Film No. 59 (2014) August 23rd. 4:30 PM LUNA Leederville.
The Snowpiercer is a train in constant motion. It circles the earth on tracks which can't be maintained because there is no one left alive on earth to care for them. So why has this train been raging around our planet at hundreds of kilometres an hour for 17 years? Because it forms the back drop to talented Korean film maker Joon-ho Bong's first English language film.
One has to forget the implausible situation I have described because Bong is no Ken Loach when it comes to film making. Like Loach however he does like to comment on the human condition and if you imagine the Snowpiercer in the same light as The Ark, minus the animals, then you have the premise for this movie.
Chris Evans is Curtis a strong young man who lives in the back end of the Snowpiercer with the rest of the lower class citizens. Gilliam (John Hurt) is the elder statesman of the group who mentors Curtis as our repressed hero becomes restless. A young child is snatched from the group by the upper class. Outraged by this Curtis and his troops decide to force their way through the train, comprised of one surreal carriage after another, to retrieve the child. With every carriage traveled, Curtis comes across occupants who are representative of where they are stationed in the "food chain".
Okay so I'm not making much sense so far in describing this comic book drama. I'm not sure that I need to. If you like your films to be so fantastic that you are always looking for new cinematic stimulation then this film is for you. Bong does what he usually does in his films, he depicts "man in a mess". This time the mess is a metaphor for life's inequalities and someone needing to be held to account. You'll either love the film or be disappointed, perhaps because of the hype. I loved my ride on the Snowpiercer 10GUMS
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