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Frozen River
A powerhouse performance from Melissa Leo that earned her first Oscar nomination anchors a 2008 indie gem called Frozen River, a gripping and emotional drama revolving around family values, racism, sacrifice, and second chances.
Leo plays Ray Eddy, a single mother of two boys, whose part-time job is not enough to pay for the new double trailer she and the boys were planning to live in until the boys' father ran off with their money. Ray meets another single mother named Lila (Misty Upham) who is Indian and resides on a reservation that Ray is able to drive to via the crossing of a frozen solid river. Even though Lila is a mother, her mother-in-law has custody of the child. After getting off to a very shaky start, the two women begin making money by smuggling illegal aliens over the nearby border in their car.
Director and writer Courtney Hunt has crafted a compelling drama which really felt really personal to Hunt. The movie felt fact-based but I was unable to confirm this. This is an intimate and prickly story that starts off in a very unconventional manner and this reviewer did not see the relationship that evolves between the two women coming at all, or what they end up doing.
I've seen a lot of films that deal with racism, but this was a different look at the issue that was actually refreshing. We not only see the difficulties that Lila experiences because she's a native American, but we also see her simplistic view of how simple Ray's life is because she's white. More than once in the film, we see Ray hesitate about something that Lila suggests and Lila informs her that no one is going to stop her because she's white.
The story takes some unexpected detours, but it does sustain interest for its running time. Leo commands the screen earning her first lead actress Oscar nomination and her performance alone is worth the time, though Misty Upham definitely holds her own as the tragic Lila. Upham's promising career would come to a halt a mere six years later with her brutal murder. Mention should also be made of Charlie McDermott, playing Ray's teenage son. You might remember McDermott as Patricia Heaton's eldest son on the ABC sitcom The Middle. A film with strong female power in front of and behind the camera.
A powerhouse performance from Melissa Leo that earned her first Oscar nomination anchors a 2008 indie gem called Frozen River, a gripping and emotional drama revolving around family values, racism, sacrifice, and second chances.
Leo plays Ray Eddy, a single mother of two boys, whose part-time job is not enough to pay for the new double trailer she and the boys were planning to live in until the boys' father ran off with their money. Ray meets another single mother named Lila (Misty Upham) who is Indian and resides on a reservation that Ray is able to drive to via the crossing of a frozen solid river. Even though Lila is a mother, her mother-in-law has custody of the child. After getting off to a very shaky start, the two women begin making money by smuggling illegal aliens over the nearby border in their car.
Director and writer Courtney Hunt has crafted a compelling drama which really felt really personal to Hunt. The movie felt fact-based but I was unable to confirm this. This is an intimate and prickly story that starts off in a very unconventional manner and this reviewer did not see the relationship that evolves between the two women coming at all, or what they end up doing.
I've seen a lot of films that deal with racism, but this was a different look at the issue that was actually refreshing. We not only see the difficulties that Lila experiences because she's a native American, but we also see her simplistic view of how simple Ray's life is because she's white. More than once in the film, we see Ray hesitate about something that Lila suggests and Lila informs her that no one is going to stop her because she's white.
The story takes some unexpected detours, but it does sustain interest for its running time. Leo commands the screen earning her first lead actress Oscar nomination and her performance alone is worth the time, though Misty Upham definitely holds her own as the tragic Lila. Upham's promising career would come to a halt a mere six years later with her brutal murder. Mention should also be made of Charlie McDermott, playing Ray's teenage son. You might remember McDermott as Patricia Heaton's eldest son on the ABC sitcom The Middle. A film with strong female power in front of and behind the camera.