North Country

[hedwig]

North Country

Release Date: October 14, 2005

Starring: Charlize Theron, Frances McDormand, Woody Harrelson, Sissy Spacek

Directed by: Niki Caro (Whale Rider)

Director of Photography: Chris Menges (The Killing Fields, Dirty Pretty Things)

Premise: A fictionalized account of the first major successful sexual harassment case in the United States -- Jenson vs. Eveleth Mines, where a woman who endured a range of abuse while working as a miner filed and won the landmark 1984 lawsuit.

Based on this book:



Production Still:

[modage]

she's ugly again!  i smell another oscar...

[ono]

And oppressed.  Don't forget oppressed.  Swank redux, here we go.

[RegularKarate]

Whale Rider was good tho

[GoneSavage]

Has anyone won back to back Oscars in the same category before?

[Fernando]

Has anyone won back to back Oscars in the same category before?

Tom Hanks.

[MacGuffin]

Has anyone won back to back Oscars in the same category before?

Tom Hanks.

and Spencer Tracy.

[MacGuffin]

Trailer here.

[Ghostboy]

It's good. About what you'd expect from the trailer. Gets you all involved, makes you cry, doesn't quite stick with you afterwards, but is still worthwhile (although not as good as Whale Rider, in my opinion, as far as the Niki Caro filmography goes). It's got some great performances, especially from Frances McDormand, who gets the scenery-chewing role but really makes the character matter. It might get some acting-related Oscar nominations. It's that sorta movie. Oh, and the soundtrack is made up almost entirely of Dylan songs, which is really cool.

Between this and The Squid And The Whale, which I also saw today, I have to say: semen is making a comeback on the big screen.

[Sal]

One of the greatest things Ive seen all year.

[modage]

Title: North Country
Released: 21st February 2006
SRP: $28.98

Further Details:
Warner Home Video has today officially announced North Country which stars Woody Harrelson, Richard Jenkins, Charlize Theron, Sean Bean and Sissy Spacek. The film tells the story of a woman, who returns to her hometown in Northern Minnesota after a failed marriage. A single mother with two children to support, she turns to the predominant source of employment in the region - the iron mines. The work is hard but the pay is good and friendships that form on the job extend into everyday life, bonding families and neighborhoods with a common thread. The disc will be available to own from the 21st February, and should retail at around $28.98. The film itself will be presented in 2.40:1 anamorphic widescreen, along with English and French Dolby Digital 5.1 tracks. Extras will include deleted scenes and documentaries.  Art here: http://www.dvdactive.com/news/releases/north-country.html

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its always sad when oscar bait misfires.  i feel bad for charlize.  first, her oscar bait film didnt score with audiences, then aeon flux tanked with audiences and critics and to top it off she (nearly) got the best sitcom on tv cancelled.  she is not going to be feeling so great.

[NEON MERCURY]

its always sad when oscar bait misfires.  i feel bad for charlize.  first, her oscar bait film didnt score with audiences, then aeon flux tanked with audiences and critics and to top it off she (nearly) got the best sitcom on tv cancelled.  she is not going to be feeling so great.

she's annoying..but has nice teeth and tits

[matt35mm]

she's annoying..but has nice teeth and tits

She'll sue you for sexual harrassment  if she ever reads this.

[Split Infinitive]

North Country (2005): A review

Bob Dylan's voice slices through the wintry fabric of Niki Caro's "North Country" like the ghost of an era when art still impacted the daily lives of millions. An unabashed moral statement if there ever was one, the fictional dramatization of the first class-action sexual harassment lawsuit in the United States could stand shoulder to shoulder with just about any socially-conscious courtroom drama of the last sixty years. However, let's not forget that many of what are considered the greatest films ever made constitute the subgenre of the "socially conscious courtroom drama." "12 Angry Men," "Dead Man Walking," "Judgment at Nuremberg" and "Inherit the Wind," just to name a few.

Charlize Theron is the girl from north country, Josey Aimes, who decides she won't take crap from the misogynist bastards at the mine where she works. Sick of the passive-aggressive tactics to force the women out of what the manly miners consider "man's work," sick of having to rely on an abusive husband or patronizing parents to help her care for her two kids, Josey Aimes takes the company to court with the help of Bill White (a fine, if unexceptional performance by Woody Harrelson). You know they wouldn't be making a movie about it if the case wasn't won but thanks to Niki Caro, "North Country" is as much about the drama of the struggle as it is about the victory.

Known primarily for "Whale Rider," Caro takes a fresh approach to the landscape of northern Minnesota, where the story takes place. Her compositions are overwhelmed with the desolation and faded mid-tone hues that typify these latitudes, a long way from her native New Zealand. Several of the most emotionally charged scenes in the film are drained of their sentimental value, letting the characters and events carry the story. Michael Seitzman's screenplay veers into the pulpit on unfortunate occasions, the urge to intravenously inject audiences with moral truth serum seemingly irresistible.

Caro and her worthy cast do their damnedest to restrain that impulse. Theron earned her Academy Award nomination, as did Frances McDormand as Josey's best friend, Glory, the trailblazer who fought to get into the mine and took the respect of the men that wanted nothing more than to see her in an apron behind a hot stove. As Glory's partner, Sean Bean brings an appealing certitude to the film; his antithesis is Jeremy Renner as the hideous creep that personifies everything Josey fights against (there has to be one in every issue movie). The real unsung heroes of the film (as they usually are in life) are Richard Jenkins and Sissy Spacek as Josey's old-fashioned parents, both of whom are allowed believable character arcs over the course of the film; arcs that only work because of the supple approach of the actors' craft.

The scene in the union hall in which Jenkins finally stands up to defend his daughter would usually be the soaring stump speech moment in which characters become preternaturally articulate and fell opponents interpersonal barriers with Aaron Sorkin-like incisiveness. Instead, both Josey and her father, Hank, stutter and mumble; when they walk out of the room, a resounding mixture of cheers and boos sweeps them along. For me, this was the film in a nutshell: predictable, with a twist.

Bob Dylan always said that he didn't write protest songs; that he was just a singer who wrote what he thought was right. "North Country" distills that essence; it's not quite as finely tuned as a glass of wine but it's a refreshing draught that tastes like it was brewed in the place where it was served. Real, raw and warm once you get it down. Fancy that.

4 of 5 stars

DVD Features:

We get to meet the inspiration for Josey and several of her co-workers in the documentary that accompanies the film. Voices soaked with years of soot and cigarette tar, faces weathered and eyes bright with vim and vinegar, these heroines are the bright spot in a spotty, unsatisfying set of features. Make sure you avoid the full-screen version to get the full effect of Chris Menges' brumal cinematography.

[pete]

pretty bad movie.

spoiler

it's very exploitative, written in the most cliched way possible.  its strategy is simple--sadism 90% of the way then dead poet society in the end.  it's really odd that for a movie about women empowering themselves, this movie spends most of its time building these "arcs" between Josie and the men that she desperately needs approval from.  almost in every stage of the film, in every conflict, it's all about asking the men to empower the lady.  the villains are quite one-dimensional.  it was quite easy to tell them apart too: the ugly fat old dudes are bad, the good looking (though some balding) dudes are good.  the judge is ugly and bald, so he's impartial (oops I think the CEO might be bald too I already forgot).  the female characters are even easier: skinny pretty good fat bad.  eyelight and close up good far shots bad.  I was just surprised that niki caro directed this piece of boy power movie.  it's too bad, 'cause inititally the movie gets me going by preaching on the injustice against ladies out there.  I got behind the lady, only to find that she's going to spend rest of the screenplay begging the dudes to help her.  it seems like the movie is saying that you can't get anything done unless you get a guy behind ya.  you can't be happy unless your son love ya.  but you can't get your son to love ya unless another guy talks to him.  you can't win a courtcase without a lawyer boyfriend (and yeah, I know she said "he's not my boyfriend!" at some point),  but you can't really win the case unless the boyfriend talks to your ex-boyfriend.  you also can't convince or not convince people at the union rally unless your father is there to get other men a-clapping.  I don't mind the made-up melodrama.  but I'm surprised that the melodrama all works to sadistically weaken the female character, as if that was the only way to garner empathy.  even charlie's angels depicted their characters with more dignity.

the performances are great though?