"Snow Bunny" is the latest short feature from the writing/directing team of Julie Keck and Jessica King. The film revolves around one winter day in the lives of an average American family. Dean and Abigail seem to be the perfect couple on the surface. They have two beautiful daughters, a nice house, and good jobs. They seem to be living the American Dream. But the old adage “Never judge a book by its cover” would seem appropriate here.
The film opens as Abigail (Marci Ackerhalt-Price) asks her husband, Dean (Jeremy Price) to take their two daughters out while she prepares for a party they are giving. Dean is clearly irritated and becomes even more annoyed as the two small daughters test his patience while out for a drive. He yells at the girls, belittles them, and punishes them in inappropriate ways. This culminates with him purposely leaving one of his daughters at the park in order to teach her a lesson.
When Dean and the kids arrive back at their house, Abigail is too preoccupied to notice that something is wrong. Dean picks a fight with Abigail as they get dressed for the party and both of them say terrible, hurtful things to each other.
The film continues after the party is over with Dean and Abigail bickering, yelling at the kids, and in a truly remarkable final scene climaxes with Dean and Abigail outside in the snow. The ending is bizarre as well as thoughtful and even touching. I don’t want to give too much away or the tension our directors have slowly built would be ruined. Suffice to say, it involves a gun which may or may not be used against one of our lead actors.
This film is about many things. It’s about a lack of communication. It’s about thinking before speaking. It’s about truth and honesty within a relationship. It’s about trust and faith as well. The film is made all the more interesting because while it is told primarily from the perspective of the adults, there are several moving scenes as told through the eyes of the children involved in this broken relationship.
I really identified with this film. While I am not a child of divorce and remain happily married after nearly a quarter of a century, I think some of the problems this family experiences are natural with any young family. There are work pressures, and money pressures, and dealing with petty child problems. And there is a huge adjustment in learning to share your life fully and openly with others, sometimes even when you don’t want to. The marriage vows “in good times and in bad; in sickness and in health” are not just words. This IS what marriage is all about, and some people have steeper learning curves than others. I saw a lot of the early years of my marriage in this film. Getting married in college, having kids too young, and living in cramped quarters sometimes made me crazy and sometimes made my wife crazy, and sometimes tempers flared. Marriage is a wonderful thing, but it can also be very tough. I think our writers/directors managed to capture this perfectly.
I also have found myself speaking too harshly to my kids on occasion, sometimes not for what they have done, but because they were the closest (and easiest) target for my frustration and anger. I can distinctly remember times when I was thinking that what I said to my children or to my wife was hurtful and unfair even as I was saying it. I didn’t like the character of Dean because he was treating both his wife and his children unfairly. But at the same time, I completely identified with his (possibly unfounded) frustration with his family, so I did have some innate sympathy for his character.
Some of the scenes involving the children were poignant. There is a scene where one of the daughters comes in after the road trip with her father and immediately hugs her mother. But Abigail is too caught up in getting ready for the party to see that her daughter is in need of some reassurance. As Abigail moves to the bathroom to put on her makeup, her daughter follows her, obviously needing some attention, but Abigail unknowingly shoos her away. It’s bittersweet because we know that Abigail isn’t trying to be hurtful; she just isn’t able to interpret her daughter’s mood correctly because of her preoccupation with the upcoming party. This scene and others like it were very moving to me.
The camera work is very good. The scenes are shot in tight, angular shots which heighten the tense atmosphere of the film. Overall, I felt like this 25-minute film short was an accurate portrayal of many young American families on any given day. Some days are better than others, but our directors chose to show a bad day. But even though the film portrays a great deal of negativity, in the end one gets the distinct impression that this family will persevere and survive, so the film ends on a positive—if a bit awkward—note.
If you are interested in seeing this film please go to http://kingisafink.wordpress.com.