The Shipping News Review
by Tim Wick
As I watched The Shipping News, director Lasse Hallstrom's (The Cider
House Rules, Chocolat) latest foray into "I want an Oscar" territory, I
was struck by two observations.
First, I was taken in by his ability to make eye poppingly beautiful films.
Somehow he knows how to make both a simple apple orchard and a falling down
day care center in the middle of Newfoundland equally interesting to look
at.
Second, I began to think of his films as "independent film lite" By that I
mean that he addresses themes that we will typically find in an independent
film and smoothes the edges just a little bit. I am reminded of the
spoonful of sugar that Mary Poppins advocated. Ultimately, there is a
slickness to Hallstrom's films that make many of them good, but none of them
great.
So as to be clear, I genuinely enjoyed The Shipping News. It was a good
movie. It is a safe movie. It is a movie that will appeal to most of the
movie going public because it does not challenge them. Such a film is a
fine diversion and I have no regrets that I spent my money on it. I simply
feel it falls neatly into the larger body of Hallstrom's work in that he
plays it safe.
That is the way to make money in Hollywood. My tastes lean a bit more
towards watching something daring.
The Shipping News has a truly impressive cast led by Oscar winners Kevin
Spacey and Judi Dench but also including such impressive performers as Scott
Glenn, Julianne Moore and Cate Blanchette. Spacey is, as always, a perfect
choice. He simply electrifies the screen playing a man who has been
emotionally abused for his entire life. I have always seen a certain sort
of confidence in his characters that was - appropriately - completely
lacking here. His character was worse than a mentally challenged man. He
was a smart man who had been convinced he was mentally challenged.
It's a tough distinction, and one that is made tougher when we start seeing
him realize he has been cheating himself and those around him. Most actors
would flip the switch from "dumb" to "smart" but Spacey recognizes we would
never believe this. He takes it slow enough to make us believe it but fast
enough so that we don't get there ahead of the film.
The film is about the need to abandon the past if we are ever to have a
future - or a present for that matter. Every character in the film is
holding on to something in their past that makes it impossible for them to
live. Hallstrom accentuates this with a bleak landscape comprised of snow,
stone and water. The sun is never out and the world that these characters
walk though seems dead.
But contrast this with the spirit of the people who live in this desolate
place. They remember their history - Spacey's character gets a job
primarily on his family name rather than any actual skill - but are focused
entirely on their futures. To them, the world they live in is not dead, but
filled with infinite possibilities.
Spacey gets a job at the local paper writing the shipping news and is told
to write about the boats that come in and leave. Of course, it takes a
little while for him to realize that people want more than a name, they want
the story that goes with it. Everything looks ordinary on the outside.
Take a closer look and just about everything is actually pretty exciting.
I liked all these themes and I liked all the characters. I will again state
that Hallstrom has an eye for beautiful cinematography that is truly
impressive. His films are worth watching simply for the eye candy they
present.
But Hallstrom's ultimate weakness - his need to play it safe - is what meant
this film could never be any more than good. From the moment we meet Spacey
we know that his character is destined to find his voice. From the moment
we need Dench (his aunt), we know that she must also find a way to deal with
something in her past. From the moment we meet Moore we know that she is
the woman destined to show Spacey what love really is.
None of this is a surprise because we've seen it before. The characters
seem more like an excuse to show us great Canadian scenery than they do
people we need to learn more about.
Is the film worth seeing? Absolutely. The script is wryly comic and has
some fine insights even if they aren't exactly new. The film looks
terrific. And the fact is that until Kevin Spacey actually turns in a bad
performance, you should go to every movie he is in on principle alone.
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