Scott Hicks's loud, bustling direction ensures there's no shortage of activity in his adaptation of Snow Falling on Cedars, but the inertia at the core of the movie is unmistakable. full review

Hicks determinedly neglects almost every other narrative element for the sake of atmosphere, a decision that robs the film of almost everything that made Guterson's story compelling.

A visual and emotional feast. full review

The actors are valiant, but not bulletproof against the screenplay's almost obsessive romanticism. full review

Plodding and self-serious. full review

Pretty but chilly. full review

Impeccably crafted but dramatically dull. full review

It's second to none in its ability to specify a world and immerse us in it.

Prettily photographed yet morbidly gloomy. full review

A disappointment.

Snow Falling on Cedars is very rarely dull, very often poetic. full review

Snow Falling on Cedars makes its most powerful impression in totally silent stretches. full review

Snow fails as both mystery and star-crossed romance.

If ever there was an example of a director's getting in the way of a story, this is it.

Too faithful to the many time shifts, plot points and layered meanings of David Guterson's best-selling novel, robbing the movie of dramatic tension.

Casting Hawke as Ishmael Chambers in a mediocre movie version of Snow Falling on Cedars is pretty much the kiss of death. full review

Snow Falling on Cedars has to fight to hold our attention and it doesn't always succeed. full review