Far North

FAR NORTH is one of those simple little under-the-radar movies that you never heard about until it turns up in the middle of the night and you gradually become enthralled watching it. With no buzz, publicity, or plot spoilers, I had no idea what to expect when I sat down to watch this, and I was pleasantly surprised by a film that confounded all of my expectations. The film is almost like a fairy tale in its simplicity: a mother-and-daughter team, living alone in the icy Siberian wastes, are joined by a soldier gone A.W.O.L. The film is about what happens next: how the power shifts and inevitable romance affects each character, and three people in such an isolated setting can never really work.

Visually, the film is stunning. The inhospitable climate is a personality all in itself and the harshness of the landscape is captured in stunning detail – no more so than in the shocking opening sequence. There isn't a great deal of dialogue, but what we do get is natural and realistic. Key flashbacks add to the viewer's understanding and the film finishes on a shocking twist. Best of all is the acting: three actors giving excellent, against the grain performances.

Michelle Krusiec is the young unknown, holding her own against two experienced hands. Sean Bean is a gentle and romantic man, giving a more touching performance than we usually see. Michelle Yeoh is the older woman, an outsider struggling to come to terms with the meaning of her life. Out of all three, it's Yeoh who gives the most stunning performance; she's totally cast against type (usually playing a kick-ass kung fu heroine) and she gets her character across wonderfully. What a revelation!

In an indefinite time somewhere in the Arctic with Soviet soldiers, the nomads Saiva (Michelle Yeoh) and her stepdaughter Anja (Michelle Krusiec) are permanently moving seeking a safe place in the arctic tundra. They camp in a remote area far north where Saiva believes they will be safe and survive fishing and hunting reindeer and small animals. Their lives change when Saiva finds Loki (Sean Bean), a frozen stranger that is dying in the ice. Saiva brings him to their tent and recalls when she met her boyfriend and his tribe; how soviet soldiers have slaughtered them and raped her; and how she rescued Anja and killed the aggressors. When Loki is recovered, he and Anja fall in love with each other, affecting her relationship with Anja.

The independent "Far North" is a disturbing and frightening movie about curse and love. The story is open regarding the location and time, but is an excellent study of solitude and human behavior. The landscapes and locations in Svalbard are wonderfully shot and the performances are top notch. The unexpected conclusion is scary. The "Making Of" on the DVD is a must-see. My vote is seven.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

In an unspecified land of tundra and ice, a mother and daughter, estranged from their tribes-people, alone and on the run from a brutal hired army, are struggling to survive in this harsh, desolate landscape. Into their lives walks an escaped press-ganged soldier, barely alive, and a tragic chain of events is set in motion.

London born film-maker Asif Kapadia knows how to capture isolation. He finds it in the sombre monochrome landscapes of this Arctic tale, and equally in the eyes of his lead actress, Michelle Yeoh. She plays Saiva, a woman who has borne a curse since birth foretelling that she will bring misfortune upon anyone who gets close to her. Forced out of her tribe, she lives nomadically, with only her grown-up daughter for company. Theirs is a never ending routine of hand-to-mouth survival and constant relocation to ever more lonely shores. The films' establishing shots of expansive ice flows are set to a soundtrack of groaning, creaking tension and cracks beneath the surface. Once Sean Bean's on- the-run Soldier arrives to upset the balance of their simple existence, it soon becomes apparent that Saiva shares much in common with the ice pack surrounding her.

So effectively does Asif conjure the quiet, contemplative mood and pace of much Scandinavian or Russian cinema that it comes as quite a shock when the main trio of characters open their mouths (which they do only rarely) and talk in English. The point is that it does not matter what language they speak, as the location and even the precise period of this story is kept deliberately vague. Just as it matters not what strange language it is that the other invading soldiers speak to themselves, only that it is not familiar. They are the aliens here.

For much of its short running time not a lot seems to be happening here, but there is not a wasted moment or unnecessary scene. Judicious use of flashbacks provide insight into the moments that have forged Saiva's tough and ruthless survival instincts. While in the present, much is communicated in silence by the glances of desire and jealousy that the trio exchange. Sean Bean comfortably inhabits the role of decent but morally weak man, but it's Michelle Yeoh's steely, haunted central performance that grabs and pulls you in. Like some Merchant-Ivory period drama stripped of all its airs and finery, we are in a world of suppressed emotions and mounting tensions. The palpable sense that something has to give is the overriding drive towards the startling climax.

Something I set to record more on the basis of its setting than anything else, Far North is something of which I'd never heard, nor indeed would have by anything other than chance. Chance was in my favour however, thrusting me and this little production together.

Saiva and Anja are two women, the former the adoptive mother of the latter, living an isolated life away from the community from which they originally came, Saiva alleged at birth by a shaman to be cursed. Their lives are interrupted when a wounded soldier stumbles into their camp, affecting the routine of their days.

The tundra-central setting—the primary motivation for my opting to devote recording space to this film—is the first thing about Far North to attract our attention. The vast whiteness of this unoccupied land is explored beautifully through the usage of wide angle lenses, a sweeping opening shot, and the sole spot of blackness that is the yurt of our protagonist duo. Theirs is a quiet relationship, the intimacy they share communicated through the slightest of gestures rather than expository dialogue. The film is impressively silent, much of its running time featuring no sounds other than the constant bitter wind which pervades the soundtrack. The combination of image and sound in the film is meditative, such beautiful images as the Aurora Borealis, the great snowy mountains, and the rolling hills so covered in impenetrable whiteness that it is hard not to be lost in their banal perfection entirely unforgettable. Largely a three-hander, the film's performances are the tent-poles which support it, the particularly commendable quietness of Michelle Yeoh lending a dignified tragedy to her character. The relationships form the film's centrepiece, the evolution of these over the course of the narrative compelling and unpredictable. Twist is an inaccurate word to apply to a film of this sort, but it stores a number of surprises up its sleeve, the particular paths taken towards its denouement rather unconventional and, often, shocking. It is an emotional film, structured masterfully around these three characters and reinforced fantastically with splendid cinematography. The cold whites and blues of the arctic are contrasted wonderfully with the warm yellows and oranges of Saiva's flashback to times when she was with her community: when she had love, friendship, and hope. It is difficult not to be saddened by the melancholy the film presents, punctuated though it is by moments of silent beauty.

An entrancing spectacle, Far North offers the very best of the fine combination one can craft with cinematography and setting. Expressing itself slowly and almost silently, it is a film that relies on artistic expression rather than speech; on the strength of its performances rather than action. Added to unquestionably by its wonderful score, it is a highpoint of modern independent cinema.

Someone in comments mentioned that this film is based on a short story by Sara Maitland written in "fairy-tale mode." Think Greek tragedy, or the Brothers Grimm at their grimmest, not Disney. Another commenter wondered if the story could actually work as a film. I don't think it does.

Most of the film is in a very realistic mode and only toward the end did the characters stop being people one could care about and become only tragic archetypes. I have to say I felt somewhat betrayed for caring so much for the characters. Perhaps if I'd been forewarned I would have watched with more detachment and been less disappointed.

Still, it's a beautiful film; the arctic landscape is awe inspiring. It must have been a great adventure to film. Sean Bean, Michelle Yeoh and Michelle Krusiec do an excellent job, but it seems like a waste in the end. 6/10 for being an interesting and beautiful failure.