SHIPPING NEWS, THE
Released: December 25, 2001
Starring in a role originally slated for John Travolta is Kevin Spacey, one our best actors in contemporary film. After his two-timing wife (Cate Blanchett) is killed in a car crash, a newspaperman named Quoyle moves his aunt (Judi Dench) and daughter to his ancestral home on the stark Newfoundland coast. In Killick-Claw, Quoyle finds a job writing the shipping news for a local paper and confronts his private demons as he struggles to make a happy family life. This is an actor's movie, filled with interesting roles of varying degrees. Swedish director Lasse Hallstrom is no stranger to Oscar bait calibre films released around the festive season. His last few movies were all Miramax Oscar contenders - "Chocolat" and "The Cider House Rules" - but "The Shipping News" breaks out of the arty groove into a more commercially minded endevor. Filmed in Canada's desolate wasteland otherwise known as "not Toronto" (that's Newfoundland, second worst place to live in Canada next to above the Arctic tree line), Hallstrom adapts E. Annie Proulx novel for the screen and succeeds at capturing the visual beauty and ugliness of the setting while establishing a blazing fast pace that jumps years in the reach into the popcorn bag. The movie begins with Quoyle as a boy being kicked into the ocean by his Father in a strange swimming lesson. Quoyle enters adult life as a shell of a person, virtualy invisible and falling asleep at his less than exciting job of typesetter for a local smalltown New York state newspaper. The first twenty minutes of the movie cover so much timeline it's dizzying. But wait until you get into the guts of the film and enjoy the acting and the visuals. It really is a beautiful looking movie. Spacey delivers another great performance along the lines of his "American Beauty" part and Julianne Moore is fine too - she even learned how to play accordian for the movie. Cate Blanchett's character is stereotypical and handled so huriedly that it's a wonder Quoyle spends so much time thinking of her. His daughter Bunny, played by three different triplets (Alyssa Gainer, Kaitlyn Gainer, Lauren Gainer) has a meaty role but not enough time is given to her unexplained psychic abilities. Like "The Cider House Rules", director Hallstrom dwells on the unsettling subject of incest (with an added horrible twist here). Is this needed? Not really, but don't let that detract you from seeing this otherwise beautifully acted and visually stunning picture. Also starring Rhys Ifans, Scott Glenn, Pete Postlethwaite and Canadian Gordon Pinset.
128 Minutes
Miramax/Walt Disney