Frozen River - Auf dünnem Eis

How extraordinary to find a forty-something actress you've never seen or heard about before and being blown away by her. Her name is Melissa Leo and I believe she is here to stay. She gives the most powerful performance I've seen all year. She managed to slip into my subconscious and I find myself thinking about her (about her character) as I do someone I truly care about. That in itself is a major achievement. A first time director, Courtney Hunt, gives this character and this actress a remarkable space to breath and grow. The gelid landscape envelopes the desolate story but there is a human warmth devoid of sentimentality that makes "Frozen River" a welcome rarity. Moving, suspenseful, not to be missed.

For a first time director, a superb job, The general theme is single mothers fighting for their very life. Living on next to nothing,trying to raise their children with almost no resources but their own courage. They are at the very edge of society living in forbidding land of ice snow and frozen lakes and rivers. Both Melissa Leo and the native American woman must make terrible choices in order to live. Despite what the main stream critics have said, the picture is photographed wonderfully and there are no cheap props other indications of cheap film. The actors are fabulous and the characters are interesting, true to life and the story makes sense. This film is a classic, and I hereby nominate both female leads for Oscars. see this film ASAP!!

I caught a viewing of this tonight at the fantastic Traverse City Film Festival. The film was really fantastic. It is an indie flick very reminiscent of David Gordon Green's work (George Washington, All the Real Girls, etc) in pacing, cinematography, and the depth of character the director is able to elicit with profound minimalism. The plot centers around a Mohawk coyote who smuggles illegals across the St. Lawrence in the winter by driving back and forth between the Canadian and US segments of the Mohawk Reservation. The Mohawk are one of the few tribes that issue their own passports and directly challenge federal authority to regulate their border. Because the reservation covers areas in both nations there isn't much either side can do. For the Mohawk, sovereignty has real meaning, and they protect it fiercely.

The main character (aside from the Mohawk woman) is a white woman living in the area who's husband is a degenerate gambler and has taken off with the money she had saved to get them a new modular home. We never meet him, but nevertheless are given a good portrait of his and the family's struggles with his addiction. She needs $4k fast, stumbles into this smuggling business quite unexpectedly and decides its her only hope to avoid homelessness for herself and two kids. It's suspenseful, introspective, and the acting is top notch by everyone. I also loved how it provided a glimpse into one part of Indian Country few people even know exists, and treats the Indians as people rather than victims or otherwise attempts to cajole the audience into feeling something for them. They are just people. Just like us.

Highly recommended.

The town where Frozen River takes place is Massena, New York, a few miles from the Canadian border in the middle of a Mohawk reservation, and in the winter it's every bit as cold and grey as the film depicts. This is one of those films that depicts a slice of life that most of us aren't privy too and it seems to know its subject inside and out.

Frozen River is independent film-making at its best, both vital and timely. Writer/Director Courtney Hunt shows how otherwise law abiding people can be driven to do some shady things when there are no other options. While there may still be a great divide between Natives and non-Natives, the film depicts how economic hardship has no boundaries and in fact unites us. As Lila and Ray make those dangerous trips across the border with state troopers lurking all around them, Hunt pays considerable attention to the small details of human smuggling, and the result is a constant state of dread as if anything can go awry at any time. Leo is absolutely brilliant as Ray, and Upham (raised in Seattle) is a pure revelation as Lila. Frozen River shines a light on a dark corner of our nation, one that is an unfortunate result of a useless immigration policy and a failing economy.

Reminded me Ridley Scott's Thelma&Louise(1991), this film debut of director and writer Courtney Hunt delivers us a compulsory participation of the two opposite characters. Melissa Leo and Misty Upham perform two innocent and mature women driven into the crime world after desperation.

Frozen River carries a vital independent spirit that even though the value of contents of the film is so unassuming, it brings in both sentimental and intellectual prestige. Directing, editing and storytelling are so plain. Cinematography, lights and sound work, score are out-of-service. There is absolutely no cinematic aspect but the theme. Since it's an independent production we primarily come across to a thorough presentation of this theme. It has been worked up so effectively and is as plausible as a documentary.

A great commitment and well-created atmosphere by Courtney Hunt. All actors have done a good job. Might feel boring if not seen for personal view.