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Northfork (2003)
Tomatometer
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Reviews Counted:99
Fresh:56
Rotten:43
Average Rating:5.9/10
Consensus: Visually poetic, but may be too dramatically inert for some.
Runtime: 1 hr 43 mins
Genre: Dramas
Synopsis: "We are all angels. It is what we do with our wings that separates us." In the next two days, the town of Northfork will cease to exist. The year is 1955 and Northfork is literally about... "We are all angels. It is what we do with our wings that separates us." In the next two days, the town of Northfork will cease to exist. The year is 1955 and Northfork is literally about to be "dammed," flooded to make way for a new hydroelectric project. The town's rugged plains are going to drown, its Heartland houses will be swept away and its citizens are heading for higher ground. With the exception of a few stoic resistors. Now a team of six trench-coated men has been charged with removing the last few stragglers before it is too late. As the Evacuation Committee spreads out across Northfork, they encounter a group of people not quite ready or willing to leave. They are each in limbo. Some are looking for a sign. Others are hoping for a miracle. Yet, one way or another, they will all have to say goodbye. Among these tenacious individuals are a lustful young couple, a man who has built an Ark (complete with a pair of wives), and a frail orphan whose fevered visions have led him to believe he's the lost member of an ancient herd of roaming Angels calling him home. Northfork is a beguiling story of loss and resurrection, about adjusting to the strange new places towards which we sometimes find ourselves heading. Blending surreality and history, the film is spun in the manner of an American fairy tale that tackles such themes as land, life, faith, death, the afterlife and the power of dreams with a distinctively playful touch. Northfork is the latest installment from the Polish Brothers, who previously won acclaim for Twin Falls, Idaho and Jackpot, the first two films in a series about America’s Heartland -- and the country's shifting dreams and visions. The film is directed by Michael Polish and written and produced by Mark Polish and Michael Polish. The ensemble cast includes Nick Nolte, Daryl Hannah, James Woods, Anthony Edwards, Claire Forlani, Peter Coyote and Kyle MacLachlan. Paul Mayersohn and James Woods are the executive producers. -- © Paramount Classics [More]
Starring: Nick Nolte, James Woods, Daryl Hannah, Anthony Edwards
Starring: Nick Nolte, James Woods, Daryl Hannah, Anthony Edwards, Kyle MacLachlan, Peter Coyote, Mark Polish, Claire Forlani, Duel Farnes, Robin Sachs, Ben Foster, Michele Hicks, Graham Beckel
Director: Michael Polish
Director: Michael Polish
Screenwriter: Mark Polish, Michael Polish
Producer: Michael Polish, Mark Polish
Composer: Stuart Matthewman
Studio: Paramount Classics
Reviews for Northfork
The Polish brothers may be too clever for their own good; this film feels self-indulgent, like an inside joke we could never get without reading a book about the film.
...a transcendent tone poem, an arrangement in dun and gray marred only slightly by the brothers' insistence on the occasional tin-ear joke
A moody and layered meditation on and evocation of literal and figurative states of purgatory.
With the pacing of a death march and the theological heft of Angels in the Outfield, this feel-bad extravaganza is 2003's Exhibit A of why people avoid arthouse cinema.
It's a recipe for magical realism, and the Polish brothers deliver with a stunning cinematic statement.
This droll surrealistic fantasy is like a gentler David Lynch hallucination.
Characters talk in solemn monotones, as if the entire drama were taking place in a funeral parlor.
Northfork is visually stunning, thematically rich and, ultimately, about as exciting as watching an old car rust.
The art-house version of a summer blockbuster: All style and no substance.
Latest News for Northfork
August 22, 2005:
Billy Bob to Become an "Astronaut Farmer"
Billy Bob Thornton will star in the Polish Brothers' satire known as "The Astronaut Farmer," says Variety. Mark and Michael Polish penned the screenplay, and... More...
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