| Wonderful Performances, Difficult Material |
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| written by talltale |
February 26, 2006 - 7:26 AM PST |
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2 out of 2 members found this review helpful
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Terrifically well-acted by every last performer, NORTH COUNTRY is old-fashioned in its sentiments, modern in its story-telling technique (past and present interestingly inter-cut) and marks an enormous improvement in direction by Niki Caro from her overrated "Whale Rider." The cast could not have been better chosen--from Theron in the lead to Richard Jenkins as her angry father (scenes between them toward the end of the film are terrifically moving), Frances McDormand (when is this woman not superb?), Sean Bean (giving a warm performance light years from his usual bad guy mode), Michelle Monaghan, Jillian Armenante, and--yes!--Woody Harrelson.
The screenplay by Michael Seitzman is well-crafted, building nicely until the finale--when, for me, it fell apart with a single false stoke, as a certain character suddenly switches sides. But, when 95% of a film has held you tight, it has to be recommended pretty highly despite a final flaw. Yes, the behavior of the miners toward the women may seem beyond belief to some; from my experience, it is, unfortunately, just everyday fun-and-games. This film didn't make much of a stir at the box-office, but I bet it'll do better on DVD. |
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