February 6, 2009: Frozen River
Now, here’s a revelation! A quiet, understated little movie, nominally anchored around one woman’s struggles, but with a supporting tapestry of characters and settings which perfectly capture the bleak and hopeless tone found in so much of the movie. But bleak and hopeless though it may seem, these people have heart, and they know not to dismiss others outright just because of appearances or even first impressions, and it leads to far greater warmth and understanding than the icy landscapes of northern New York state would suggest are possible.
I knew nothing about this movie and may not have even heard of it before Melissa Leo got an Oscar nomination for Best Actress. There are usually one or two lead acting nominations scattered through the Oscars for small obscure films with what are considered to be standout performances by lesser-known actors.
Leo plays a mother of two in upstate New York, recently left single by a compulsive gambler husband who ran off, leaving her in desperate financial straits and with a payment due on the new double-wide trailer they plan to move into. Following a chance conflict with a Mohawk woman from a local reserve, the two women encounter each other again and Leo learns that she can make money by smuggling illegal immigrants in from Canada across the frozen river separating the U.S. side of the reserve from the Canadian side. The two become enamoured of the easy money and push their luck, coming closer and closer to getting caught, and in the process they learn that their situations are more similar than it first appeared, and they learn where their own limits are. We cringe as we watch them blow past any prudent limits on the way to the inevitable conclusion, and this predictability detracts from the film despite being necessary for the movie to exist in the first place. I don’t know exactly what I expect, since I don’t suppose I expect a movie about people who clearly understand what they can get away with, and profit from their crimes with no repercussions. I like to think that’s more realistic, but when I open a newspaper (in a figurative sense what with the internet and all) to see what’s happening in the world, I realize that maybe movies are more realistic than I like to think. Still, there are careful and smooth ways of telling these stories, and there are awkward and predictable ways. Guess which one this is.
When I see obscure movies like this which are nominated for awards, I’m sometimes really taken by those performances, and sometimes not so much. On the occasions when I’m not so taken, I end up wondering whether I understand movies and their related craft at all. I was impressed but not blown away by Melissa Leo’s performance in Frozen River, so I don’t quite know what to think. This is a “desperate mothers doing things for their children” movie, which is traditionally a no-brainer for acting awards, so I guess that explains it. But to be fair, this character-driven piece, flawed though it is and despite sometimes-repetitive pacing, finds itself in the end and rewards the forgiving viewer.
The harsh winter scenes are clearly intended to reflect the bleak outlook for the community. I was impressed by the depth of character of the two kids, and how they reacted to the newly desperate state in their family, trying to be strong and realizing that their mother was just doing what she could. At the same time, kids will be kids and they get into trouble and don’t always listen to their mother, just like real children. I didn’t immediately clue into the recency of their extreme poverty, wondering why she sent her kids to school with lunch money rather than packing homemade lunches, until I realized that they were in the adjustment period where all old habits are turned upside down, and hadn’t yet figured out where they needed to tighten up. I was reminded of Wendy and Lucy in the subject matter as well as the desaturated and threadbare aesthetic of the film, and realized that again I had misinterpreted the exact state of poverty of the main characters.
I wouldn’t recommend that anyone rush out to see this, but it’s a solid rental for someone looking for a low-key drama which manages to achieve an intensity through the actions and internal conflicts of its characters, rather than from more outward and obvious conflict.
Riveting in its way, but flawed.
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