The critical responses to 'The Snowman' haven't been very positive. The film released in the UK on 13th October and didn't receive a very warm welcome. To sum it all up, the film has received a complete beating, with only 24% of the responses on Rotten Tomatoes being positive, and an average of 3.9. The nicest thing the critics had to say was that 'The Snowman' was more of a TV film. Director, Thomas Alfredson seems to know what went wrong.
The Swede, who also directed 'Let the Right One In' and 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' spoke to a Norwegian journalism website, NRK, where he explained there were parts of the film they didn't film. "We spent very little time in Noway, so we couldn't film everything. When we began editing, we realised there was a lot of the plot missing", he mentioned. They clearly weren't able to produce the same film Alfredson had in his mind. There were huge gaps in the story line and they'd only managed to film half of what was required.
"It's like when you work on a big puzzle, and you're missing a few pieces, it's hard to see the whole image", he continued. The director also mentioned how the film's production was very "abrupt - we thought we had the money, and began filming in London". Alfredson understands where the critics are coming from, but refuses to acknowledge those who state the film badly represents Norwegian geography. "It's not a documentary on Norwegian geography, so I don't really give a shit about that".
High expectations
Given the director's experience, the expectations were high. 'Let the Right One In' and 'Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy' were successful and the latter received three Oscar nominations. 'The Snowman' included a variety of Norwegian locations and a star-studded line up including, Michael Fassbender, Rebecca Ferguson, and J.K. Simmons. Having mentioned that, perhaps the negative response to the film is partly due to the high expectations it had acquired.
Without doubt, Thomas Alfredson's self-criticism is honourable, and despite the negative response to his film, 'The Snowman' still gained reputable ticket sales. In the UK, the film sat in third place on a list of the top grossing releases for last week.
