PopHorror Let's Get Scared
A little over a year ago, one of my fellow PopHorror writers reviewed the German crime fantasy Snowflake (you can read that review here), which I thought sounded like an absolute blast, and I couldn’t wait to see it. After a long wait, Snowflake was finally released by Artsploitation Films, and I was given the opportunity to check out the Blu-ray.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tRa2qtsISA4
Also known as Schneeflöckchen, Snowflake was directed by A Time of Vultures’ (2012) Adolfo Kolmerer and William James from a script written by Arend Remmers (Dogs Of Berlin 2018). The film stars Reza Brojerdi (Homeland TV series), Erkan Acar (A Time of Vultures 2012), Xenia Assenza (Goodbye, Berlin 2016), David Masterson (Renegades 2017), Alexander Schubert (Heute Show TV series), Adrian Topol (The Country Doctor TV series), Judith Hoersch (A Cure for Wellness 2016), Mathis Landwehr (V for Vendetta 2005) and David Gant (Braveheart 1995).
The film’s synopsis:
Hunting down the murderer of their families in an anarchic Berlin of the near future, the outlaws Tan (Acar) and Javid (Brojerdi) find themselves trapped in the wicked fairytale of a mysterious screenplay that entangles them in a vicious circle of revenge – apparently all written by a clueless dentist.
I’m just going to be upfront: Snowflake is absolutely fucking bonkers. The story features various eccentric characters in a story where everything is connected, as well as several gun fights, some hand to hand combat, electricity-wielding vigilantes, assassins (all with their various quirks, from blindness to cannibalism), God, angels, super soldiers, and a dentist whose script controls the actions and fates of the various characters, all while adopting a Pulp Fiction-esque, non-linear timeline.
I absolutely loved Snowflake. I really enjoyed the characters and how fucked up and flawed they were. They were all who they were because of the need for revenge against the respective people who ruined their lives, to the point where there need itself corrupts them. Everyone is pretty much a terrible person, but you can’t help but love and relate to them. Hell, if someone kill my family, you best believe I’d would want revenge. The violence isn’t glorified, as it should be. It’s ugly and hard to watch.
I loved the story and how everything, whether the characters knew it or not, was connected in all sorts of interesting ways. The banter between Javid and Tan is full of chemistry as they slowly realize that they are characters from a script that also seems to exist in the real world, and that no matter how much they try, they are destined to act this story out… unless the writer changes things before they get to the end, which adds an unpredictability to the story, all while ending in a surprisingly satisfying way.
The Blu-ray features an hour of behind-the-scenes videos that show a lot of how things were done on set, including how they shot the bar fight scene where Javid and Tan meet the angel, Snowflake (Judith Hoersch).
Final Thoughts
Snowflake is pretty weird as far as crime films go, featuring superheroes, a meta story, and much more, but it’s pretty hilarious and fun, all while still managing to be dark and compelling. If you are looking for a film that offers a little something different, I highly recommend Snowflake.
