Rebecca Ferguson appears on screen in the Cold War romantic spy drama clad in lush period costume. Despite the Falling Snow is an absorbing tale of family, the Cold War, and mostly true love. The story takes us into post-stalinist Russia at the height of the Cold War, with Katya (Rebecca Ferguson) as an American spy tasked with stealing intel from do-gooder Russian politician, Alexander (Sam Reid). In 1950s Moscow, communist Katya secretly spies for the Americans in the Cold War arms race. When she lands her biggest assignment, stealing secrets from rising government star Alexander, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with him. It features laborious acting and directing, and a screenplay whose revelations are uninteresting, even were they not guessable long in advance. Snow Despite the sombre ending, though, he smiles, as his future is still bright. Hammy histrionics Sam Reid and Rebecca Ferguson in Despite the Falling Snow. I have a postgraduate education in film & have spent an exceptionally long time trying to get inside the film industry. The movie has a surface similarity to Allied, last years Brad Pitt-Marion Cotillard World War II thriller, because its yet another story of an agent who marries one of the enemy to advance her cause. When she lands her biggest assignment, stealing secrets from rising government star Alexander, the last thing she expects is to fall in love with him. Why its high time we started appreciating the art of 3D cinema, 101 films to look forward to in 2023 part two. The very next scene, she goes right ahead and does what shes told. This laboriously acted and directed spy tale-cum-love story is like a Jeffrey Archer airport novel with uninteresting, guessable revelations. Variety is a part of Penske Media Corporation. Heres a good rule of thumb: If youre putting out a movie you actually want audiences to see, dont make Despite the first word of the title. Hes an uncomplicated functionary in the Kremlins foreign-affairs department; she, unbeknownst to him, is a spy selling secrets to the U.S. Twitter feed for faster news and bad jokes right here, Nat Geo WILDs Critter Fixers Dispel Myths About Country Vets, Doctor Sleep: Rebecca Ferguson on Becoming the New Shining Villain, Heat, Empire Records, and the Best Movies Free on Plex in January, The Best Jeff Beck Side Project Tracks and Deep Cuts, Every Marvel Movie and TV Show Coming in 2023. The most confounding failure of Despite the Falling Snow is how it portrays the central ambiguity of the love story. When the preview of Despite The Falling Snow the film appeared on YouTube a song performed by Ella Henderson called "Now You Say You Love Me" featured prominently toward the end. The smoothest of these comes when one Ferguson walks out of the state archive in Moscow after a dangerous mission, as another Ferguson walks in. Production company: Enlightenment Productions And then she really loves him. The mystery of the story is so simple andclichdit is impossible to engage with. Producer: Hanan Kattan They were off-putting, and were perhaps an indicator of the surprises still to come. The two meet and flirt at a party in 1959, but shes just playing along. A film set in two time periods is always going to suffer slightly, all the jumping back and forth between storylines can disengage the audience from what is going on. You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Los Angeles Times. Reconciling her passion for him with her beliefs about communism means making the greatest sacrifice - of her life - a sacrifice that Alexander only uncovers thirty years later. Katya works for her friend Misha (played very well by Oliver Jackson-Cohen), together they both work for the Americans. The movie is best described as a quite sedate Cold war espionage / love story in the 60's and the current time and about as far removed from James Bond as possible. Despite the Falling Snow is an absorbing tale of family, the Cold War, and mostly true love. Taglines For the 2016 film, see, "Movies, Marriage and Mayhem with Shamim Sarif: From Moscow with Love (Ep. Her reliable performances aside, Ferguson is also the subject of Despite The Falling Snows most striking image a trompe-lil portrait of Katya in an exhibition of new Russian art in 1992, in a gallery setting which is revisited time and time again on the way to an anti-climactic revelation. review This is all very confusing. Become a Member and support film journalism. Despite the Falling Snow's slick production and appealing cast struggle to elevate a feeble script, resulting in a Cold War thriller that never raises the temperature. I love film, more than people probably, and I will. 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Lauren: No, I'm alone. After an early career amongst the political elite of Cold War Russia, Alexander Ivanov has lived in America for forty years and has managed to bury the tragic memories surrounding his charismatic late wife, Katya or so he believes. If I'm not watching films I'm doing exceptionally nerdy stuff, like watching documentaries about the history of medicine and collecting photos of old post boxes. Cinemark The Hollywood Reporter is a part of Penske Media Corporation. with updates on movies, TV shows, Rotten Tomatoes podcast and more. But a lot of this might be due to Sharifs creation of the character and her direction ofFerguson. Adapted by writer-director Sharim Sharif from her own novel, this romantic thriller casts Ferguson as two women separated by time but connected by blood and a sequence of events that occurred in Moscow at the height of the Cold War. Whatever potential subtlety and complexity we are promised does not materialise only hammy airport-bestseller histrionics, and the whole movie sometimes seems submerged in a kind of cold-tea sepia look, appropriate to its historical background. For into his life come two women one who will start to open up the heart he has protected for so long; another who is determined to uncover the truth about what really happened to Katya all those years ago. Regal Stay up-to-date on all the latest Rotten Tomatoes news! You'll be playing the guessing game on where it's going, and who is who. Which is okay when everyone is Russian or everyone is American but when Lauren goes to Moscow in the beginning of the film I didnt notice. We want to hear what you have to say but need to verify your account. Although it's been 2 and a half years since I read this, I still remember it quite vividly and positively despite my . The time frame flashes back and forth between the early 60s and the early 90s. Despite the Falling Snow is a 2016 British Cold War espionage film directed by Shamim Sarif, adapted from her novel of the same name. Composer: Rachel Portman This 10-digit number is your confirmation number. Katya is young, beautiful and a spy for the Americans. "Despite the Falling Snow" is a phrase that barely sticks in the mind for the time it takes to read it; given that the movie wants to be a Cold War romantic espionage thriller, you can imagine a. Charles Dance Parents Guide. An off-the-chain Tom Cruise is the key and only asset in this fifth ride-along with the IMF crew. ; ; ; despite the falling snow ending explained How about over dinner? In 1950s Moscow, communist Katya secretly spies for the Americans in the Cold War arms race. Marvel Movies Ranked Worst to Best by Tomatometer, Jurassic Park Movies Ranked By Tomatometer, Golden Tomato Awards: Best Movies & TV of 2022, 10 WTF Horror Movies to Watch if You Loved M3GAN. Mark Harrison | Charles Dance and Anthony Head (as the older Misha)dont really put anything into their roles,although they occasionally, and rather grossly, ham them up. Romance, Laurenis supposed to be close to her Uncle Alex but her understanding of him is thin to say the least. Hanan Kattan and Lisa Tchengiuz served as the Executive producers. Theres also a massive cognitive disconnect between the older and younger incarnations of characters. 2022 Film Inquiry. Variety and the Flying V logos are trademarks of Variety Media, LLC. All the papers are in Russian, so were not sure theyre important. Only many years later, in 1991, he will finally find out the truth when his niece Lauren travels to Moscow to participate in a painting exhibition. But she makesKatya agravely sensual figure, with shades of Genevive Bujold or Emily Watson,lost in the dream-killing melancholy of the old Soviet Union. Thecharacters have a depth and a warmth to them which although isnt completely engaging does at least make you interested in their ultimate fates. Read critic reviews. In Cold War Moscow, a female spy steals secrets from an idealistic politician - and falls in love with him. This can just add to our confusion. This is also compounded by the questionable choice of casting Ferguson as not only the spy heroine but also as her daughter 30 years later, the same person just with a hipper haircut to usher in the era. Her choice between love and duty leads to a nail-biting conclusion that Alexander can only unravel decades later in Boston. It was like theyd been created on a version of Windows that just about survived the 90s. Theres great potential here, but the execution is far too clunky. Plot. A then-and-now romantic drama tracing all broken hearts back to Cold War-era duplicity, Shamim Sarifs Despite the Falling Snow finds a Russian-American artist going back to the old country in search of news about an aunt she never knew. Charles Dance plays the older Alex but sounds and looks nothing like Sam Reid, and we never really connect to him as this man who loved Katya so passionately. I didnt know she was in Moscow for quite a while, in fact,because I didnt hear any Russian accents. The music was composed by Rachel Portman and the cinematography was by David Johnson. Despite The Falling Snow is a film by novelist and filmmaker Shamim Sharif. The Den of Geek quarterly magazine is packed with exclusive features, interviews, previews and deep dives into geek culture. When a films basic strategy is to cut between the past and the present, it should create ripples of anticipatory tension. All Rights Reserved. Unfortunately, the strong cinematography from David Johnson and costume design by Momirka Bailovic cant overcome a lifeless, poorly structured script from Sarif, based on her own well received novel. She comes across as cold, kind of blank, and with an accent that jumps around quite a bit. The movie stars Rebecca Ferguson and Charles Dance in a story of love and betrayal in cold war Russia. The other half is set in what feels like the present day that is, 1992, just after the fall of the Soviet Union, when the aging Sasha, now played by Charles Dance as a successful but haunted New York businessman, watches as his artist niece goes to Moscow to learn what happened to Katya all those years ago. Putin and Trump. New York, 1961. Katyas mission, however, becomes muddled when would you believe she falls in love with him. 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