Snowpiercer
Movie (2013)
Director: Bong Joon Ho
Stars: Chris Evans, Jamie Bell, Tilda Swinton
TV Series (2020)
Creators: Graeme Manson, Josh Friedman
Starring: Jennifer Connelly, Daveed Diggs, Mickey Sumner
Genre: Off the rails
In 2013, the film Snowpiercer was released to critical acclaim from critics and mixed reviews from the people who paid to see it. I was both, yet didn’t review it because I enjoyed it too much – bad films are much easier to review. Whether this says more about me than the film I’m not sure, but either way I had high hopes for the TV series of the same name and same premise released on Netflix early on during the lockdown.
The TV series is set seven years after the environmental collapse of Earth when a deep freeze covers the planet leaving a 1,001-carriage train to permanently circle the globe with humanity’s survivors. With passengers divided into classes from the front to the tail, rebellion from the tail against first class is a constant threat and a recurring theme. The movie is set 14 years after the climate apocalypse, when that threat is realised. So, it’s a sequel of sorts (perhaps, the second series hasn’t been released yet).
The TV series is great but may not reach the cult status of the film. The format and set are restricting almost by definition and better suited to a film, while production and acting standards aren’t quite as good. Jennifer Connolly, though, is at her steely and sultry best, trying to hold train operations together. Mind you, she’s no Tilda Swinton, Connolly’s film equivalent who was every bit as odd and extraordinary as the train she travelled on.
Bong Joon Ho, the director of the film and writer of many episodes of the TV series, won an Academy Award for Parasite (2019). He has an extraordinary ability to animate the absurd while addressing contemporary class realities. And interestingly, he based the film on a French graphic novel, Le Transperceneige, first published in 1982. Next time I should review that – or leave it to my SSH book reviewing colleagues to do so.
Rating – Film: 4½ piercings, TV Series: 4 piercings
_______________
film@ssh.com.au
