Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!: Frozen River (2008) - Courtney Hunt debuts with freezing social realism border crime drama

6/23/2018

Frozen River (2008) - Courtney Hunt debuts with freezing social realism border crime drama

♥♥♥♥

+ Best Low-Budget Movie of the Year + Best Social Realism Movie of the Year

A sparse and cold, yet also evocative and curiosity-sparking poster for Courtney Hunt's Frozen River

Ray has been left by her husband in her trailer home with two children, debt and a crummy discount store clerk job in upstate New York near the Ontario border, when she learns that she can earn some much needed money by trafficking illegal immigrants.

Frozen River is the debut for Tennesseean writer-director Courtney Hunt (The Whole Truth (2016)). It takes up some exciting topics and handles them with freezing, crude realism. The aesthetics are regrettably Dogme-like, - ugly, - and some of the amateur performances wobble a bit here and there.
To its credit as a social-realism drama, Frozen River features no great villains. Melissa Leo (Prisoners (2013)), Misty Upham (Expiration Date (2006)) and often also Charlie McDermott (The Middle (2009-18)) as Ray's son TJ are excellent as the ill-starred folks. Frozen River is a powerful, thrilling and unpredictable drama.

Related posts:

2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED III]
2008 in films and TV-series - according to Film Excess [UPDATED II]

2008 in films - according to Film Excess [UPDATED I]
2008 in films - according to Film Excess

Watch a trailer for the film here, which starts after Quentin Tarantino awards the film a prize at the Sundance Film Festival

Cost: 1 mil. $
Box office: 5.4 mil. $
= Big hit (5.4 times the cost)
[Frozen River premiered 18 January (Sundance Film Festival) and runs 97 minutes. Hunt based her scripts on stories she had heard from her husband's family of Mohawk Indians smuggling cigarettes across the frozen Saint Lawrence river. Shooting took place in freezing weather in New York and Ontario, Canada in 24 days in March 2007. The film opened #33 in 7 theaters to a 70k $ first weekend in North America, where it peaked at #29 and in 96 theaters (different weeks) and grossed strong 2.5 mil. $ (46.3 % of the total gross). The film's 2nd and 3rd biggest markets were France with 1.2 mil. $ (22.2 %) and Spain with 722k $ (13.4 %). Roger Ebert gave the film a 4/4 star review, translating to two notches better than this one. It was nominated for 2 Oscars: Best Actress (Leo), lost to Kate Winslet in Stephen Daldry's great The Reader and Best Original Screenplay, lost to Dustin Lance Black for Gus Van Sant's masterpiece Milk. It won an AFI award, 2/7 Independent Spirit award nominations, 3 National Board of Review awards, a Sundance award and many other honors. Hunt returned to directing on TV-series In Treatment (2009-10) and Law & Order: Special Victims Unit (2011-13) and theatrically with Keanu Reeves-starrer The Whole Truth (2016). Leo was in 9 titles in 2008! Two of them short films and one a TV-series, - wildly impressive. She returned theatrically in Lullaby (2008). Frozen River is certified fresh at 88 % with a 7.3 critical average at Rotten Tomatoes.]

What do you think of Frozen River?

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William Friedkin has died

Born in Chicago, Friedkin accrued TV credits prior to his advance to the big screen as the director of Good TImes (1967), The Birthday Party (1968), The Night They Raided Minsky's (1968) and The Boys in the Band (1970) before his major breakthrough, The French Connection (1971), for which he won his only Oscar. He followed it up with the even bigger smash, The Exorcist (1973), arguably the best horror film of all time, for which he was Oscar-nominated. Later credits include Sorcerer (1977), Cruising (1980), To Live and Die in L.A. (1985), Rampage (1987), Rules of Engagement (2000), Killer Joe (2011) and The Devil and Father Amorth (2017, documentary). Friedkin passed away at age 87. R.I.P.

Louise Fletcher has passed away

Born in Alabama to deaf parents, Fletcher got her first credits in late-1950s TV-series.She took a 10 year-long sabbatical to devote her time to motherhood after the release of A Gathering of Eagles, but then came back and soon saw her career's most important part, as Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest (1975), for which she won her sole Oscar. Later credits include Exorcist II: The Heretic (1977), The Lucky Star (1980), Brainstorm (1983), Two Moon Junction (1988), Cruel Intentions (1999), A Perfect Man (2013) and many more. Fletcher passed away at age 88. R.I.P.

Jean-Luc Godard has passed away

Born in Paris, France, Godard lived much of his life in Switzerland. He wrote for French film criticism magazine Cahiers du Cinema and became foundational for the New French Wave that inspired new waves in scores of other countries across the world with his Breathless (1960). Later credits include A Woman Is A Woman (1961), Vivre Sa Vie (1962), Le Petit Soldat (1962), Contempt (1963), Alphaville (1965), Pierrot le Fou (1965), 2 or 3 Things I Know About Her (1967), Weekend (1967), Every Man for Himself (1980), King Lear (1987), Century of Cinema (1995, documentary), Goodbye to Language (2014) and many more. Godard died of assisted suicide at age 91. R.I.P.

Wolfgang Petersen has died

James Caan has died

Caan was born the son of Jewish immigrants from Germany in New York. He got his start on TV in the early 1960s. His credits include El Dorado (1966), The Rain People (1969), Brian's Song (1971, TV movie), The Godfather (1972), - for which he earned his only Oscar nomination, - Slither (1973), The Gambler (1974), Funny Lady (1975), Rollerball (1975), Silent Movie (1976), Hide in Plain Sight (1980), - the only film he also directed, - Thief (1981), Misery (1990), Honeymoon in Vegas (1992), Bottle Rocket (1996), Eraser (1996), Dogville (2003), Elf (2003), Las Vegas (2003-07), Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs (2009) and many more. Caan passed away at age 82. R.I.P.

Jean-Louis Trintignant has died

Born in Vaucluse, France, Trintignant's theatrical debut as an actor was in If All the Guys in the World... (1955). Later credits include ...And God Created Woman (1956), The Seven Deadly Sins (1961), Inferno (1964), A Man and A Woman (1966), My Love, My Love (1967), A Man to Kill (1967), The Great Silence (1968), Z (1969), The Assassination (1972), Three Colors: Red (1994), Amour (2012), Happy End (2017) and many more. He also wrote and directed two films in the 1970s. Trintignant passed away at age 91. R.I.P.

Ray Liotta has died

Adopted from an orphenage at a young age, Liotta got hooked on acting in high school. He had various TV credits in the late 1970s and early 80s, with his film debut in The Lonely Lady (1983). Later credits include Something Wild (1986), Field of Dreams (1989), Goodfellas (1990), Cop Land (1997), Hannibal (2001), Blow (2001), Narc (2002), John Q (2002), Identity (2003), Observe and Report (2009), Youth in Revolt (2009), The Details (2011), Killing THem Softly (2012), The Place Beyond the Pines (2012), Shades of Blue (2016-18), The Simpsons (2018, TV-series), Marriage Story (2019), The Many Saints of Newark (2021), Black Bird (2022, TV-series) and many more. Liotta passed away at age 67 in his sleep while on production in the Dominican Republic. R.I.P.

Philip Baker Hall has died

Born in Ohio, Hall didn't start acting until he was 30. His long list of credits include Zabriskie Point (1970), Miami Vice (1987, TV-series), Midnight Run (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Cheers (1993, TV-series), Hard Eight (1996), The Rock (1996), Air Force One (1997), Boogie Nights (1997), Seinfeld (1991-98), Rush Hour (1998), The Insider (1999), Magnolia (1999), The Talented Mr. Ripley (1999), Bruce Almighty (2003), Dogville (2003), The Zodiac (2005), Zodiac (2007), Curb Your Enthusiasm (2004-09), Mr. Popper's Penguins (2011), Modern Family (2011-12) and many more. Hall passed away at age 90. R.I.P.

William Hurt has passed away

Born in Washington D.C., Hurt's first film role was the lead in Altered States (1980). Later credits include Body Heat (1981), The Big Chill (1983), Gorky Park (1983), Kiss of the Spider Woman (1985), for which he earned his only Oscar as Best Actor; Chilrdren of a Lesser God (1986), for which he was also Oscar-nominated; Broadcast News (1987), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; Smoke (1995), A.I. Artificial Intelligence (2001), A History of Violence (2005), for which he was again Oscar-nominated; The Good Shepherd (2006), Into the Wild (2007), Robin Hood (2010) and many more. Hurt passed away at age 71. R.I.P.

Ivan Reitman has passed away

Born in Chechoslovakia, now Slovakia, Reitman's family fled the Soviet regime to Austria, then Toronto, when he was 4 years old. Reitman broke into movies as a director with Foxy Lady (1971). Later credits include Cannibal Girls (1973), Meatballs (1979), Stripes (1981), Ghostbusters (1984), Twins (1988), Ghostbusters II (1989), Kindergarten Cop (1990), Junior (1994), Father's Day (1997), Evolution (1998), No Strings Attached (2011), Draft Day (2014) and more. Reitman's son Jason Reitman is also a great filmmaker. Reitman passed away at age 75. R.I.P.

Film Excess - Free Ukraine - Stop Putin - End the war NOW!!

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6/23/2018

Frozen River (2008) - Courtney Hunt debuts with freezing social realism border crime drama

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