In the Colorado mountains, Mike and his family live a simple rustic life. Soon after learning of his mother’s alcohol struggles, she disappears into the snow and Mike’s life is forever changed in writer-director Andrew Haigh’s latest drama A Long Winter.
Until the spring flowers come
by Chris Drew
2 STARS
CAUTION: Here be spoilers
Adult brothers Mike (Fred Hechinger, Thelma) and Tommy (Kit Connor, Warfare) share a room in their parent’s home, Mike has been away and returned while Tommy is leaving for the forces imminently.
Out shopping in the small town his mother Louise (Catriona Balfe, Belfast) Mike spots her having a quick drink in a bar which she covers up.
During a family dinner, Louise has a moment of melancholy saying she misses her mother’s cake-making revealing a reflective sadness.
Discovering a delivery of alcohol, Lester (Ebon Moss-Bachrach, No Hard Feelings) pours away the wine leaving his wife distraught.
In a moving moment Mike says he will get his mother some food and she quietly says it’s not food she wants. Perhaps naively Mike is insistent they should just give her the wine she wants.
Soon after they discover Louise, with the family dog, has headed out into the snow. Lester and Mike start to search but a storm strikes and their van gets stuck in the snow.
Returning home, phone lines are down and soon roads are closed limiting search efforts.
Lester suspects that local man Ben (David Furr, 13 Hours) will know Louise’s whereabouts and regales to them that Louise was once found at Ben’s with their hands on each other with Ben making sure to tell everyone.
Lester aggressively confronts Ben, in front of the police, when he arrives at the house and Ben says Louise left because of Lester.
Louise’s brother Frank (Martin Freeman, Hot Fuzz) tells Mike that Louise had begged Lester on her hands and knees to move away from mountains.
Confronting his father, Lester says she would have drunk herself to death in the city with Mike painfully replying Lester did not keep her safe.
The police break to Mike that it is now an effort to recover a body and he’s memorably told to ‘follow the vultures’ who will circle when a body is visible in the thawing snow.
Mike walks through the snow daily, looking for any sign, creating friction with Lester who wants him doing work in the house. Later Jimmy (D’Pharaoh Woon-A-Tai, Caught Stealing) comes to live to support around the house, and he gradually becomes company for Mike.
In the final scene the haunting screeches of a dying vulture, which echo around the mountain, will stay with you once the credits role.
It is a film full of deer-stalker hats and fur-collared coats with the most literal title, it is perpetually snowy, freezing and windy. The incredible landscapes and shots of the snow are very impressive with the breathtaking Alberta vistas standing in for Colorado.
Much like Haigh’s earlier films Weekend and 45 Years A Long Winter is far more about character than plot.
In this case, however, it is obviously adapted from a short story – by Colm Tóibín author of Brooklyn – and has been stretched out to a feature film without having enough story to warrant it.
Mike’s unspoken sexuality – shared looks with a young police officer and imagining him in the next bed and some later moments with Jimmy – feels like an unresolved and incomplete addition.
While the search for Louise is initially compelling, as it is soon determined she is dead, and therefore effectively resolved. In a couple of places, score is used to create suspense which just is not there.
Mike is very much a passive lead – almost acting as an audience surrogate – and Hechinger is given very few notes to play.
The early scenes between the brothers are effective, with Hechinger and Connor having nice chemistry, but after Tommy’s departure it is not revealed if he receives the letters Mike sends him or if he is indeed still alive.
Balfe plays Louise’ sadness well has one great crying breakdown before leaving the film while the rest of the supporting cast are solid.
A Long Winter is one for Haigh completists and fans of beautiful wintery landscapes.
A Long Winter screened as a UK Premiere at the 2026 BFI London Film Festival.
