Frozen River is a heart-wrenching independent film directed and written by Courtney Hunt, starring underdog Melissa Leo (Ray Eddy) , the beautiful Misty Upham (Lila Littlewolf), and Charlie McDermott (“T.J.”). This U.S. made crime drama drives you into a world of all-American poverty, suffering, and hope as a survival mechanism. It debuted the filmmaking career of Courtney Hunt, in which she was nominated for a Best Screenplay Oscar and various other awards. It launched Melissa Leo earning her multiple awards and her first Oscar nomination.
Frozen River is set in a backwashed, impoverished, rural frozen town of Upstate New York neighboring Mohawk Territory and the border of Canada. The major mis-en-scene of this film is the trailer park country, and of course the frozen river which not only acts as a pathway for two Nations to illegally trade, but the passage in which the main characters face and conquer what anyone else would deem the worst of nightmares. The mostly natural lighting helps immerse the audience in the cold and snowy climate of the story, which adds detail to the bitterness and dread that hovers over the characters. This film isn’t trying to be pretty, artsy, and catering to consumeristic values. The mis-en-scene establishes that this is reality and we’re going to witness disgracement of stereotypes.
Melissa Leo, alongside Misty Upham, dive this story and the viewer into the deepest end of the ocean. Leo’s character Ray, is a newly single mother trying to care for her two sons, a toddler and a fifteen year old, TJ, played by Charlie McDermott, while coming to terms with the reality that her husband is gambling away all of their money and has abandoned them. The family sets their hopes upon being able to purchase a new double-wide and aspiring to a trailer-park imitation of the American Dream. Ray knows that she can not provide for them on part-time dollar store wages, popcorn dinners, and fairytales about a father who is secretly Santa. After experiencing what appears to be sexist age discrimination, theft and terrible treatment from all the men around her, she ends up turning to illegal methods to support her family.
Leo uses an interesting acting technique in this role. Her facial expressions, and ability to hyper-pigment her emotions in order to illuminate the character is mindblowing. There is definitely a deep understanding between Leo and Ray. Misty Upham’s character Lila introduces us into an unknown life of single Mohawk motherhood on the rez. While Lila is second to Ray, she still shares much similarity with Ray, in their strongness, their detached front, and their dedication towards motherhood. Lila is a very unconventional female character. We’re introduced to an emotionally reclusive hard Mohawk women whose spirit has been weathered down by not only the frigid climate but by the melancholy situation she drowns in.
What’s unique about Frozen River is it’s unorthodox storytelling. Which by the way, does not give the viewer any predictability on what is going to happen next, contributing to the film’s suspenseful and thrilling atmosphere. The storyline of Frozen River is similar to that of many buzzed films, such as A Place Beyond the Pines. But it’s centered around women and their dedication to their sons. It focuses on mothers facing persecution for this dedication, not meeting expectations, and being blamed for everything.It even shows how everything would go to chaos without them, as Charlie McDermott’s character T.J. demonstrates.This movie conveys the highly excluded reality of how women are left in poverty and motherhood by selfish men. Where film’s like A Place Beyond the Pines have to add glamorized scenes of violence and car chases to give thrill to the character’s dedication to fatherhood, Frozen River brings on the stress by simply engaging you into a realistic representation of othered reality.
One problem with this film is that it shows that the zenith of these women’s lives is to be mothers and to take care of sons that might grow up to repeat the same patterns of their fathers.Which can be a lame message to women, but understandable because Hunt is trying to show that mothers aren’t expendable. Something about having a film led and directed by women is truly mystical. For cinema is highly phallocentric, lacking the creative and sensory powers that women share. It’s because of this movie showing mothers as brave heroes, as human beings, that one can walk away gaining something meaningful. Men will find they are completely oblivious to the world of impoverished mothers.
Frozen River is set in a backwashed, impoverished, rural frozen town of Upstate New York neighboring Mohawk Territory and the border of Canada. The major mis-en-scene of this film is the trailer park country, and of course the frozen river which not only acts as a pathway for two Nations to illegally trade, but the passage in which the main characters face and conquer what anyone else would deem the worst of nightmares. The mostly natural lighting helps immerse the audience in the cold and snowy climate of the story, which adds detail to the bitterness and dread that hovers over the characters. This film isn’t trying to be pretty, artsy, and catering to consumeristic values. The mis-en-scene establishes that this is reality and we’re going to witness disgracement of stereotypes.
Melissa Leo, alongside Misty Upham, dive this story and the viewer into the deepest end of the ocean. Leo’s character Ray, is a newly single mother trying to care for her two sons, a toddler and a fifteen year old, TJ, played by Charlie McDermott, while coming to terms with the reality that her husband is gambling away all of their money and has abandoned them. The family sets their hopes upon being able to purchase a new double-wide and aspiring to a trailer-park imitation of the American Dream. Ray knows that she can not provide for them on part-time dollar store wages, popcorn dinners, and fairytales about a father who is secretly Santa. After experiencing what appears to be sexist age discrimination, theft and terrible treatment from all the men around her, she ends up turning to illegal methods to support her family.
Leo uses an interesting acting technique in this role. Her facial expressions, and ability to hyper-pigment her emotions in order to illuminate the character is mindblowing. There is definitely a deep understanding between Leo and Ray. Misty Upham’s character Lila introduces us into an unknown life of single Mohawk motherhood on the rez. While Lila is second to Ray, she still shares much similarity with Ray, in their strongness, their detached front, and their dedication towards motherhood. Lila is a very unconventional female character. We’re introduced to an emotionally reclusive hard Mohawk women whose spirit has been weathered down by not only the frigid climate but by the melancholy situation she drowns in.
What’s unique about Frozen River is it’s unorthodox storytelling. Which by the way, does not give the viewer any predictability on what is going to happen next, contributing to the film’s suspenseful and thrilling atmosphere. The storyline of Frozen River is similar to that of many buzzed films, such as A Place Beyond the Pines. But it’s centered around women and their dedication to their sons. It focuses on mothers facing persecution for this dedication, not meeting expectations, and being blamed for everything.It even shows how everything would go to chaos without them, as Charlie McDermott’s character T.J. demonstrates.This movie conveys the highly excluded reality of how women are left in poverty and motherhood by selfish men. Where film’s like A Place Beyond the Pines have to add glamorized scenes of violence and car chases to give thrill to the character’s dedication to fatherhood, Frozen River brings on the stress by simply engaging you into a realistic representation of othered reality.
One problem with this film is that it shows that the zenith of these women’s lives is to be mothers and to take care of sons that might grow up to repeat the same patterns of their fathers.Which can be a lame message to women, but understandable because Hunt is trying to show that mothers aren’t expendable. Something about having a film led and directed by women is truly mystical. For cinema is highly phallocentric, lacking the creative and sensory powers that women share. It’s because of this movie showing mothers as brave heroes, as human beings, that one can walk away gaining something meaningful. Men will find they are completely oblivious to the world of impoverished mothers.