Frozen River (2008)

Tied for the best movie I have ever seen

The first must-see film of the year.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The story is crazy from the start. Small injustices leading to more crimes with a pair of very silly women. Not much of it can be true. The mohawks are known for their traffic of cigarettes and other drugs, sold tax-free. Bad enough as is. River crossing is not believable when the icy road is full or water. It's not cold enough south of Québec. Could work as a comedy but did not work for me.

"What if a trooper stops us? -They're not gonna stop you, you're white."Frozen River made a lot of noise in 2008 after debuting in the Sundance Film Festival and winning the Grand Jury Prize. It went on to win many other awards and even received two Academy Award nominations for best lead performance from Melissa Leo and for original screenplay written by Courtney Hunt who also directed this grim indie film. It is an impressive debut film considering the subject matter usually doesn't attract much attention. The story centers on a mother who's left with the task of raising her two children on her own after her husband has abandoned them ten days before Christmas. He took off with the money that her wife had been saving. It takes place in Massena, New York, near the Canadian border where a Mohawk reservation exists. She meets a Mohawk named Lila and circumstances lead her to smuggle illegal immigrants across a frozen river in order to sustain her family. Frozen River is a character study of a hard willed woman who is determined to do what it takes to provide for her children. It can be a challenging watch for the audience, but Melissa Leo's authentic performance makes it an engaging one. There are very few films that center around strong female characters, and Courtney Hunt has directed and written a powerful one. This film reminds me a lot of Winter Bone (which came out a couple of years later) which also benefited from a strong female performance. It is a tale of endurance and focuses on the American underclass that very seldom is portrayed on film in an authentic manner. I enjoyed this film so much that I'm actually looking forward to Hunt's next film (The Whole Truth) which will be released this year. Melissa Leo deservedly received an Oscar nod for her performance and I think this was the perfect role for her. She has this authentic look and is credible as a single mother who is willing to do what it takes to get out of her current situation. Her chemistry with Misty Upham is what makes this film standout. Upham is also given a strong female character to play and she delivers a strong performance. She and Leo's character both are going through difficult moments in their lives struggling with poverty. They are matched together by the circumstances they are facing despite their differences and that relationship is the heart of the film. The kids played by Charlie McDermott and James Reilly are both solid, but the female characters are the heart and soul of this film. The scenery also plays a huge role in this film considering the harsh and freezing conditions are transmitted to the characters in the story. They struggle and battle with the adversities presented in their lives with fearless strength. It is a small gritty indie drama that is worth checking out, especially if you were a fan of Winter's Bone.

This one kinda set a trend much, much before 'Winter's bone' did, and that is taking nothing away from Jen Law or John Hawkes in that one. Its just that this one kinda brought Melissa Leo back (for me at least), and she has been such a force to reckon with after this one, with nary a bad performance out of her. Misty Upham, on the other hand, hasn't had much mainstream support until 'August: Osage County' came along and brought her back into pop culture.Issue based movies are kinda difficult to make without their turning out preachy. This is kinda maddening, esp when the makers want their audiences to Feel, yet need to step back and play it like a surgeon does so each member of the audience gets to pick a side, and the (pretentious) critic also observes that the said makers are being fair/impartial. Very, very difficult to pull off without losing a section of the audience.This one walks that tightrope, and you come out feeling for each character, and their tales, their choices, albeit limited in nature, while also appreciating the reality of the situation they live in, while staying concerned about how this reality, and how what each person does, affects society (or communities) as a whole. If one were to try and learn something from these tales unfolding, it would be simply to do that from the perspective of rehabilitating those who have gone astray, though that might sound simple and cliché-ed.Having said all that, this is a dark tale indeed, featuring some fine locations, photography, soundtrack (appropriately minimalistic) while painting the grim portrait that it does. Once again, not for everyone, but deserves to be seen to open the window on that which we are quick to ignore/pretend-doesn't-exist.

"Frozen River" is a captivating independent movie that stars Oscar winner Melissa Leo as a long-suffering wife named Ray who is wed to gambling addicted husband who has fled the coop shortly before the Holiday Season. On her own raising her adolescent son T.J. (Charlie McDermott) and her toddler son Ricky (James Reilly) and if you think raising two children in squalor is bad, Ray is constantly badgered by creditors. All there is to eat on the menu at their house is powered drinks and potato chips. She works at a dollar store where she's been been contemplating a promotion that has been promised to her for two years. Melissa and her two offspring reside in a trailer that is not in the best of condition. She has dreams for something much more better. Lady luck comes her way when she joins forces with a young Native woman from a Mohawk Nation that rests between the United States and Canadian border. As an alliance they embark on smuggling illegal immigrants into North America. Ray will continue to do it until she has enough dough for a better establishment. But it isn't until very long that the police are hot on her trail. The question is will she be able to make enough to support her family?At first Ray and Lila (Misty Upham) start off as strictly business allies. But as the film progresses, they begin to progressively have faith in each other. The movie also looks at the poverty that's faced in the reservation and how neglected and overlooked Native reservations have faced over the years in both Canada and the United States. This one should be admired by many. It tells a bleak observation that people will do anything to get what they want and it's not always a bad thing. In the case of Ray, she's doing an illegal mission, but not for selfish purposes. There's no explosions or cheap thrills, but the photography is top notch and the character development is so natural, you wouldn't think they were performing. It truly is a gem that is highly recommended.