Viewed: FROZEN RIVER

The story is moving but the film is not. Acting is good but not phenomenal. Melissa Leo got nominated for Oscar, but maybe the subject was more moving than the acting. And sometimes that can affect the viewing - when the film fails to grip you strongly, other things can pale because of that.

Ray has been abandoned by her gambling-addict husband with her two sons; she struggles to make her living. She was on the verge of buying a home but the husband left her and...she can't afford that. Forget that, she can't even afford meals for her kids, as she has only a part-time job. A chance encounter with an Red Indian woman, a smuggler of people from across Canada to USA over the frozen river, changes her life as she gets involved for the money to make life better for her kids.

The Indian's one year old son has been taken away by her mother-in-law and that seems her justification for smuggling - make money and leave it at her in-laws doorstep. Ray and she get together to smuggle more people so they can get some money for their needs. They run into complications but continue as getting money is more critical than the fear of going to jail.

The hassle with the film is that it tries to be earnest; the characters are out in sympathetic situations and despite their hardships, you don't really relate to them. There is conflict between Ray and her 15-yr old son, and Ray and the Indian woman, but...nothing is convincing. Things kind of resolve too conveniently. And harping over the same issue over and over again doesn't work.

It's an interesting comparison with the film, The Wrestler, which had a very straight forward storyline and was so very effective. Unlike this film, which has scope for highlighting the desperation of the single-mother trying to survive but the depiction is wanting. The tension never really builds up and the release happens too easily, and then...we have standard cliched scenes of satisfaction when someone issues are overcome or too obvious in-your-face sympathy oriented scenes.

The terrain is new, the story is interesting but the momentum never builds up. It's somewhat surprising that Melissa Leo ranked in the top 5 Oscar nominations, but then...awards, like almost anything connected with emotions, are always subjective.


Screenplay: Courtney Hunt
Director: Courtney Hunt

Rating **1/2

[Max ****]



{Watched on 25th Feb, 7.45 pm show at Starz (Tivoli.) 10 people were present in an audi of around 115 capacity. We wanted to attend the 5.15 show but got late courtesy the traffic; bought tickets and had not so great grub at the food court, japanese joint. After that went for a very nice walk in the lovely Auraria (Metro) campus; the downtown with its high rise buildings lit-up in the evening looked fantastic.}