Frozen River Review
by Steve Rhodes (steve DOT rhodes AT internetreviews DOT com)August 14th, 2008
FROZEN RIVER
A film review by Steve Rhodes
Copyright 2008 Steve Rhodes
RATING (0 TO ****): ***
FROZEN RIVER is a touching tale about people on the economic edge who turn to crime as a way out of their misery. With acting that doesn't miss a beat, the sad story concerns a couple of women who take to smuggling illegal Chinese aliens across the Canadian border into the United States. Once in the land of the free and the home of the brave, these illegals are expected to work for a couple of years to pay off the forty to fifty thousand dollars they paid the gang, ominously known as the Snake Heads, who organized their smuggling.
The two women in FROZEN RIVER, Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) and Lila (Misty Upham), who incur most of the risks by taking the illegals across the border by using Mohawk reservation property, get a small cut of the action. Both are effectively single moms who have kids to support. Ray's husband, who has a gambling addiction, is AWOL. Lila, so far as we know, was never married in the first place.
Both, reluctantly taking the money to commit the crimes, have different needs. Although Ray has a job at the local Yankee Mart, it is only part-time work, and it pays poorly. Her dream is a double-wide mobile home for her family. A while back she and her husband put down a deposit on their new mobile home, but her husband skipped out with the rest of the money.
The middle-aged and very haggard looking Ray has a body full of wrinkles, every one of which feels like it has a tale of woe that it wants to share. Her two kids are getting tired of eating and drinking the only thing in their run down little trailer -- popcorn and Tang. The family appears to live in a town that doesn't have food stamps or public assistance. While this is unlikely, the movie makes the town and its characters appear completely genuine.
The landscape is full of snow, lit by a bright winter sun. As the winds howl and the haunting music plays, you can feel a certain sense of chill go up and down your spine.
Lila, who is in her twenties, is a member of the Mohawk tribe, but she is something of a persona non grata for her wayward ways. Her one-year-old baby is living with someone else, but Lila hopes to use the cash earned through her criminal endeavors to have enough to be able to care for her child and to get her back.
The two women don't trust each other much until the end. Their partnership is a matter of convenience, since each has something the other needs. Lila has the contacts with the smuggling gang, while Ray has both a car and a white face. We are told that people like Trooper Finnerty (Michael O'Keefe) will not stop and inspect cars driven by white women.
That the story is heading to some kind of tragic ending appears obvious. What will put their crime spree to an end and how bad the consequences will be isn't clear. What does transpire is poignant and believable.
Even if you're sure you'd never even contemplate the actions taken by Ray and Lila, you will be touched by their situations, which FROZEN RIVER captures perfectly without ever feeling the need to manipulate our emotions.
Still, I've got to admit, in the wrong hands this movie could have been sappy, unbelievable and downright awful. But first-time writer and director Courtney Hunt really nails it with deft skills.
FROZEN RIVER runs a brisk 1:37. It is rated R for "some language" and would be acceptable for teenagers.
The film opens in limited release in the United States on Friday, August 15, 2008. In the Silicon Valley, it will be showing at the AMC theaters, the Century theaters and the Camera Cinemas.
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