Frozen River is a 2008 American drama film written and directed by Courtney Hunt. The screenplay focuses on two working class women who smuggle illegal immigrants in the trunk of a car from Canada to the United States in order to make ends meet.
Plot
The film is set in the North Country of Upstate New York, near the Akwesasne (Where the Partridge Drum) St. Regis Mohawk Reservation and the Canadian border, shortly before Christmas. Ray Eddy is a discount store clerk struggling to raise two sons with her husband, a compulsive gambler who has disappeared with the funds she had earmarked to finance the purchase of a double-wide mobile home. While searching for him, she encounters Lila Littlewolf, a Mohawk bingo parlor employee who is driving his car, which she claims she found abandoned with the keys in the ignition at the local bus station. The two women, who have fallen on hard economic times, form a desperate and uneasy alliance and begin trafficking illegal immigrants from Canada into the United States across the frozen St. Lawrence River for $1200 each per crossing.
Ray's older son T.J. wants to find a job and help support the family so they can afford to eat something more substantial than popcorn and Tang. He and his mother clash over whether he should remain in high school and look after his little brother Ricky or drop out to work. Lila longs for the day she will be able to reclaim and live with her young son, who was taken from her by her mother-in-law immediately after his birth.
Because the women's route takes them from an Indian reservation in the US to an Indian reserve in Canada, they hope to avoid detection by local law enforcement. However, their problems escalate when they are asked to smuggle a Pakistani couple and Ray, fearful their duffel bag might contain explosives, leaves it behind in sub-freezing temperatures, only to discover it contained their infant baby when they arrive at their destination. She and Lila retrace their route and find the bag and the baby, which Lila insists is dead, but he revives moments before being reunited with his parents. The experience leaves her shaken and she announces she no longer wants to participate in the smuggling operation. But Ray, needing just one more crossing to finance the final payment on her mobile home, coerces her into joining her for one last journey, a decision both will come to regret.
Production
In an interview screenwriter/director Courtney Hunt conducted shortly before the film's release, she discussed its prevalent theme of a mother's love for her children being a culturally universal trait. She stated the most important moment in her life was the birth of her daughter and how that event made all her other goals lesser priorities. By showing how such intimacy knows no bounds, culturally or socially, Hunt said she hoped her film would enable audiences to break down their assumptions about others around them.[2]
Hunt's husband is from Malone, New York, and whenever the two visited his family they heard stories about Mohawks smuggling cigarettes by driving across the Saint Lawrence River when it freezes. She thought the concept was an interesting subject for a film but had a hard time getting any financial backers because so few people knew about the issue.[3] She met cinematographer Marc Blandori and actress Melissa Leo at the FilmColumbia 2003 Film Festival in Chatham, New York and both agreed to join the project, which prompted some interest in it.[4] Their first effort was a short film shot at Akwesasne near Massena, New York. Hunt showed it at several festival screenings and shopped it to producers until she finally acquired enough funding for a feature film. Frozen River was shot in sub-freezing temperatures on location in Clinton County and Beekmantown and in the area around Plattsburgh over a period of twenty-four days in March 2007.
The film premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was shown at the MoMA Film Exhibition, the Seattle International Film Festival, the Provincetown International Film Festival, the Nantucket Film Festival, the Melbourne International Film Festival, and the Traverse City Film Festival before going into limited theatrical release in the United States on Friday, August 1, 2008. It opened on seven screens and earned $70,234 on its opening weekend. At its widest release it was shown in only ninety-six theatres, and it never ranked higher than #29 at the box office. It eventually grossed $2,511,476 in the US and $2,621,734 in foreign markets for a total worldwide box office of $ 5,133,210.[1]
Cast
Critical reception
Critical reception was very positive and the film received an aggregate of 87% on the review aggregate website Rotten Tomatoes. The film appeared on many lists citing the best films of 2008, including those in The Philadelphia Inquirer, the Los Angeles Times, The Hollywood Reporter, the New York Post, The Miami Herald, the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette, the New York Times, and the Chicago Reader.[5]
Awards and nominations
- Academy Award for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, nominee)
- Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay (Courtney Hunt, nominee)
- American Indian Film Festival Award for Best Supporting Actress (Misty Upham, winner)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Film (Chip Hourihan and Heather Rae, nominees)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Lead Female (Melissa Leo, winner)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Director (Courtney Hunt, nominee)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best First Screenplay (Courtney Hunt, nominee)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Male (Charlie McDermott, nominee)
- Independent Spirit Award for Best Supporting Female (Misty Upham, nominee)
- Independent Spirit Piaget Producers Award (Heather Rae, winner)
- Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, winner)
- Central Ohio Film Critics Association Award for Breakthrough Film Artist (Melissa Leo, winner)
- Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, nominee)
- Chicago Film Critics Association Award for Most Promising Filmmaker (Courtney Hunt, nominee)
- Florida Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, winner)
- Gotham Independent Film Award for Best Film (winner)
- Gotham Independent Film Award for Breakthrough Actor (Melissa Leo, winner)
- International Film Festival of Marrakech Award for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, winner)
- National Board of Review Award for Best Directorial Debut (Courtney Hunt, winner)
- National Board of Review Spotlight Award (Melissa Leo, winner; shared with Richard Jenkins)
- New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best First Film (Courtney Hunt, winner)
- San Sebastián International Film Festival Silver Seashell for Best Actress (Melissa Leo, winner)
- San Sebastián International Film Festival SIGNIS Award (Courtney Hunt, winner)
- Satellite Award for Best Film – Drama (nominee)
- Satellite Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Drama (Melissa Leo, nominee)
- Satellite Award for Best Original Screenplay (Courtney Hunt, nominee)
- Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Leading Role (Melissa Leo, nominee)
- Stockholm International Film Festival Bronze Horse for Best Film (Courtney Hunt, winner)
- Sundance Film Festival Grand Jury Prize (Dramatic) (winner)
DVD release
The film was released in anamorphic widescreen format on DVD on February 10, 2009. It has an audio track in English and subtitles in French. Bonus features include commentary by screenwriter/director Courtney Hunt and producer Heather Rae and the original trailer.
References
External links
