Snapshots

Snapshots boasts an IMDb user rating of 7/10 and a Metascore of 63/100. I thought I was in safe hands and settled in for an enjoyable movie. And I kept waiting to enjoy the movie. Then, the credits rolled. And I was still waiting for Snapshots to get good.

The film focuses on three generations of women. The first is Rose, a senior living alone in a cabin. The other two are Rose’s uptight daughter, Patty and Patty’s daughter, Allison. Allison is going through major life events which she’s often happy to share with Rose but not Patty. Allison also brings Rose a role of undeveloped film she found in a camera of Rose’s from the 60s. These photos send Rose to flashback central. Much of the film takes place in flashbacks to the 1960s when Rose was young and hot and developed a relationship with her friend and neighbour, Louise.

From the earliest scenes, I was surprised to see Snapshots be well received by critics and audiences. The first act set-up is contrived and not particularly original. The acting in no way helps sell this basic-ass set-up. I figured that Snapshots would therefor deal in emotion. So, I settled in ready to start caring about these characters as they developed. Especially in the flashbacks, I looked forward to learning about Louise and Rose’s relationship. But like I said, the credits rolled before I gave a shit.

The flashback scenes were pretty uninspiring. This is a romance I’ve seen before. A seemingly normal, unhappy wife meets an effervescent female friend who makes her want more. Louise is basically a 60’s lesbian manic pixie dream girl. She’s not only beautiful but incredibly cool, bold and makes Rose more of the same by association. This is definitely a romantic interest I could and have liked in other media, but Snapshots never sold me on the character. Louise never felt remotely like a real person, but a concept and motivator for Rose to do, well, ultimately nothing. However life changing Louise was, Rose quite specifically didn’t change her life at all for meeting her.

A big issue for me is that the characters never feel like characters but mouthpieces for a mixture of plot development and political opinion. To be clear, all of the “political” opinions the film espouses are ones I agree with. In the 1960’s Louise has radical views like black people and women are equal to white men and a depiction of pubic hair is art instead of pornography. In the present, there’s discussion about homosexuality, a whole subplot about abortion and overall, major discussions of how women experience the world and relationships. They’re all opinions I agree with. But none of them help develop character. When the characters speak these opinions, I don’t feel informed about them. I feel informed about the creators of these characters. It ends up messing with my immersion into the story as the story will often pause to espouse these views.

I’m further disappointed by how little effort was put into making the 1960’s flashbacks feel any sort of accurate. The costume and styling of characters has 60’s influences by overall looks more 2010s than 1960’s. The language in terms of both use of slang and voiced opinions on marginalized groups further distances this from feeling like the early 60’s. Making the flashbacks feel more like the progressive 2010’s than the 1960’s really cuts into the romance between Louise and Rose. There’s little sense of danger, of the forbidden or any of that. This version of the 1960’s is treated with such kid gloves that it’s hard to understand why Rose might feel trapped for choices.

Snapshots is a sweet and incredibly well-meaning movie. There is a kindness and desire for understanding and human connection in it. I respect all of this. Personally, I just didn’t respond to this iteration of it. I thought the characters were paper-thin and the story rather contrived. Also, if I want a film about a lesbian grandma, uptight mother and daughter considering an abortion, I could just watch Grandma. That film had a bite to it. Snapshots, by comparison feels toothless.

Overall rating: 5.7/10

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