Northfork

Rating:
Summary: Terribly slow, mostly incomprehensible, and strange.
Review: If you need movies to make perfect sense, you won't like this film.
If you need movies to be fast-paced, you won't like this film.
I'm not so picky about those things. I adored this film.

Rating:
Summary: Can't wait for the DVD of Northfork
Review: Northfork I saw this summer and fell in love with it. It is one of those movies which demands multiple viewings because the writing is so rich and visuals so hypnotically dense. I'm really interested in checking out the documentary on the DVD which chronicles the making of the movie.
'Northfork' has that something special that the Polish Brothers brought to "Twin Falls Idaho". But Northfork is grander and would accurately be called an epic. Shot in the Northwest (I think entirely in Montana) the movie is just striking to look at : The backdrop is the transcendent mountains of Montana photographed like never before as a haunting score swells and rises with the impending flood of the soon to be deserted town, and smack dab in the middle of the mountain grandeur is a house turned giant ark, as in Noah's Ark.
The story counterbalances the intense visuals: a town in the mid 1900's is being evacuated to make way for Government dam project. James Woods and company are sent out to remove the holdout residents. Meanwhile a dying orphan, recently adopted, is brought back to the town preacher(Nick Nolte) because his parents say he is too sick to make the journey. The boy slips in and out of surreal dream sequences with a band of hilariously dry gypsies.
Northfork really took me on a journey. It has an American heartland feel, with a very European pace. It is such a beautiful movie to look at and to ponder that the DVD will surely be part of any serious film library.

Rating:
Summary: A town to visit again and again
Review: With theaters full of easily digestable (and instantly forgettable) popcorn movies, it doesn't surprise me that people should react so strongly to a film that inspires the mind and engages the imagination as much as Northfork.

While the story embraces many grand themes from death and renewal, to enduring ideas American progress, it does so with characters that touch the viewer in a deeply personal way. Exceptional performances all around -- and from the likes of Nick Nolte, James Woods, Daryl Hannah, all in roles that allow them to explore a level of profound humanity that few filmmakers require or understand these days.

Much has been made of Northfork's lavish photography, production design, and gorgeous costumes, but few seem to understand that they are as important to the narrative as any of the lines spoken -- not unlike finding an old family photograph of people you've never met, and yet have a moment of extreme connection with your roots and the people who lived so passionately before you even existed.

The characters stay with the viewer for days after viewing Northfork -- the Evacuation Committee, Father Harlan and the orphan Irwin, the last remaining residents of the dying town, and especially those extraordinary decaying angels.

The film refuses to pander to the audience, there are no simple answers -- it is a viewing experience that is unforgettable and complex, tempered with it's surprising wit and abundant heart.

The Polish Brothers are to be commended for creating a work that not only dares to challenge the viewer, but does so in such a personal, humane, and loving way.

Rating:
Summary: ONE OF THE YEARS BEST FILMS
Review: Why? Because Northfork is not what people are comparing it to.
Northfork is a masterpiece and it stands on its own. Plenty of reviews knock Northfork for its liking to a David Lynch or a Coen Brothers movie. Come on, if "quirky" equals Coen and "weird" equals Lynch then most reviewers lack the necessary references to critique film. Why are the reviews on this site a reflection of the reviewer and not the film? Must a movie always be compared to another movie to warrant merit? How about Northfork's use of a boy's imagination? Is that Steven Spielberg? The trench coat evacuation committee? Is that Wim Wenders? The open prairie? Is that Terrence Malick? Add a house to that prairie and do we
have George Stevens? Northfork explores the rituals of Western behavior like John Ford does in his cowboy movies and the fear of technological advances like Stanley Kubrick-- And what does this say about Northfork... nothing. If you look at the Polish brothers first movie Twin Falls Idaho you can draw a line to Hal Ashby and his take on taboo subjects or their second feature Jackpot, that could be a Bob Rafelson movie. All this tells me is that the Polish brothers are in great company and my knowledge of film is cool. (I'm going to be a director
one day!)

Northfork's message is loud and clear... As Americans we are being forced to evacuate our dreams. That message alone is worth saying Northfork is one the best films of the year and maybe this century.

Rating:
Summary: Move Along Home
Review: What happens to us when we die? Is a final resting place really final? What defines what a home is? What is your job worth? "Northfork" tackles these any many other, more subtle, questions, and for the most part addresses them successfully, if not necessarily absolutely.

The movie begins with the premise that the entire town of Northfork must be moved to make way for a new dam. The dam is seen by some as a positive change, a provider of power for the area. Others look upon it as the concrete headstone of Norfolk. Most of the residents have been moved away by the government. Where have they all gone? We do not know for sure. A few have stayed, defiant to the end, or are simply too tired to make the trip. One man has built an Ark, and plans to float away once the water rolls across the land. Another, Father Harlan, is staying to help nurse Irwin, a sick little boy whose adoptive parents have returned him to the vicarage.

James Woods, in one of his best, most understated performances, is Walter O'Brien, one of the handful of government agents sent to Northfork in 1955 to help the people leave their homes. His son, Willis, accompanies him on this somber mission, unhappy with more than one thing pertaining to the town's impending doom. Walter's wife / Willis's mother is buried in the Northfork cemetery, and it's up to her loved ones to move her body lest it become awash in the waters of the dam. This brings to the forefront one of the most poignant storylines of the movie.

Irwin is not doing too well with his illness. Father Harlan (in another great performance by Nick Nolte) does what he can for the boy, including making him steaming cups of tea, giving him a Hercules comic to read, and a little toy plane to play with. And, of course, he prays for the child. But is it enough? For we see that there are visitors present inside one of the old abandoned houses on the outskirts of Northfork - four people who are there to determine if little Irwin is the one that they are looking for. As the movie proceeds, the boy's life is in the balance.

I liked "Northfork" quite a bit. It moves at an extremely slow pace, taking its time to set the mood, and to examine the people and occurences within the story. Sometimes we learn more about the characters by how they sit, or how they look at each other, or what they *don't* say to one another, as we would if they just inhabited a more 'normal' film. The movie is also very quirky. It reminded me, in a sense, of a David Lynch film. Unlike Mr. Lynch's incomprehensible features, however, "Northfork" resolves itself in such a way that you have a pretty good idea of what has transpired. Or do you?

The four visitors that Irwin communicates with in his feverish dreams are eccentric characters known as Happy, Cod, Cup of Tea, and Flower Hercules. Their names are reminiscent of some things which inhabit Irwin's real world. And there is a strange wooden horse/dog looking creature that stomps around the abandoned house of the four visitors, and it looks not unlike the head of the cane of Father Harlan. So -- are the four visitors real? Or are they figments of young Irwin's dying mind? If they're not real, then how does Walter O'Brien see them at one point?

"Northfork" brings up this, and many more unanswerable questions. It provides solutions, but not necessarily answers. What happens to us when we die? I'm sure the answer would be of comfort to Irwin. Is our final resting place really final? I'm sure the answer would provide no comfort to the late Mrs. O'Brien. What defines what a home is? To the people of Northfork, they must find that answer elsewhere. And what is your job worth? To Walter and Willis O'Brien, as well as the other government men in Northfork, it is the possibility of prime lake front property. Is what they do for a living worth it? Is the building of the dam worth the sacrifice the town of Northfork must make?

"Northfork" raises these issues, deals with them, but does not answer them. If you're looking for a conventional movie, then look elsewhere. If you're looking for something a little deeper, something which makes you think and feel at the same time, and which will stay with you for a long time to come, then watch this film. I guarantee you that you've never seen anything quite like it.

Rating:
Summary: Just didn't understand it
Review: Summary:
The town of Northfork, Montana is being evacuated as it is going to be flooded because the government is building a damn in the area. The government has contracted with 6 men (3 groups of 2) who used to live in the town to evacuate all of the residents: Walter O'Brien (James Woods) and his son, Willis O'Brien (Mark Polish), Marvin (Graham Beckel), Matt (Josh Barker), Eddie (Peter Coyote), and Arnold (Jon Gries). If they succeed in evacuating their allotted families (6- each) they will be given a certain amount of lakeside property on the new lake that is going to be created by the dam.

Of course, each pair has to deal with some Northfork residents that refuse to leave, including a man who has built an ark and plans to ride out the flood, an old-timer that has nailed his feet to the floor of his house, and a young couple too concerned with having sex to want to leave.

There is also the issue of Mrs. O'Brien, Walter's wife and Willis's mother, who has passed away and is buried in the Northfork cemetery. The O'Brien's have to decide if they are going to leave her there or dig her up and move her, as many of the other former inhabitants have done.

The efforts of these six men make up around half of the movie. The rest of the movie is made up of some rather strange events surrounding what appears to be the death of a boy named Irwin (Duel Farnes), who was supposed to be adopted but was returned to the local Northfork priest, Father Harlan (Nick Nolte) to take care of him because he was so sick.

Apparently (I'm not sure if this is really what was going on, it's really just my best guess), as Irwin is dying he is imagining that he is something of an angel and is visiting with another group of 'angelic' people that can take him away with them when they leave Northfork. Included in the group is hermaphroditic Flower Hercules (Daryl Hannah), gregarious Cup of Tea (Robin Sachs), eccentric Happy (Anthony Edwards) who knows just about everything, and silent Cod (Ben Foster (I)). Irwin eventually convinces them that he is the angel they are looking for and they eventually take him away with them, or rather, he dies (like I said, I'm not sure which it really is).

My Comments:
If the director and the writers (the Polish brothers) had left out the part about Irwin and the angels or done a better job of explaining what was going on, this movie would have been much more understandable and, as a result, I would have liked it more. As it stands, however, I don't think anyone really understands what was happening in the movie. After seeing it I read a number of other reviews hoping to see if someone would explain what was happening. I was relieved to find that there were as many interpretations about the movie as there were reviews that I read; I was not alone in not really understanding the movie.

The problem with trying to interpret the movie is that you can't simply believe that all of the angel's (Flower Hercules, Cup of Tea, etc.) are in Irwin's imagination because the six men that are trying to evacuate the town also happen to have a pair of angel's wings, which Irwin claims to have lost when he was a child, having had them removed by a surgeon. Also, Walter O'Brien sees the angels at one point. So, you can't ever really be sure whether the angels are a figment of Irwin's imagination or if the whole angelic part is real.

If the story had stuck with the efforts of the six evacuators, I think the movie would have been pretty good and I likely would have given it at least 3 stars, if not 4. There really was plenty in that story to fill an entire movie. But combining the evacuators with Irwin's death/escape made the movie pretty unintelligible. It really was like two movies that were spliced together with only a couple of places where they were linked (the angel wings and the sighting).

As for the acting, I thought it was superb. This is one of the reasons why I really wanted to like this movie. I thought pretty much everyone in the movie did a great job. Also, the cinematography and art direction were great. There are some incredible scenic shots and a lot of interesting sets and settings for the film. I really think this movie had potential, I just wish I could have more readily understood what was supposed to be happening. If the movie was designed so as not to be intelligible, well, then it's just a bad movie.

Overall, you may want to see this movie if you're interested in seeing some of the landscape of Montana, though the lenses they use frame it as being very stark. Also, there are a number of really good actors in this film and each does a pretty good job. However, unless you can find some way to decipher what is actually going on, I wouldn't really recommend it for the storyline - the meshing of the Irwin story line with the evacuators just doesn't make any sense. This is an example of a movie that had potential but lost it in its pursuit of artistic license.

Rating:
Summary: A movie about life
Review: I have to defend this movie because this movie made me laugh and gave me comfort -- both totally unexpected. Upon first impression, you might think this is an awfully depressing film. If not the premise (the story of a town about to be flooded and an evacuation team trying to get the last of the people holding on for dear life out of there), then definitely the look of it -- the six men wandering about town in identical black suits and black cars, the camera shots of the vastness of the field, the gray-blue color scheme.

But it's not. Pay close attention and you'll realize that this film is full of humor, unexpected wit at its best. It's a story that makes you laugh, if you're willing to look for its essence. The story may literally be about death and dying, but the movie is about life. Life is hard at the surface, even dreary at times: full of pain and hardships, full of things we want but can't have, of uncertainty and wagers. But in the end, it's what we make of it that counts. It's our sense of humor and hope that prevails, if we choose to make our life worth it.

Personally, I can't wait to get it on DVD and savor the dialogues and the characters over and over again.

Rating:
Summary: wonderful characters, amazing cinematography...a great movie
Review: There are old tales that Northfork, Montana used to have angels living in it. But in 1955, we find it about to vanish from the map. It's slated to be covered in water, becoming a lake in the process of bringing electricity to the surrounding areas. Thus we are introduced to the setting of the movie. But considering it's the namesake, Northfork is the most prominent character in a movie made up of characters.

The story follows three different threads leading us eventually to the end of the town. First we find a set of parents shamefully bringing their adoptive son Irwin back to Father Harlan, adeptly played by Nick Nolte. The adorable little boy, returned on the grounds that he is a sick child and couldn't make the trek out of town, is left as the only orphan to remain under Father Harlan's care. Second we find six men, contracted by the government to help evacuate any remaining townfolk. Among this group of six are many recognizable faces, excellent character actors, but our focus is placed specifically on James Wood and Mark Polish, playing a father and son pair. We follow these three pairs of men as they go from rural home to rural home and the strange antics that ensue. The last strand of this tale revolves around the afore mentioned orphan Irwin and his encounters with 4 strange characters who claim to be angels, including Darryl Hannah and Anthony Edwards. They are looking for a lost angel and Irwin appears to have some of the telltale characteristics.

This movie is art, beautiful with its tale and the manner it is told. It is paced slowly and intentional, the score helps immensely in the emotional movement of the story. The cinematography is brilliant, the Montana countryside providing a breathtaking canvas for this movie. The costuming and set work is done in subtle black and whites, creating an weird effect as if this was a colorized black and white movie. There are definitely elements that call back to the dreamy surreality of David Lynch and the quirky Americana of the Coen's Brothers.

In the end, if you're like me, you walk out with questions. What was real and what was imagined? But ultimately it doesn't matter. You hope it all was real.

Rating:
Summary: Not for the attention deficient
Review: More a tone poem than a narrative, "Northfork" will either bore or infuriate any summer blockbuster crowds who may have mistakenly wandered into the wrong theatre in the multiplex. It's their loss, as "Northfork" will richly reward anyone with the patience to consider it. The film's gloomy premise - a town is being evacuated before the construction of a hydroelectric damn drowns the area underwater - lends itself to the Polish brothers' somber rumination on all that is lost to progress. And as if to atone for all the real lives and homes that were submerged and forgotten under a manmade recreational lake, the film itself acts as a gravemarker for the erased existence of the titular town. Signifiers of lost, transmutable meaning are everywhere, even the jarring intrusion of odd pop culture references underlines how now-familiar catchphrases were once actual attempts at communication before they joined the shorthand lexicon of advertising and hype. If "Northfork" so far sounds somewhat bleak and heavy, well, it is. A dark humour intermittently permeates the magic realism, but the film's pace never moves faster than a deliberate skulk. Bittersweet, elegiacal, poetic, "Northfork" is that rare summer flick that aims its sights at educated adults rather than ADD-addled mallrats. Consider that both a recommendation and a warning.

Rating:
Summary: Welcome to NorthFork, I wonder if they serve cherry pie.
Review: This is my first time taking a cinmatic journey with the Polish brothers. All I heard is they take more of an inspiration from the David Lynch type of film making. Where symbolism and magical realism reign supreme. (I hate using the word weird to describe movies.) So after a few summer head aches I went in for some brain food. NorthFork tells the story of a town at it's end. Several men, led by James Woods, have been hired to buy folks off the land before it is flooded and takes everything with it. Were given small hints of the town that once was, but seeing Nick Nolte give a sermon from a church with no back wall, we get the idea that this town is in its final days.
Three basic story elements are going on. The first is James Woods who really steals the show as he and his son are being offered land if they get 65 residents to evacuate. They are on their 65th house and so are the other gentlemen in the group. The second is with Nick Nolte who is taking care of a sick orphan boy. And the last is the very magical story of the orphaned boy who makes a deal with a very odd group of angels.

This group of men in black trench coats really make up a fine point in the film. They add a good comedic element as well as giving the movie a great sense of film noir and poignancy. They don't like what their doing but it's funny to see how they react to the very oddball residents in the town. Nick Nolte deserves an oscar nod for his subtle performance as a priest who cannot believe a family would abandon their child, a child he had given to them once before, so who knows how many times this poor boy had been given back to the orphanage. Theirs a grea cameo by Kyle MacLachlan as Mr. Hope so David Lynch fans should look out for him.

The most interesting aspect of the film are the angels. Not what you would normally expect but they come off more charming than the kind of angels you would normally see in movies. Its kind of a twist on the typical, Wings of Desire, type angel that we've seen a million times before. I won't ruin any plot points but they have a very meloncholy relationship with the boy and it almost breaks your heart to see the boy pleading with them to grant his only wish.

It's not a very hard film to understand, so it's more accessible for those who are wary of films that may be too symbolic than others. It has some great "in" jokes for those who have a pop-reference dictionary in their minds. It's a great little movie with alot to say and it's definetly worth a look.