Review of Frozen River (2008) by Mike M — 30 Jun 2009

If the river itself proves a rather obvious, Sundance lab-approved metaphor for the thin ice the heroine is walking on - yes, it (and she) cracks under the strain eventually - Hunt's screenplay does a lot with its twin themes of property and territory, setting out with some urgency what this woman is prepared to do to keep a roof over her children's heads, and recognising that the survival process requires endless negotiation and bargaining.

.. The film has many of the elements for a downer night out - an exercise in grim-faced book-balancing and penny-watching, sent out to counter the inanely cheerful profligacy of the major summer releases - but Hunt, and her leading lady, both draw you into, and even find notes to cheer quietly in, the lives of enforced flexibility and resourcefulness they depict.