Review of The Shipping News (2001) by Josh P — 12 Jun 2008

I'm not randomly watching films in fact, I caught this on the TV and fell in love with it. Ever since, it's been on my list to buy and now i've watched the whole 1hr 51mins a can make a verified judgment. The film is based on Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-wining novel which goes as follows. Quoyle has suicidal parents and an unfaithful wife to deal with in the first 10 minutes. Once she goes to the extremes in taking their child, sells her and then kills herself Quoyle is forced to move to his family origin town of Newfoundland, with his estranged aunt for company. There he divulges into his past, his present and his future.

The plot is not one to sum up in a sentence, it's a film of not of twists and turns but of discoveries. The discoveries reminded me of going into the attic, you find yourself intending to do one thing but end up finding more things. Quoyle wants a new life but ends up looking to the past to establish a future. The novel has transferred very well onto the screen, the lighting may I add was particularly grim and bleak: a perfect setting for the film. Lasse Halström is now becoming an auteur filmmaker, whether he can sustain this title is debatable. But his witty scripts, simple yet effective camera shots and superb casting are his stamp on his films.

Back to the film, it starred many 'stars': Kevin Spacey with a slightly dodgy accent and an odd hairpiece pulls it off eventually, the always perfect Judi Dench who wasn't given enough time to show her talent. Then we end up with Julianne Moore who I somehow dislike, she has confidence and timing but in this piece she lacked passion and the gusto of Magnolia. If we're looking at the stars and not a main cast list, we must look at Cate Blanchett as Petal, who is written on the posters for some reason. She hasn't got a long part in it, but what she has got is astonishing. She has talent, she isn't a star anymore she's an actress! Which brought a smile to my face.

But alas there are problems, Kevin Spacey seems to be miscast and the discoveries tend to overshadow the real heart of the story such as second chances, the future and oddities of a fishing village. Some critics moan about the paces of the film, surely it moves at this pace for a reason? We move along with Quoyle in his discovery, the agonizing pace is meant to sympathize with Quoyle.

To be honest I can edit this review another time, but frankly in a sentence it was OK, zany enough for me and still made sense. Not the boldest of performances it but ticked the right boxes.