White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)

In 1988, a teenage girl's life is thrown into chaos when her mother disappears.

Director:

Gregg Araki

Writers:

Gregg Araki (screenplay by), Laura Kasischke (based on the novel by)

Stars:

Shailene Woodley, Eva Green, Christopher Meloni

4 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Shailene Woodley	...	Kat Connors
Eva Green	...	Eve Connors
Christopher Meloni	...	Brock Connors
Shiloh Fernandez	...	Phil
Angela Bassett	...	Dr. Thaler
Gabourey Sidibe	...	Beth
Ava Acres	...	Kat age 8
Thomas Jane	...	Detective Scieziesciez
Mark Indelicato	...	Mickey
Dale Dickey	...	Mrs. Hillman
Sheryl Lee	...	May
Michael Patrick McGill	...	Aaron
Jill Johnson	...	Secretary
Jacob Artist	...	Oliver
Brenda Koo	...	Cindy

Storyline

Kat Connors is 17 years old when her seemingly perfect homemaker mother, Eve, disappears in 1988. Having lived for so long in an emotionally repressed household, she barely registers her mother's absence and certainly doesn't blame her doormat of a father, Brock, for the loss. But as time passes, Kat begins to come to grips with how deeply Eve's disappearance has affected her. Returning home on a break from college, she finds herself confronted with the truth about her mother's departure, and her own denial about the events surrounding it...

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Plot Keywords:

teenage girl | missing person | mysterious disappearance | mother daughter relationship | female nudity | 

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Taglines:

I was 17 when my mother disappeared...

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Genres:

Drama | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexual content/nudity, language and some drug use

Did You Know?

Trivia

Star Shailene Woodley explained to Glamour UK magazine why she decided to take the role knowing it would involve nudity and how she can't understand why other actresses insist on wearing underwear during sex scenes. "I'm totally comfortable with nudity. I'm not sure it empowers me as an actress or anything, but if I'm going to do a movie with sex scenes, then I'm going to be naked, because I don't know about you, but I don't have sex with bras and panties on."

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Goofs

When Kat visits Theo's apartment the first time, Kat's beer bottle jumps between being on the table and being in her hands.

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Quotes

Kat Connor: [narrating] I was seventeen when my mother disappeared. Just as I was becoming nothing *but* my body - flesh and blood and raging hormones - she stepped out of hers and left it behind.

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Connections

Featured in The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon: Shailene Woodley/Michael Shannon/Eric Church (2014)

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Soundtracks

It's a Mug's Game
Written by Marc Almond and Dave Ball (as David Ball)
Performed by Soft Cell

User Reviews

Not that great

This movie is a hard movie to rate I feel, although many scenes are well orchestrated together as a movie it just doesn't make you feel anything, and the ending is clearly meant to be moving and shocking but it's really not.

Acting is... Okay, it's not bad but again the cast fail to make you sympathise with any of them, visually it's really good looking so that's always a plus but a lot of times the movie seems more focused on showcasing Shailene Woodley's breasts than anything else.

Now there's nothing wrong with them at all, in fact they are pretty neat however I'd prefer her keeping her clothes on if that meant that the director could focus on telling the story in it's best way as possible.

Listed as a drama/mystery/thriller but the drama that is feel too flat and superficial to ever hit an emotional core, even though it tries in the end but by then it's too late and based on how the characters interacted with each other previous having that boastful dramatic ending simply does not make much sense.

As far as the mystery well... sure there is some mystery I suppose but there are only so many ways it can end so it doesn't become very successful in that department either, plus most times it focuses on the teenager's sex-life more than anything else.

As far as the thriller goes, well even less there going on honestly, there's not many scenes of suspense here to be found.

No tbh it felt like this movie would work a lot better if they did it as a dark comedy and went a little more crazy with it, I think the movie could have succeeded at being that with just minor tweaks to the script.

I was debating whether to give it a 5 or a 4 but after writing down my thoughts here it has to be a 4 after all, there is talent involved but the movie just kinda feels a bit pointless.

Details

Official Sites:

Official Facebook Official Site

Country:

France USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

25 September 2014 (USA)

Also Known As:

White Bird in a Blizzard

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Box Office

Opening Weekend USA:

$6,302, 26 October 2014

Gross USA:

$33,821

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$469,701

Company Credits

Production Co:

Desperate Pictures, Orange Studio, Why Not Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

91 min

Sound Mix:

Dolby Dolby Digital

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1