FROZEN RIVER

Continuing the trend of late updates: I saw FROZEN RIVER, written by the Oscar-nominated Courtney Hunt and starring the Oscar-nominated Melissa Leo. I saw it last Sunday at a special screening the morning before the most-watched Superbowl in Superbowl history. And then I watched the Superbowl and got to see Bruce Springsteen do a crotch-slide into Camera 2 on the edge of his halftime stage. What a class act; I wonder how quickly that went up on YouTube.

Anyway--back to the icy gorge. In short, Oscar season has been one thick, depressing stew of tear-jerky, emotional, "character" films, and though FROZEN RIVER, in essence, wasn't much different, it did at least offer a bit of lightness within the lingering misery. Focusing on a mother living in upstate New York raising her two boys in a trailer home, FROZEN RIVER is a story about family and keeping it together. Our story's star, Ray, played wonderfully and, you know, tear-jerkily, by Leo, is married to an absent deadbeat with more than a bit of a gambling problem. Though this Daddy Do-Wrong is somehow still a hero in the eyes of Ray's eldest son, TJ (Charlie McDermott: rising star), it's Ray who's left with the mess of keeping the family together, emotionally and monetarily, in his absence.

The film's a hard-hitting piece that just might make you question the lengths to which you would go in order to maintain, even in the barest degree, some minimum of your lifestyle. Considering these harsh economic times, it's not off-base at all. So...would you smuggle in illegal immigrants from Canada so you could afford Christmas presents for your kids? Let's hope you never have to ask yourself that, eh?

Highlights of this film include every scene with the two sons. That James Reilly is the cutest!

plot: Penniless parent gains questionable employment.
thought: Worst-case scenario...times ten.
in five: 4/5

ford the river: http://www.sonyclassics.com/frozenriver/