How Beautiful It Will Be

BeautifulBallad recently had the opportunity to attend a screening of White Bird in a Blizzard, starring Shailene Woodley, Christopher Meloni, and Eva Green. Set in the late 80s, the film follows Kat (Woodley) after her mother Eve’s (Green) disappearance. Kat’s mom wasn’t a great mom; in fact, she was quite awful. Jealous of her daughter’s youth and drowning in suburban despair and depression, Eve is prickly, cold, and difficult to sympathize with.

Kat doesn’t mourn for her mother or struggle to cope with her disappearance. Rather, it barely registers as a loss in her life. Unsatisfied with her floppy-haired boyfriend’s unease following her mother’s disappearance, she begins a steamy affair with the cop assigned to the case. Through flashbacks and dream sequences, it becomes clear that although Kat’s mother’s disappearance hasn’t left any visible lasting trauma, it’s always lurking in Kat’s subconscious.

At its heart, White Bird in A Blizzard is not a mystery or suspense story it is the character study of a girl who lost her mother long before she actually disappears. Kat is driven less by not having a mother than she is by having had the eccentric mother she did. The dual timelines of the story (the present day 1980s timeline and the flashbacks) allows us to see the contrast between mother and daughter, seeped in themes of sex, youth and fulfillment. Woodley dazzles as the grounded, yet adrift Kat, and Eva Green shines as the eccentric Eve, losing both her youth and battle to the depression of suburbia. Meloni gives an excellent, understated performance Kat’s long-suffering doormat of a father.

Aesthetically, the film is stunning. If you are willing to dive into the abstract vision of Gregg Araki’s direction, you will be greatly rewarded. The film is beautifully shot, and a love letter of sorts to the architecture, style, music, and sensibilities of the late 1980s.The bright scenes and gorgeously shot dream sequences almost allow you to forget that it’s a serious film that will leave you with a heavy heart. Love it or hate it, White Bird in a Blizzard will stick with you long after you leave the theatre.

Source: Magnolia Pictures