4 frosty films where snow sets the scene

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I know it’s just weather, but snow has an uncanny ability to evoke a range of emotions. And if you’ve lived in New England for a while, you’ve likely experienced a few of them. (Wonder, contentment and frustration, to start.)

Snow can add an extra layer of coziness to the vibe when you’re nestled indoors. But when the winds are howling with whiteout conditions and you’re stuck outside, it doesn’t exactly have the same effect. It’s this evocative nature that led me to wonder how movie directors deploy snow in their films as a character, backdrop or catalyst in their stories. Essentially, how does snow set the mood in a movie?

And I knew just who to ask to find the answer.

“I always say that a movie is doing something really special when you can feel its weather,” film critic Sean Burns told me. He shared a few wintry weather movie recommendations that will make you feel everything from fanciful romance to fear.

“One of my favorites is ‘Wonder Boys,’” said Burns. The film, which stars Frances McDormand, Tobey Maguire and Michael Douglas, was shot around Pennsylvania and tells the story of a frustrated novelist.

“It’s freezing rain for most of that movie. And you just feel it in your bones,” he said. “There’s a shot of a piece of pizza on the porch after a party getting rained on, and I feel like that’s the most evocative — I want to put a sweatshirt on when I watch it.”

During the film, Burns said there’s a shift into a more melancholy sequence where the freezing rain turns to snow. “Everything looks really pretty all of the sudden,” he added. “And I find there’s like a pillow effect when you have snow in a movie because it softens all the sound.”

This action comedy film stars George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez as star-crossed lovers in a more unconventional sense.

“Oh, this is a great movie,” said Burns. “He’s a bank robber who breaks out of prison, and she’s the federal marshal chasing him, and they fall in love.”

Then comes a scene where Clooney’s character, Jack Foley, surprises Lopez’s character, Karen Sisco, at her hotel. “They’re pretending to be other people so she doesn’t have to arrest him,” said Burns. “And they’re in this hotel lobby and the snow starts falling around them and it’s really beautiful. It looks like they’re inside a little children’s snow globe and it adds this wonderful fantasy effect.”

This film was shot in snowy British Columbia and is considered an “anti-Western” — even though its ending is pretty classic for the genre.

“There’s a big shootout in the snow,” said Burns. “And it muffles everything and it buries everybody.”

We won’t spoil the result of the shootout, but Burns says the final moments are pretty haunting. “It’s gonna be an unpleasant spring there when they thaw out,” said Burns.

The snow in this horror film by Stanley Kubrick (based on Stephen King’s novel of the same name) is working overtime. Piles and piles of it paint a perfect Colorado winter picture at first. But as the story progresses, the snow becomes a hindrance, then an obstacle and, finally, an executioner.

“'The Shining’ is ultimate, right?” said Burns. “Outside in the maze, in the snow. It’s just very evocative.”

Honorable mentions

You’ve got a wide selection of movies to choose from if you want to watch something that mirrors the snowy weather we’re bound to get at some point this winter. Burns also suggests “Dr. Zhivago” (a 1965 epic set in snowy Russia during World War I), “Batman Returns” (the 1992 Michael Keaton one) and “anything where James Bond is skiing.”

“There are a lot of those,” he added.

P.S. — You can't watch a movie without popcorn; it's the rules. Here & Now resident chef Kathy Gunst previously shared some popcorn flavor variations that are perfect way to level up this ultimate movie food.