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| Movie Review: Frozen River Alternate Title: Ice Follies
Story: A film about two women
whose commonality lies in the fact that they are both dirt poor, struggling
to merely survive and will do anything it takes to care for their children
may not have wide appeal but if you can find this fine film in your
neighborhood you must see it. It was sensitively written and directed
by Courtney Hunt and is obviously a labor of love.
Ray Eddy, an mother who lives in a broken down trailer with her two
kids finds herself mired in the world of illegal immigrant smuggling
via the US-Canadian border. She's broke, her jerk of a husband vanished
with the down payment for their new double wide so she reluctantly teams
up with Lila, a shunned young Mohawk indian smuggler. The scenes where these women make runs across the frozen St. Lawrence
River carrying the desperate illegal Chinese and Pakistani immigrants
in the trunk of her Dodge Spirit is the stuff of great cinema. What leads women to take such risks? Can you empathize and could you
do the same thing to support your kids? This is a sober, somber film
with true grit. It is an unsentimental story of single mothers grasping
at a chance of a better life for their kids. See it. Acting: Melissa Leo (played Kay Howard on the great
TV show, Homicide) is amazing. I believed every look and every
word out of her mouth. Misty Upham as the desperate
Mohawk woman was terrific too. Charlie McDermott as
the 15 year old son was wonderful. The rest of the largely unprofessional
cast worked well.
Trivia: Melissa Leo has a son with former boyfriend
John Heard born in 1987.
Predilection: None
Critters: Dogs.
Food: Popcorn and Tang
Sex Spectrum: No sex
Soundtrack: Appropriately tense.
Visual Art: The stark winter landscape of Plattsburg
NY is stunningly bleak.
Theater Audience: A handful of people.
Weather: Brrrrrr.
Sappy Factor: 0
Quirky Meter: 0
Squirm Scale: 0
Drift Factor: I did not drift at all but there were
plenty of snow drifts.
Predictability Level: I was not sure what was going
to happen.
Tissue Usage: 0
Oscar Worthy: I would like to see Melissa Leo get
a nod for this performance.
Big Screen or Rental: Support the Indies and see
it on the big screen. By the way, it seems to me that there are a lot
of films with the word 'River' in the title. Some that come to mind
are: Mystic River, Bridge over the River Kwai, The Man From Snowy River,
River Runs Thru it and a River of No Return to name a few.
Length: 90 minutes
LOBO HOWLS: 8.5 |