On the Ice

Born and raised in Alaska, and no film I can remember has ever captured the beauty, isolation, and quiet that Andrew does. He just nails it, effortlessly. Something that no one has done.

The scenes in the home, I was standing screaming, how is it not a documentary?! Just fantastic cinematography, capturing the feeling of a family home/kitchen.

The hand-held camerawork throughout the film was beautiful and smooth. I never felt jostled or hurried, it's filmed like a ghost was present at the scene. His angles and framing were SO TERRIFIC, capturing and relating so much emotion.

You will die when you watch this film, as it calls upon so many feelings that every kid has growing up, but here it is magnified by their life in Alaska. I'd give it a hundred stars, it's one of my favourite films, it felt like a classic while I watched it the first time.

I reccomend it for anyone who is thinking about visiting Alaska, or if you are obsessed with it in general--THIS is the untold story. This is the place that tourists don't go, never see. This is the real Alaska.

contains some of the best acting i have seen in 40 years bar none, some of the scenes the fear and anguish is palpable. this is a must see movie,This is done with non-professionals, its amazing. Hollywood should be in fear of the skill and naturalness of this presentation. The dialogue is perfect there is not a phony or contrived scene in the movie my hats off to the director and the talent coordinator to find the gems who are in this film. Set in the frozen north, its a dismal landcape to say the least. How long could I last in this land is something that was in the back of my mind the whole time. This is not a place for the faint of heart. You make the smallest mistake up here and your dead. You find out this when the young teenagers are discussing where to hunt.You leave this film with a new perspective on your own life

This film is a triumph of Alaskan narrative filmmaking. Showing Alaskan Natives as they really live, including old traditions, dance, and hunting, next to cell phones, hip hop, and drugs. It doesn't get tied up on trying to show the beauty of Alaska, and neither the exoticness of it's peoples. Instead, it uses them to further it's themes and plot. Incredibly sensitive, honest, and entertaining.

While it's easy to say this is a movie about the evils of drugs, or the ability of the arctic landscape to drive one to insanity, the film gracefully dodges such easy targets and focuses on a story about a young man trying to grow up and a community dealing with a tragedy, which are much more open ended, accessible ideas. This allows those without any knowledge of Native Alaskans, or Alaska even, to become entranced by the story.

Don't let the non-pro cast turn you away, either. It is all native persons (no Asians pretending to native American), and the direction makes sure they're up to snuff to all other films by mature filmmakers.

If you want to know what its like to grow up in very rural Alaska, then this is a spectacular movie. No mistaking the great actors and striking site locations as totally authentic which is enough to make the movie very much worth watching. The plot has a few problems with some ambiguity. It almost feels that the movie was too severely edited - especially at the end. I was never bored, but was wanting at the end.