Mar 27, 2009 12:47 PM
1867 Views
To most people, the mention of “New York” brings to one’smind a vision of tall buildings, glitz, glamour and the hustle and bustle of abig city that never sleeps. While many films have used “New York City” as abackdrop for their storylines, few films, give a glimpse of Upstate New York(Northern New York state).
Which is relatively remote, with sparse populationand hardly any public transportation. It is surrounded by the beautifulAdirondack mountains, and borders with Canada. This region in Northern New Yorkhas beautiful lakes, rivers and miles of hiking trails. While northern New Yorkstate is blessed with mild summers and beautiful fall colors its winters arefrigid, gray and extremely cold.
As a backdrop of her film, debutante director Courtney Huntuses the icy cold winter of Upstate New York, to narrate the story of a friendship that develops between two most unlikely women, as a result of the“circumstances” that they are thrust into. The skies are gray; the ground is covered with several inches of snow, and the Saint Lawrence River (which flows between certain parts of Canada and upstate New York, US) is completely frozen.
Through the course of the story it is this frozen river that becomes almost one of the major characters of the film, hence the title. The film begins with a steady-cam shot ofa visibly frustrated woman, Ray (Melissa Leo in an Oscar nominated role) withunkempt hair, in barefoot and shabby clothes sitting out in the snow, smoking acigarette in front of her trailer park disheveled home.
Ray’s husband, a gambling addict has deserted her and their two sons (a teenager and a five year-old), and has run away after taking all their savings, with which they were supposed to buy a new home. She barely has a part time job and there is hardlyanything left to put food on the table. The kids are served popcorn and juicefor ‘meals’. Desperate, she goes to the nearest gambling parlor in search ofher husband, but doesn’t find him there. However, she finds his abandoned car-outside.
As she heads toward her husband’s car, a Mohwak (a particular native American tribe) woman, Lila (Misty Upham) finds the keys dangling inside the car, gets into it and takes off. Ray frantically follows her to her place and what unfolds is a powerful, tense, gritty tale of risk, perseverance, desperation and sacrifice. The film very successfully addresses several social problems, such as illegal immigration, racism, the home-buyer crisis and rising-gas prices without being preachy. The director manages to keep the audience engrossed throughout the film.
Considering this is her first film, Courtney Hunthas done an outstanding job, both as a writer and director. The movie was made within a shoe-string budget, but Courtney’s story-telling andeye for detail is first-rate and the canvas of the film doesn’t really matter.Because many of the shots are those of the characters within cars, Courtney has deftly used a combination of side angle and frontal close-ups to convey theemotions of the main characters.
Except for one aerial shot, most others are long shots with a few trolley shots thrown in. Courtney successfully narratesthe story of two impoverished women in the brink of desperation, who never give up. This movie could have easily fallen prey to another sob story and generated pity toward the indigent characters from the audience, but doesn’t. Instead the narration and screenplay are so tight that it almost gives a “thriller” aspectto the film and keeps the audience at the edge of their seats. The risky drives during nights/ snow storms across the frozen river to smuggle illegal immigrants, while a cop car sits right at the border gives a chilling effect, especially with the way the back stories have been interwoven.
In addition to splendid direction and writing, the film also boasts of power-packed performances from actressesMelissa Leo, Misty Upham and actor Charlie McDermott (who plays Leo’s 15 yearold son). Leo’s brilliant, realistic depiction of a, “matter of fact” resolute, un-repentant woman makes “Frozen River” a gripping tale. She refuses to behumiliated, and one can’t help but admire her resilience.
The complicated relations between thepeople of Mohawk descent and whites in some regions has been shown through thecharacter of Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham), an insolent, ill-reputed woman whodoesn’t see very well, but is involved in the business of smuggling illegalimmigrants into the United States from Canada. The movie is a beautifulendearing tale of two people who meet by chance, and are drawn together due totheir dire circumstances. The director keeps the audience immersed indiscovering the initially hostile, but gradually unwilling comradeship thatforms between Ray and Lila without drawing sympathy or making it overtlyemotional. The characters are not the ‘quintessential nice people’ but quitethe opposite, yet very real, which is why they connect with the audience.
Through subtle nuances in her film thedirector has very cleverly put forward a fundamental question for the audience.Is crime (in any way shape or form) justified if it becomes a question of twosquare meals and basic survival. Isn’tpoverty driven struggle for survival the root cause of crime in most cases?
The film initially made the rounds at the Festivalcircuits and won several awards including the Grand Jury Prize at the SundanceFilm Festival. Because this film wasn’t much hyped, and had limited release, unfortunately at the box office it went un-noticed. But then with the Oscarnominations of Melissa Leo and Courtney Hunt (for writing), the film did pickup momentum. This film is a must-see from the writing and performances point ofview for the ‘serious’ film audience. However, if you are fan of lightentertainers, I would not recommend it.
