- Director:
Adam Rapp - AMG Rating:
- Genre: Drama
- Movie Type: Psychological Drama
- Themes: Families in Crisis, Coming Home, Fathers and Daughters
- Main Cast: Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel, Will Ferrell, Amelia Warner, Amy Madigan
- Release Year: 2004
- Country: US
- Run Time: 98 minutes
- MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Money and emotions lead to a difficult reunion between a father and daughter in this drama. Reese Holden (Zooey Deschanel) is a struggling stage actress in New York City whose life has become an uphill struggle -- her career isn't giving her satisfaction, her relationship with would-be rock star Ray (Dallas Roberts) is stuck in neutral, an affair with her friend Rob (Robert Beitzel) brings no excitement, and her colleague Deirdre (Deirdre O'Connell) simply doesn't understand her problems. Reese is also short on money, which is why she's willing to listen to a proposal from a publisher who wants to release a series of love letters that her mother, a well-known author who died years ago, wrote to her father, Don (Ed Harris), another respected novelist who has fallen out of the limelight but is said to be working on a final major work. Having accepted an advance for the collection, Reese pays a visit to Don in Michigan to get his OK for the project and collect the letters, but discovers two strangers have moved in with Don -- Shelly (Amelia Warner), who studied under Don and has installed herself as his business manager, and Corbit (Will Ferrell), a neighborhood sad sack who helps with the housekeeping and runs errands for the reclusive writer. As Reese vies with Shelly for her father's attention, she struggles to come to terms with issues from her childhood and the dissatisfaction with her life. Winter Passing was written and directed by noted playwright Adam Rapp; it was his first feature film. ~ Mark Deming, All Movie GuideReview
In Winter Passing, Will Ferrell participates in a rite of passage for every successful comic: once you've established yourself as a box office superstar, you need to step back and prove you're just as effective in a quirky ensemble indie. Adam Rapp's directorial debut is the right kind of film for him to demonstrate that integrity, but Winter Passing isn't memorable because of Ferrell's contributions, which don't amount to substantially more than an anesthetized version of his usual shtick. Instead, Winter Passing sings on the strength of Zooey Deschanel, her performance of hyper-real subtlety, and the atmospheric soundtrack that heightens the mood she sets in motion.Long a capable actress and most often seen in comedic roles herself -- even opposite Ferrell once in Elf -- Deschanel here shows she can do weary and depressive with equal aplomb. Deschanel perfectly embodies that combination of short-term enthusiasm and long-term apathy that has seized a portion of the modern youth population, and as she rides the bus from New York to Michigan, one senses she is both a jaded veteran of this world and a lost traveler experiencing it for the first time. Deschanel's eyes provide an expressive window into her jangled thoughts. Her fits and starts toward reconciliation with her father (a grizzled Ed Harris) aren't quite so sublime, but Rapp has worked hard to steer clear of cliché in an environment that's been visited often in recent years. Since Wes Anderson has become such an influential director, films in this genre have a tendency to leave their audiences "offbeaten to death." But Winter Passing is a far more pensive and intimate film, less interested in the eccentricities its performers could contribute if they wanted, and more interested in the complex emotions of people who have been left behind by life. ~ Derek Armstrong, All Movie Guide
Cast
- Ed Harris - Don Holden
- Zooey Deschanel - Reese Holden
- Will Ferrell - Corbit
- Amelia Warner - Shelly
