The Snowman (4 Stars)

This is the second time I've gone to see "The Snowman" in the cinema this month. That's unusual because I didn't intend to see it in the first place. The first time I saw it was in England with my daughter Fiona, the second time was in Germany with my daughter Gillian. I'm glad that I was persuaded to see it, and I'm also glad that I was persuaded to see it a second time.

Fiona loved "The Snowman" so much that she said it's the best film she's seen for years. Gillian was less enthusiastic. She found it okay, but boring in parts. Scandinavian films are a matter of taste. Yes, I know that the main actors are Hollywood stars, but the director is Swedish and the film has a typical Scandinavian style. I need to narrow that, because I don't mean all of Scandinavia, just Norway and Sweden. Is there a word that includes only those two countries? I'll continue to say "Scandinavia", as long as my readers understand that I'm not talking about Denmark.

Scandinavian films, regardless of their genre, tend to be slow, depending on an intense mood to invoke emotions. The best films I can think of as examples of the Scandinavian style are "Insomnia" and "Let the right one in". I can understand that people not accustomed to Scandinavian films might find them boring.