Amir here. When I was compiling my list of 2013’s most anticipated films a couple of weeks ago, one of the titles that slipped under my radar was Snowpiercer. With the first official still from the film released yesterday the internet is awash with news about this sci-fi and I might have to adjust my list a little bit!
Snowpiercer, adapted from a French graphic novel titled Le Transperceneige, marks the English language debut of South Korean director Bong Joon-ho. He’s dabbled in different genres but is best known for his two most recent efforts: the monster flick The Host, which became a smash hit in its home country; and the internationally acclaimed Mother, for which Kim Hye-Ja won a bunch of best actress titles including from the Los Angeles Film Critics Association.
first poster and plot concept after the jump
This new film is set in the future, where a failed experiment to eradicate global warming has led the earth into total destruction by an Ice Age. The only remaining human life is on the train "Snowpiercer", where a revolution is brewing in protest to the class system developed among the passengers. Bong’s brought together his Monster star Song Kangho (pictured above), Chris Evans, her holiness Tilda Swinton, Jamie Bell, Alison Pill, Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, and Oscar nominees Ed Harris and John Hurt.
If these are the last people alive on earth, earth chose well. It could have been so much worse but that eclectic list of names sure is compelling.
More interesting than the still image is the accompanying concept art that paints a devastating picture of the post-destruction earth. It’s a film that presumably gives ample opportunity to the designers to maneuver and from what we see in these preliminary images, it’s evident that they’ve seized the day.
Snowpiercer is being tipped for a summer release that will put it only a few weeks apart from Park Chan-Wook's Stoker on the calendar. (The latter stars Nicole Kidman and Mia Wasikowska and, interestingly enough, is another English language debut from an acclaimed South Korean director)