Spring Break
'River' not a mainstream film
by Sean Fabery
Arts | 11/18/08
Posted online at 1:29 AM EST on 11/18/08
Actress Melissa Leo has never been a fan of playing "skirt-and-tight-sweater kind of characters." Fortunately for her, her character in Frozen River certainly doesn't fit that description.
Leo appeared at the Wasserman Cinematheque on Thursday night for a screening of the film along with a question and answer session moderated by Brandeis alumnus Scott Feinberg, who currently works as a blogger for the Los Angeles Times. The screening was the second in the Film Studies department's "Chasing Oscar" series. Leo is considered a frontrunner for a Best Actress nomination at the 2009 Academy Awards.
Frozen River follows Ray Eddy (Leo), as she raises her two sons alone after her husband abandons them. In order to make money, Ray begins illegally smuggling people into the U.S. by transporting them across a Mohawk reservation that straddles the American-Canadian border. To do so, she must drive across the frozen St. Lawrence River. Ray forms an uneasy partnership with Lila (Misty Upham), a Mohawk woman who dreams of reuniting with her stolen son.
Frozen River boasts two strong leads in Leo and Upham. Despite the few words spoken between them, the two beautifully portray their characters' tense relationship. Little warmth exists; they even hold each other at gunpoint. Yet, by the film's end, Ray and Lila are firmly entrenched in one another's lives. Leo and Upham make this transformation believable, bringing sympathy to two otherwise morose, chilly characters. Though the film touches on issues like illegal immigration and poverty, its heart is in the bond forged between the two mothers.
Writer-director Courtney Hunt excels in both vocations, offering a taut script and objective, no-frills direction. Frozen River never enters the realm of melodrama; instead it remains grounded in the bleak reality of the characters' lives. Ray has simple goals: she wants a better life for her family, which means putting something on the dinner table other than Tang and popcorn and securing the double-wide trailer home of their dreams. The film's plot offers a bitter realism which ensures that the premise never becomes mired in the sentimental or the saccharine.
Leo appeared at the Wasserman Cinematheque on Thursday night for a screening of the film along with a question and answer session moderated by Brandeis alumnus Scott Feinberg, who currently works as a blogger for the Los Angeles Times. The screening was the second in the Film Studies department's "Chasing Oscar" series. Leo is considered a frontrunner for a Best Actress nomination at the 2009 Academy Awards.
Frozen River follows Ray Eddy (Leo), as she raises her two sons alone after her husband abandons them. In order to make money, Ray begins illegally smuggling people into the U.S. by transporting them across a Mohawk reservation that straddles the American-Canadian border. To do so, she must drive across the frozen St. Lawrence River. Ray forms an uneasy partnership with Lila (Misty Upham), a Mohawk woman who dreams of reuniting with her stolen son.
Frozen River boasts two strong leads in Leo and Upham. Despite the few words spoken between them, the two beautifully portray their characters' tense relationship. Little warmth exists; they even hold each other at gunpoint. Yet, by the film's end, Ray and Lila are firmly entrenched in one another's lives. Leo and Upham make this transformation believable, bringing sympathy to two otherwise morose, chilly characters. Though the film touches on issues like illegal immigration and poverty, its heart is in the bond forged between the two mothers.
Writer-director Courtney Hunt excels in both vocations, offering a taut script and objective, no-frills direction. Frozen River never enters the realm of melodrama; instead it remains grounded in the bleak reality of the characters' lives. Ray has simple goals: she wants a better life for her family, which means putting something on the dinner table other than Tang and popcorn and securing the double-wide trailer home of their dreams. The film's plot offers a bitter realism which ensures that the premise never becomes mired in the sentimental or the saccharine.
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