Review: Snowbound 'Centigrade' Can't Get Under the Icy Surface

Disaster and survival films tend to veer towards spectacle with large casts, special effects, and/or expansive sets or landscapes. "Centigrade" diverges from the survival genre norm, as almost the entire film takes place in a car, reminiscent of limited-setting survival films like "Lifeboat" and "7500." A pregnant novelist, Naomi (Genesis Rodriguez), and her husband, Matt (Vincent Piazza) are trapped in their ice- and snowbound car in Norway while traveling on her book tour.

The film immediately plunges us into disaster, opening on ice covering a windshield. It's in this situation that the couple awakens. A single piano key plays, evoking a horror film score. The doors won't open; the car won't start. They can't get cell service, and they only have a little food. They endure hypothermia, from shivering to, eventually, disorientation and hallucinations.

"Centigrade" invokes a sense of dread and claustrophobic unease. With good cinematography, the film shows visual interest in a confined space with variation in camera angles and shot composition. The filmmakers filmed the actors in two cars placed in a 20-degree ice cream freezer over 24 days. Genesis Rodriguez is great in her role, and Vincent Piazza gives a solid performance.

Anchoring its narrative in reality as "inspired by actual events," the film insinuates it's based on one specific true story via its prologue and epilogue. But in an interview with "Entertainment Weekly," director and co-writer Brendan Walsh says it "was inspired by many true stories. We culled together about 10 different stories all from very average people, trying to figure their way through this event."

"Centigrade" illuminates how a relationship fractures under extreme physical and emotional duress. In the opening scene, the couple immediately bickers. Naomi says they should have kept driving, but Matt says they stopped due to freezing rain. By day four, Matt snaps at Naomi for not putting a water bottle cap on tightly after he spills it. Throughout their ordeal, they vehemently debate solutions. Naomi thinks they should leave because otherwise they will freeze, and rescue is uncertain; Matt believes they should stay because they have shelter, candlelight, and blankets. Matt continually minimizes Naomi's ideas. He's controlling, as he interrogates Naomi about her writing and medication she takes. In a compelling scene, they yell and pound on the car hearing a snowplow approach. When the plow doesn't stop, their hopes dashed, it triggers an intense confrontation about Matt's job and dishonesty. He viciously accuses her of not wanting the baby, igniting her rage as she retorts, "Don't try to tell me how I feel about having my child!"

Despite their arguments, which reveal facets of the characters, the film needs more scintillating dialogue and sharper writing to further develop the characters' complexities and motivations. Strangely, we never learn much about their personalities, fears, and desires.

As someone who loves survival and disaster films, I appreciated the film but I craved more depth. "Centigrade" offers a harrowing, intriguing premise but it needed stronger writing to be more compelling and yield more emotional resonance.