Snow Angels, the last film that Green directed from his own script is no exception to this axiom, bringing out the often heartbreaking emotions that are deeply ingrained in the family relationship and small town life.

The parallel storylines follow the furtive first blushes of teenage love and the agony of a failing marriage. Unlike most films, the details of each come out quietly, through frank dialogue that sounds like it were coming from the mouths of your neighbors instead of actors. The scenes often feel like the moments between the BIG emotional scenes that mark most Hollywood movies, free of swelling music and chest beating monologues.

The film feels unnaturally real, which makes it hard to watch sometimes - particularly in those heartbreaking early sequences between Sam Rockwell's character, Glenn, and his movie daughter, as he tries to encourage her to tell her mother that he doesn't drink anymore. All credit must go to Rockwell for delivering that message with such desperate calm, ashamedly sneaking it in to his conversation. The conversations between Glenn and his wife, Barb (played by Kate Beckinsale), are equally devastating, as he tries to find anyway to win his way back into her heart.

As it progresses Snow Angels smolders with more and more intensity, slowly burning as the emotional intensity is ticked up. It is tempered by the sweetness of the romance between Olivia Thirlby and Michael Angarano, the high schoolers who make a tenuous but loving connection over the course of the winter, but it is the brutal truth of the adult relationships that stays with you most.