It plays out, dreamlike, often beautifully shot and visually appealing, but seemingly without purpose.
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
This pretty odd little fantasy-drama is more likely to leave audiences scratching their heads than it is to warm their hearts.
There is a lot less going on in Northfork than its dour acting, odd symbolism and funereal take-us-seriously-or-else tone would suggest.
The sympathetic might describe 'Northfork' as a cinematic poem or allegorical fairy tale. The uncharitable might prefer such terms as 'hokum' or 'hooey'...
There is a posture of icy remove to the Polish brothers' film that washes everything in the same bleached palette employed in M. David Mullen's faultless cinematography.
The jokey elements are artificial, and strike a note of banality that undermines whatever sense of transcendence the film might be attempting in its stark, sweeping cinematography and mystical, dreamy milieu.
A compelling juxtaposition of the poignant and the bizarre, a movie that tosses moviemaking rules into the nearest Cuisinart.
This surreal vision of a place and people on the cusp of extinction weaves reality and fantasy into a totally enveloping, dreamlike state of mind.
What the brothers lack in discipline, they make up for in visual inventiveness.
This Polish brothers' drama, about the imminent flooding of a small Montana town, takes on the unfortunate air of an inside joke that you're not invited to share.
Surreal, oddly punny, and yet mostly a meditation on letting go of the dearly departed.
A movie for surrealists and movie-lovers and admirers of the vanishing Heartland.
For those on its peculiar wavelength, everything fits. For those who aren't, it's a painful piece of self-impressed drivel. Either way, you'll know you've been to the movies.
This formidable work is for no one except those who are truly tired of formulaic movies and crave something completely different.
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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