|
This is an unusual movie which seems at times to be a study
of an isolated Alaskan town and at others to be a suspenseful
survival story. The cinematography is great, the acting is pretty
good, and the ending is unpredictable.
David Strathairn plays Joe Gastineau, a handyman / fisherman
who lives in a remote Alaskan town. His life seems pretty uneventfual
until he runs into singer Donna (Mary Elizabeth Mastrantonio)
and her daughter Noelle (Vanessa Martinez). A relationshop starts
to develop between Joe and Donna which is challenged to the
limit when through a series of unfortunate events they end up
stranded on a wilderness island with no food or hope of resuce.
This film from director John Sayles is never predictable or
cliched. I have never seen a movie before which spends so long
on scene setting and character building. In fact the first half
of the movie is spent examining the various lost souls that
live in Joe's little town. There's a wannabe tycoon who wants
to turn Alaska into a theme park, a lesbian couple from the
city who own a fishing boat that they can't use, a local cannery
worker who used to own that fishing boat, and a shady character
named Smiling Jack. There's also Joe's half brother Bobby (played
quite well by Casey Siemaszko) who's arrival in town signals
the start of trouble for Joe and Donna.
The cinematography captures the Alaskan scenery and conveys
strongly the sense of the cold and isolated wilderness and overall
the film does paint some strong images of life in this most
northern of American states.
The second half of the movie is not however as suspenseful
as it possibly could be and revolves a little too much around
Noelle who is a typical sullen and troubled teenager of which
there are too many in movies these days. Teenagers in movies
seem to sit at two extremes, either they are preppy babes from
high school whose only worry is whether they have the right
girlfriend / boyfriend, or they are suicidal and hate their
parents. There seems to be no middle ground.
Anyhow, the thrilling part of the film is not all that thrilling,
and the movie builds to a climax which I thought was pretty
cool but which some people may be disappointed with.
Not a run of the mill movie. Worth seeing if you want to see
a really character driven (as opposed to special effects driven
movie) or if you are a fan of the Alaskan wilderness.
|