Review of Frozen River (1929) by Spencer G — 04 Mar 2009
What was an inherently flawed script could have been corrected by decent direction or a little more attention paid to pre-production. Bad decision to be filmed on 35mm; the story, actors, visual aesthetic, and machine of the actual production would have been better served with digital cameras.
It would have given the cast and crew more flexibililty in picking up all the master shots and close-up inserts that were missing entirely from the film. They simply didn't know where to put the camera.
Also, the first half of the film is spent making us, the audience, feel sorry for every character by judging the quality of their lives based upon their poverty, which felt contrived and forced. The last 15 minutes were incredible, but by that point, I wasn't interested or invested in anything or anyone.
If the script just had a minor re-write and a different director was attached, it could have been a powerful piece... but... oh well.
This review of Frozen River (1929) was written by Spencer G on 04 Mar 2009.
Frozen River has generally received very positive reviews.
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