Reviews > Movie Reviews > Frozen River…
Frozen River Review
A compelling and original story fashioned from the fabric of social realism, Courtney Hunt's film is a penetrating character study with a heavyweight central performance.
Ray (Melissa Leo) is trying to keep it together, working as many hours as she can get at the local grocery store, trying to get ahead on the mortgage payments to get her kids out of a trailer and into something more permanent. She’s not getting much help in that regard from her husband, a gambling addict who – as the film begins – has taken off in for an unspecified destination.
Cast details
-
Top rated films View all Homicide - Life on the Street - Season 3 - Complete (1994) 
Homicide - Life on the Street - Season 6 - Complete (1997) 
Ray looks for him everywhere she can think of, then sees a woman driving his car and follows her back to her trailer. Lila Littlejohn (Misty Upham) is a Mohawk Indian who claims to have found the car abandoned, and decided to put it to good use. She knows someone who will give them $2000 for it, she says… Which is how the women find themselves going into an uneasy partnership in the people smuggling business.
Frozen River gets its name and a good part of its drama from the unusual setting. Ray lives on the edge of the Mohawk reservation that spans both sides of the Saint Lawrence River. On the Northern shore, the Mohawk live in Canada. To the south, they are in the United States. Over the deep winter months, the Saint Lawrence freezes over. In some places, the ice is so thick you can drive a car across it. Course, you do have to know what you’re doing – and keep an eye out for the thaw.
These slippery border crossings are fraught with tension, and Hunt builds up the stakes every time. But – for better or worse – she resists the urge to turn the movie into a straight thriller. Her interest is always on the two women and the economic straits that compel them to risk so much.
Frozen River: Misty Upham and Melissa Leo
If you don’t recognise Melissa Leo, the fortysomething actress playing Ray, then you must have missed the cutting edge cop series Homicide: Life on the Streets (1994-1997), in which she played Detective Kay Howard. Leo also had decent roles in 21 Grams and The Three Burials Of Melquiades Estrada (2005), but for the most part she’s toiled in the trenches of TV and low budget film without hitting lucky.
Until now, that is. Leo is a good advertisement for steering clear of Botox and the knife. She has a careworn face, lined and creased but authentic and expressive in a way that – to take an obvious example – Nicole Kidman’s isn’t. In Frozen River, Ray is permanently frazzled, but Leo lets us understand the practical considerations that govern the character’s questionable choices, and the ethical convictions that still inform her actions.
The Grand Jury prize winner at Sundance 2008, and a double Oscar-nominee to boot (best actress, Melissa Leo; original screenplay Courtney Hunt), Frozen River was shot on the cheap on digital video, and – ice scenes apart – it doesn’t muster much in the way of visual interest. The writing also tends towards the obvious in parts, particularly in a less than convincing climax. But it still feels grounded in real lives and real problems, and that counts for a lot. Especially when you have a performance as unsentimental and gutsy as Leo’s at the heart of things.
Frozen River Reviews
loading...
Most popular articles
Let's get social
For up-to-the-minute competitions, interviews, news and reviews - follow LOVEFiLM on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube
Sign up to our free newsletter
Get a weekly dose of love film
Our weekly newsletter is packed full of news, reviews and opinions, and handily delivered straight to your inbox.
News, Reviews & Interviews
-
With Golden Globes behind it, this comedy-drama starring George Clooney proves to be a rare treat in its simplicity. Read more
-
Unscripted and off the cuff, writer/director Drake Doremus' Like Crazy is a refreshingly honest take on long-distance love, and boy does it pull at the heart strings. Read more
-
A creepy Indie drama that delivers a star in the making; Elizabeth Olsen deserved an Oscar-nod for her spellbinding performance. Read more
-
After a long absence, The Muppet are back with plenty of singing, dancing, and nostalgia. Read more
Want to watch something right now?
Privacy Policy | Terms & Conditions | EULA | Affiliates | Jobs | Inside LOVEFiLM Blog | About Us | Contact Us
International sites UK DK DE SE NO
LOVEFiLM, the LOVEFiLM logo and all other LOVEFiLM product or service names are trade marks of LOVEFiLM International Ltd. or its affiliates.
© 2012 LOVEFiLM UK Ltd. or its affiliates. All Rights Reserved.
-
- Formats
- DVD
- Blu-ray
- HD DVD
- Cinema
- LOVEFiLM Instant
- Hotlists
- New releases
- Just added
- Coming soon
- Most popular
- Film or TV
- Film & Features
- Television
-
- DVD Charts
- UK weekly rental chart
- All time top 250
- BFI top 100
- AFI top 100
- Most wanted Blu-rays
- TV weekly rental chart
- The Collection Section
- Celebrity collections
- Unofficial collections
- User collections
-
- Hotlists
- New releases
- Coming soon
-
- Watch Online
- With package
- Pay Per View
- Free
- Hotlists
- New releases
- Just added
- Film or TV
- Film & Features
- Television
- LOVEFiLM on TV
- LOVEFiLM direct to your TV
- Connect your PC to your TV