These two films, the first British and the second American, are about isolation, but the latter is the more satisfying experience.In Frozen River, two mothers, unified by their circumstances of loss and driven by desperation, join forces to smuggle immigrants across the border between New York state and Canada. The crossing point is a frozen river that forges thorugh the Mohawk reservation, meaning the smuggling is not illegal until the immigrants leave the reservation.
Melissa Leo is tremendous as the resourceful mother crossing lines to support her family, while Misty Upham also does well with the less sympathetic role of the Mohawk mother. The relationship between the two mothers never truly thaws until the end – again, like the genesis of their relationship, this is as much driven by circumstance as the need to acknowledge the sacrifice of the other.
There’s an air of Lynchian dread throughout, and a fascination with nature’s power.
By no means a happy film, the conclusion is at least satisfying and the characters are believable and sympathetic. Score: 6.5
The same can not be said of Broken Lines. This is a typically unsatisfying slice of London-as-dystopia; indeed if I was to be really harsh, I could say that Broken Lines is nothing more than an 18-rated, feature-length episode of East Enders.
The film depicts the journey of shallow, young property developer (Dan Fredenburgh) as he returns to his Jewish London roots for his father’s funeral. Unable to successfully establish connections with his past and failing to deal with the loss of his father, he hooks up with a woman (Doraly Rosa) working in a nearby café, who’s never the left the locale. Inevitably they have an affair – and of course they force each other to take their first steps towards resolution and maybe happiness.
The cast perform superbly – but we’ve seen it all before. Disappointing.
Score: 4
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