FROZEN RIVER (U.S.A., 2008.)
Wednesday, 10th March 2010

In the last year or two the number of films released each week in Britain has substantially increased. In theory that should be a good thing since it adds to the choices available even if the additional titles are often bad ones. But, in fact, some newspapers no longer review all the releases, and those that do often devote such a small space to the less well-known titles that such films come and go at an alarming rate in London cinemas without registering on the radar for many and sometimes playing very few performances. It’s this situation that explains why in recent seasons the EFS has presented more titles than ever before with which our members are likely to be unfamiliar. Indeed, it’s a sad irony that, lost sight of within this avalanche of films, there have been movies of real merit which, passing virtually unrecognised, have done very badly at the box-office.

In theory, our last film this season, Frozen River, might well have been of their number since it’s a first feature with a cast that offers no big names to draw in the general public. If, in fact, it did better than many that can, I think, be put down to two factors, one apt and the other bordering on the bizarre but both heavily emphasised in the publicity for the film. The first was the fact that the leading actress, Melissa Leo, was Oscar-nominated for her performance. No one was surprised that she failed to win – that’s because it’s generally accepted that it is the big names in films from a major studio ready to spend a lot on promotion who carry off the awards. Nevertheless many thought that Leo should have won and, indeed, elsewhere, namely in the Independent Spirit Awards for 2009, she did win, being acclaimed there as Best Female in a Leading Role.

References to this acclaim for Melissa Leo has helped to make people notice the posters for the film, but it may well be that even more significant in attracting attention was a quote prominently placed in the advertisements. It came not from a critic but from a jury member who had judged the dramatic competition at Sundance in 2008 where Frozen River won the Grand Jury Prize. That person was the film-maker Quentin Tarantino and, despite a reputation that has fallen away since the glory days of Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction Tarantino’s is still a name to conjure with, especially for younger cinemagoers. He described Frozen River as “a wonderful depiction of America” which was fair enough, but the bit that was quoted was his phrase “One of the most exciting thrillers I am going to see this year – it took my breath away”. I call that bizarre because, given the nature of Tarantino’s own thrillers in which violence of action and language dominate, it would surely make Tarantino’s admirers expect something similar. In point of fact, Frozen River is a character-driven piece and, while it contains moments of strong tension, I would not even describe it as a thriller.

The creator of Frozen River is Courtney Hunt. She is not only the director but also the writer, and she has commented on how the film came about. “In film school, I often heard the complaint that “women’s films” lacked adventure and this drove me crazy. I grew up with a single mom who was working and struggling through school and, frankly, paying the rent was an adventure. I first came upon the idea for Frozen River when I learned about Canadian-border smuggling on a visit to my husband’s family in Malone, New York. When I discovered that some of the Native women were doing the smuggling and that they did it by driving their cars across the frozen St. Lawrence River, I was fascinated.” Initially Courtney shot a short film based on this situation but, on seeing it with Melissa Leo and Misty Upham in the main roles, she realised that there was feature in it and persuaded her actresses to stick with her.

There’s another comment by Courtney worth quoting because it is so relevant to this particular film: “I like characters that are not immediately appealing and that live in the margins of culture. I like living with them in the intimacy of a cinema long enough to at least understand them, maybe even grow to love them”. It is to be hoped that our audience will find, as I did, that the characters so persuasively created in this film call forth exactly that response. If that happens it is largely because Courtney never seeks to manipulate the emotions of her audience but prefers to present her characters in the round, warts and all, instead of sentimentalising them.

Set in Massena in New York State, the film opens as Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo) searches for her husband who seems to have disappeared. It soon becomes clear that he has run off and taken Ray’s savings with him. Bad enough at any time, this could not have happened at a worse moment. Ray works as a cashier in a supermarket, but the couple have debts and two boys to bring up, the teenage T.J. and his younger brother. In addition the savings had been ear-marked for the purchase of a house to replace the trailer home in which they have been living and on which a deposit has been put down which will be forfeited if the purchase cannot proceed. Ray’s search yields no sight of her missing husband, but she does spot his car and sees it driven off by a Mohawk woman, Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham). Ray at once follows Lila to demand the car back, regarding her as a thief whose claim that she had found the vehicle abandoned is suspect.

Thus it is that the initial encounter between these two women of totally different backgrounds finds them at loggerheads. Nevertheless, there is one thing that these two have in common, and that is the desperate nature of their situation. It turns out that Lila gets by through earning money from bringing in illegal immigrants, driving them over the frozen St. Lawrence (the unfamiliar location, well used here, adds to the impact of the film). The fact that Lila is an American Native increases the likelihood of her being stopped when driving a car at night and, while Ray is normally an honest woman, she decides in view of her circumstances to join with Lila in this unlawful but profitable work. The arrangement they make brings an uneasy truce between them, but over time as they make further trips of this kind their relationship grows. It’s partly that each is a mother concerned for a child or children but the sharing of hazards also unites them. However, the hazards prove even more dramatic and fateful than they had ever anticipated.

So, yes, there is drama and suspense in the story, but never of the kind that seems too exaggerated to be part of real life. Furthermore, if you were to ask me what Courtney Hunt found compelling in this material, I would not hesitate over my reply. This is a good, effective drama, but at its heart is an exploration of how two women of different races and backgrounds prove able to relate to one another. That, surely, was the aim, and it is realised magnificently, not least because for all the justified acclaim for Melissa Leo, Misty Upham complements her perfectly. They make a great team in a film which defines all the best things that can be found in what might be termed a woman’s picture.
Programme Note by Mansel Stimpson.