This movie is a muder mystery set in the San Juan de Fuca islands circa 1950. These islands are just off of the Olympic peninsula which might be the most beautiful place in the world. When I showed the FP Gal these pictures, it triggered her memory about this movie. When she found out that I hadn't seen it, we put it on our personal list to watch.
As I said, a murder mystery with the usual questions of guilt. This one is complicated by a couple of novel things. The defendant is Japanese. He served in WWII against the Nazis. Back home his entire community was interned in concentration camps. The internment created a dispute about failure to pay off a piece of land and that in turn created a possible motive.
The other complication is that the journalist who is covering the trial was in love with the defendants's wife. Their relationship is shown through a series of flashbacks, including a secluded meeting spot in a hole under a giant cedar tree. Their love story was tragic in an everyday manner.
The movie is filled with beautiful scenery. Great mossy forests. Boats in thick thick fog. And a snow storm that helps fill out the title of the story. The filming gets a bit artsy, but not overly so. I'd never seen this movie, but it certainly could have been in the mix of Oscar nominated movies for 1999. A very good movie.
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