and freezes.
1/10 Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire strikes back
The iconic battle of Hoth lives in the pantheon of grand Star Wars sequences, but is also one of the best openings for a movie ever. With the iconic setting on the snow-covered planet as the Rebels and Empire battle it out, the snow provided a place for Luke Skywalker to start a new path on his way to becoming a Jedi Master. Paving the way for arguably the greatest sequel ever made, Star Wars: Episode V – The Empire strikes back transcended the former and became the iconic piece of pop cinema it is today. Featuring an epic lightsaber battle where the implications blew the father-son dynamic out of the water, rich stands the test of time.