Show Time: 7:30 PM, Friday, Dec. 2, CUCC Fellowship Hall
Okay, so it's a bit of a stretch to insert "Frozen River" into a foreign film series. (It's filmed on the Canadian border with the U.S., so the setting for the movie is a mix of U.S., Canada, and the Mohawk reservation that straddles the border.) But I've had requests for weirder exemptions. For example, one person recommended a "made in Texas" movie for the series, and I had to explain that no matter how bizarre Texas politics is, I can't really consider Texas to be a foreign country.
Admittedly, this is another "dark" movie, but it's one where I see the darkness as necessary to set up the redemptive ending to the movie. (And there's an underlying Christmas theme.) Frozen River is a low-budget independent film. Such films are often more creative than the big studio productions. Here's the Netflix spin on the movie ...
On a Mohawk reservation on the Canadian border, Ray Eddy (Melissa Leo, in an Oscar-nominated turn) teams with widowed tribe member Lila Littlewolf (Misty Upham) to smuggle illegal immigrants into the United States. Though the work provides the women with much-needed money, each trip puts them in peril. Charlie McDermott and Michael O'Keefe also star in this riveting drama nominated for multiple Independent Spirit Awards, including Best Feature.