Film: Frozen River

Cast includes: Melissa Leo (The Fighter), Misty Upham (Skins)
Writer/Director: Courtney Hunt (In Treatment)
Genre: Drama (2008)

In brief: “Do you have the $4,375 or not?” they ask. Ray promises that she’ll get the money, but honestly, that may be wishful thinking. “If you can’t come up with the cash by Christmas, you’ve lost your $1,500 deposit.” It won’t be just the deposit Ray’ll lose. She’ll lose her dream of getting her family into a better home… a double wide. Ray’s paycheck from the Yankee Dollar store is barely enough to live on, and when her husband blows their money at High Stakes Bingo and disappears, things go from bad to worse. How much longer can her 2 kids exist on meals of popcorn and Tang?

This is Massena, just across the boarder from Canada in the middle of the Mohawk jurisdiction. It’s December, and Christmas promises to be bleak indeed. When Ray spots her husband’s car in the parking lot of High Stakes Bingo, she thinks she’s found him. But, as it turns out, an “Indian” (Native American) woman, Lila, found it at the bus station. Lila can tell Ray is strapped for cash and offers her an opportunity to make some money. It involves driving to Canada over the frozen river and driving back with illegal aliens in the trunk. “The troopers won’t stop you because you’re white.” It’s an uneasy alliance… the Indian woman and the white woman… but once things are better, they’ll go back to treating each other like strangers.

Danger is everywhere. For starters, the thought of driving a car over a frozen river is nerve jangling. But Ray is so desperate she’s willing to accept the word of an Indian, even though she doesn’t trust her. The young manager of Yankee Dollar is never going to hire Ray full time because he likes the young cuties… and Ray isn’t one. There’s just no way out of the mess Ray finds herself in. Sometimes you have to do things you wouldn’t normally do… even if hoping for a positive outcome is not much more than wishful thinking.

popcorn rating