REVIEW: Frozen River (2008)
Frozen River
Rated: R
Runtime: 97 minutes
Starring: Melissa Leo, Misty Upham
My rating: Four stars
Your Rating (Click stars to rate):
Frozen River could have been a timeless classic. It had such great potential with a story about the decisions we make in desperate times.
But it's ending was too preposterous. I won't ruin it, but I will say I didn't believe it, and it took away from the previous 85 minutes, which were splendid.
Frozen River is like Titanic in that the story is fictional, but based around documented historical events. It's set in Massena, and the frozen river is the St. Lawrence. The river is used to smuggle illegal immigrants from a Mohawk reservation in Canada to the Mohawk reservation near Massena.
This film is a story of Ray (Melissa Leo), a mother of two whose husband just left her and took all the money they had. She works part-time at a dollar store and serves popcorn and tang to her kids for dinner. She tries to track down her husband, who spent most of his time at the bingo palace. When she gets there, she finds his car, but a bingo palace worker drives off in it while Ray tries to see if her husband is inside. Ray follows the woman to a desolate, reservation dwelling to find out that the car had been abandoned and this woman, Lila (Misty Upham), claimed it.
Lila smuggles illegal immigrants across the frozen river. She offers Ray the chance to make the money she needs by going on a smuggling run. Ray agrees in a desperate attempt to not disappoint her children, get a new house, and buy presents for the upcoming Christmas holiday.
Frozen River excels at making the audience sympathize with Ray. Many of us are facing economic hardships, and we wonder if we would go to the same lengths to get out of debt. Ray is lost and on edge. She's not a bad person, but her current situation forces her into things she wouldn't have otherwise considered.
Lila isn't a bad person, either. In a lot of ways, she's just like Ray. Lila's husband ran off with their 1-year-old child. Lila is depressed and lonely. She doesn't make enough money at the bingo palace to get by, and is using smuggling to earn enough money to get her life back and hopefully her child.
Ray and Lila bond over this during smuggling runs, and we learn the depths of their love for their children. It's unfortunate that this had to be the circumstances under which they met.
As I watched this movie, I kept thinking about how many people are like this in Massena, now. How many families are struggling with piling bills, food and daily necessities. I wondered how many have thought about, or started doing illegal things to survive.
Frozen River is an honest look at people and what we all do in dire situations. The performances are emotional and powerful. Melissa Leo is phenomenal as the desperate mother who only wants her family to be happy. The burden weighs on her and the stress shows in her face and her eyes. She creates someone who is not just a character in a movie, but your next door neighbor and the person in line at the grocery store. We can connect with her and feel for her.
The color schemes really set the tone from early on in Frozen River. The opening shots show just the river. It's covered in snow, silent, windy, and gray. It's depressing before we even see a character. Ray drives a beat-up pale blue two-door, and her husband drives a dark green Dodge. The family lives in a small trailer. There's nothing fancy anywhere in this film. The backdrop is always gray, snowy and uninviting. We know this film can't be a pick-me-up.
It's just that ending. I didn't like it. It was the only part of the film I didn't find realistic. I know it was the only thing that could have happened to made sense in the story, but I still don't think it would have ended like that in actuality. Four stars.
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