Quartile rating: 5/10 · 1 rating
Detective Harry Hole investigates the disappearance of a woman whose pink scarf is found wrapped around an ominous looking snowman.
The Snowman (2017) is widely regarded as a troubled production — famously, director Tomas Alfredson admitted that roughly 10-15% of the script was never filmed, resulting in a plot that is incoherent and full of gaping holes. The mystery narrative collapses under the weight of its own disorganization, and the ending is unsatisfying and abrupt. The cast (Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, J.K. Simmons) is solid but wasted by thin material and a confusing screenplay. Cinematography is the film's genuine strength — Norway's wintry landscapes are beautifully captured. Novelty is middling; the Scandinavian crime thriller genre was already well-established, and this film executes it poorly rather than distinctively.