White Bird in a Blizzard (2014)

dir Gregg Araki

White Bird in a Blizzard…good film, bad poster. This is a book I definitely judged by its cover. But am I wrong? Everything about it is boring and flat and totally misrepresenting the actual movie. Yes, there’s a mysterious element that’s not usually present in Araki’s work, but it doesn’t make everything dreary blue-grey. This feels like natural artistic evolution after making Mysterious Skin a decade earlier. Similar mood. Less of the edgy dialogue and colorful visuals than his earlier work.  We do get a cool scene in the goth club, though.

Shailene Woodley delivers a great performance as a typical Araki lead with all the usual abstract dream sequences and ongoing narration. We get more than a glimpse into the story of her life specifically surrounding her relationship with her mother. I think this might have been the most frank depiction of familial abuse in any of Gregg Araki’s work. He definitely doesn’t shy away from the nastiest parts of trauma but I can’t think of any other instance in one of his films where the abuse originates with the parents.

Personally I think the way Gregg Araki uses symbolism can be a little clunky and very obvious, but I also think that’s kind of the best part about it. The repeating blizzard dream is really on the nose when you think about it for any longer than a second, but I think I like it more than the more random choices Araki has gone with like the animal masks in Kaboom. Overall, it works for me. I fucking love Gregg Araki.

One more thing before I get out of here- this is exactly what I was talking about when I said Honey Dont! felt like an Araki film. I didn’t have the right comparison until I watched White Bird but here we are. I bet it would make a great double feature! Try it out and let me know if you agree or if you’d rather see me drop dead!