The directorial debut of writer-turned-director, Andrew Hulme, gritty gangster film Snow in Paradise has moments of excitement and fresh ideas for the mob genre, but just can’t keep up a strong pace. Based on the life of East End criminal Martin Askew (who co-wrote and acts in the film), the plot is more wrapped-up in detail than in telling an interesting story at times and while a few characters stand out, the majority fall disappointingly flat.
Dave (Frederick Schmidt) lives a life of drugs and violence doing work for his Uncle Jimmy (Askew), accompanied by his best mate Tariq (Aymen Hamdouchi). Dave makes a grievous mistake and Tariq dies as a result of his selfishness. Battling his inner demons of guilt and regret, Dave falls deeper into the gangster life before turning to Tariq’s former mosque and finding Islam.
Sadly, the portrayal of Dave simply isn’t as believable as it should be for a protagonist. Too many scenes rely on Schmidt staring into the distance looking pouty, his mouth hanging open whilst hard to hear dialog mumbles from its side. Muted reactions are one thing, but when Tariq dies, Dave’s initial response makes it seem like his favourite football team just lost, not that his best friend is gone forever. He also spends a lot of time going on cocaine and drink benders, partying like it’s 1989. We get it: he likes to cut loose. Visually the film is stunning, with excellent lighting and well-thought-out camera angles helping to keep the right mood throughout, but such repetitive scenes feel unnecessary and fail to add anything to the message or setting of the movie, apart from making it feel drawn-out and overlong.
With a central performance that is outshone by some of the supporting cast in both delivery and presence, Snow in Paradise just isn’t convincing enough to resonate. It tries to be both a badass gangster film and the story of reformed hard man, the result, however, is a movie that accomplishes neither.