The Hi-Line

Rating:
Summary: The Hi - Line
Review: A friendship/love story that is really nicely developed. I truly enjoyed the search for completeness and the discovery it enveloped. It has a gentle sway and flow that warms your heart and makes you remember...., and the thoughts linger long after you've finished watching it. Beautiful "pictures" accommpany the experience. I was touched by the sensitivity. I guess you can say I really liked The Hi-Line.

Rating:
Summary: Independent Filmmaking At It's Best
Review: In New York, we tend to get arrogant about the 'country life', and I didn't expect to enjoy this film when my wife forced me to watch it --but something about the honesty of the story, the beauty of the filming, and the cool soundtrack won me over. The Hi-Line rocks whether you're from Brooklyn or Bozeman.

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Summary: Delicate Balance
Review: Ron Judkins' directorial debut is a deceptively simple story of a naive Montana woman, Vera (Rachael Leigh Cook) who is told she is adopted. She is approached by a sleazy, but sad-eyed man named Sam (Ryan Alosio) who was given the ashes of her recently dead father and told to find his daughter. This is a character driven story, similar to films like "You Can Count on Me," where the screenplay doesn't focus on plot so much as how characters react to what is happening, and the plot follows. In the case of this film, it works nicely. Both Sam and Vera are complex characters in a love story that doesn't work on melodrama. When Vera discovers that she never knew her mother, she decides to go find her. And Sam decides reluctantly to go with her. Few films use such stark dialogue, with such sad undertones, but this is a quiet film. It uses dialogue only when the characters truly mean to talk. The cinematography by Wally Pfister is stunning, showing the hauntingly barren but mysteriously beautiful back drops of Montana. This is a very nice film that deserves viewing.

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Summary: A Beautiful Romantic Film
Review: This film touched my heart. Beautifully photographed and beautifully portrayed by a fine cast led by Rachael Leigh Cook as a young woman yearning for something special to happen to her life. What would seem like a simple "chick flick" evolves into a sexy coming of age film that reminded me of "Splendor In The Grass".

The DVD extras fascinatingly reveal the making of this passion project that debuted at the Sundance film festival.

Rating:
Summary: The Hi-Line
Review: This is a delicate and subtle character-driven movie, which makes it a very good showcase for Rachel Leigh Cook. It's great to see her successfully explore a role with a wider and more complex range than Hollywood has allowed her. That's what indies are for, I suppose. It's beautifully shot, and has a tricky and understated plot. No car crashes or nude scenes, but a film well worth watching.

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Summary: One of the Best American Independent Films of 1999
Review: This is one of the best American independent films that I saw in 1999. I saw it at the Austin Film Festival where it won the Audience Award. Filmed in Montana along the old railroad rout known as The Hi-line, this movie's setting gives it a bleak and poetic ambience. The film's setting almost functions as a character itself. It walks the tightrope without falling into the sappiness that so many romances do. This film is an actor's script with outstanding performances by Rachel Lee Cooke, Ryan Alosio, Margot Kidder and Tantoo Cardinal. It's well worth owning.

Rating:
Summary: Independent Filmmaking At It's Best
Review: Undiscovered gem. Sure-handed, sophisticated direction by Ron Judkins in his feature film debut. A Sundance Film Festival competition selection. Here's how special that is-- nearly 1,000 films apply and a mere 16 are invited. Judkins is a two-time Academy Award winner for sound on JURASSIC PARK and SAVING PRIVATE RYAN; also Oscar nominated for SCHINDLER'S LIST. Hanging out with that kind of company, the dude obviously learned something about making movies. Beautiful cinematography by star-on-the-rise Wally Pfister (MEMENTO). The Hi-Line is independent filmmaking at it's best.

Rating:
Summary: The Hi-line sets the line high for others to reach toward.
Review: Vera (the incredible Rachel leigh Cook) is two years out of high school, drifting in smalltown Montana, when oddball outsider Sam (Ryan Alosio) shows up on her doorstep promising a way out.

Winner of the audience award at the Austin Film Festival 1999, and a Sundance selection, Hi-Line takes off from familiar indie- ground and floats over a landscape both fresh and far-off, in the literal and psychological no-man's land between Montana and Canada known as "the hi-line."

Exquisite pacing and camera work draws the already lean and muscular storyline taut. Vera learns from Sam that she was adopted, and he agrees to take her on a roadtrip that will open her heart and his. Huddled together in subzero temps in his broken-down car, the poignance of their shared grief circumvents the obvious. This is a gentle, if searing tale, and when Vera finally tracks down her mother, Singing Bird (Tantoo Cardinal), their scene together wraps you up like a child, it is so visceral and honest.

Director Judkins savors the lapses of time between words, the dialogue is sparse and jagged like the lay of the land. Scenes drift away and together like snowbanks, in power, meaning and mass. I especially liked the relationship between Vera and Sam, which erupts slowly through layers of subtext... as they reach beyond each other to find themselves. Rare to find a romantic story held together with such grace and honesty. While the ending may for some feel overly nostalgic, say for the days of Billy Wilder and forties "women's films," it left this woman weeping.