Movie Review: ‘White Bird in a Blizzard’

Through a mildly bizarre world – both dysfunctional yet perfectly credible – director Gregg Araki creates a family trapped between yearning and truth.

Based on the book by Laura Kasischke, “White Bird in a Blizzard” is a coming-of-age story about Kat Conner (Shailene Woodley), a girl growing up in the 1980s. It features all of the typical rebellion and awkward cycles of teenage life. Digging deeper, however, this film covers much more than rampant hormones – it explores the perplexing flaws of family relationships through apprehension and subtle thrills.

Kat, a confident girl looking for love, narrates her life throughout the film, from hangouts with her friends to dates with the literal boy next door. All is well and normal until her mother, Eve, (Eva Green) suddenly disappears without explanation. Everything changes, and Kat is forced to struggle with the memories of her mother’s mysterious downward spiral from a well-to-do woman to one of mental dysfunction. Meanwhile, Kat tries to make sense of the chain of events leading to it. A film that at first glance is about adolescent angst quickly turns into a psychological murder mystery.

Recently appearing in young adult fiction films, like “Divergent” and “The Fault in Our Stars,” Woodley appears to be trying to shake her teen-movie stigma with a role much more dangerous and provocative. Frankly, she succeeds. Her character is one that scoffs at discretion and follows her gut. Kat’s seemingly stagnant mindset makes her appear flat initially. However, throughout the story, her persona develops in remarkable ways.

With each wave of clues surrounding the circumstances of her mother’s disappearance, Kat finds herself growing more and more uncertain of herself, uncertain of what she wants, uncertain of what she understands – like a flurry of snow growing thicker and stronger. However, while the teenage trope of low self-esteem supplies a vulnerable perspective to the story, it presents a clichéd aspect of conventionalism that doesn’t match Araki’s usual artistic flare.

Memories of Kat’s mother are laced throughout the film, as Kat tries to decipher the cause of the disappearance. Green, although not receiving a terribly substantial amount of screen time, pulls together a stunning performance that accentuates the dysfunctional state of her family unit. Eve is at first a carbon copy of a 1950s television housewife, happily perfecting the home for her working husband. However, a missing link in her seemingly perfect setup transforms her into a person releasing sexual tension, angry tendencies and a desperate desire to escape monotony and find passion.

The struggle to unveil the truth about Eve’s disappearance and the cause of the family’s vulnerability is all set in a slightly off-kilter world created by Araki. The colors are enhanced, emphasizing an air of illusion that is almost dreamlike. Subtle, dark and sometimes horrific images of Eve’s haunting past weave themselves into the plot, making the mystery all the more engrossing. This film has the power to maintain an actively involved audience, making one constantly question the integrity of the evidence provided. With Araki’s somewhat warped perspective of this world, something is always being contradicted.

This is the kind of film that is the most perplexing, the most fun, when viewed for the first time. The answer to this family’s problems is hidden masterfully into the seemingly chaotic blizzard of a story. But once the storm passes, everything is clear. It is a story, however, that is different than all those whodunit kind of plotlines, in that even after the story is resolved, questions still arise. The film leaves the audience engrossed well after the credits run.

Thrilling, gripping and odd, “White Bird in a Blizzard” stands out in a flurry of dramas as a film that should not be overlooked.

– Maryrose Kulick