20130919: Drama Review--The Shipping News

The Shipping News

1. Fundamentals
1. American live action feature length film, 2001, rated R, 111 minutes, drama, romance.
2. IMDB: 6.7/10.0 from 22,564 users; estimated budget 35 million USD.
3. Rotten Tomatoes: 55% from the meter; 60% from 20,303 audience ratings.
4. Directed by: Lasse Hellstrom.  Written by: Robert Nelson Jacobs.
5. Starring: Kevin Spacey as Quoyle, Julianne Moore as Wavey Prowse, Judi Dench as Agnis Hamm, Cate Blanchette as Petal, Pete Postlethwaite as Tert Card, Scott Glenn as Jack Buggit.


2. Setup and Plot
1. Ecch, voice-over.  Kevin Spacey narrates from early childhood (the not quite drowned cliche) to adulthood, where he's an inksetter in Poughkeepsie, NY, and where he meets his first wife, Petal. The word 'clueless' keeps coming to mind.


2. They spawn a daughter, much to Petal's disgust.  Petal leaves him with another man after his parents kill themselves in a penniless state.


3. Petal and the interloper drive off the road into a river and die.  Nice.  They had sold Bunny (the daughter) to a black market adoption agency for 6,000 USD, and had a receipt to prove it.  That's how the NYSHP tracked them down and recovered Bunny.


4. Agnes Hamm (his father's half sister) visits, helps him relocate to Newfoundland, helps him move into a house the family still owns, and has not been lived in for 44 years.  The house needs quite a bit of repair, and is quite a story in its own right.


5. He gets a job with the local newspaper, and is assigned by Jack to do the shipping news and car accidents.  He learns to write in a journalistic style.  Agnis un-retires to help bring in more income.  He gets advice and learns more about writing.


6. Bunny likes Wavey's son.  Wavey and Quoyle become friends.


7. Quoyle shows quite a skill at finding out unfortunate buried facts.  Quoyle gets into a disagreement with Tert over shipping news content.  It is not pretty, but Jack sides with Quoyle.  Later, he finds a body and a head at sea, and manages to lose his boat in the process.  Quoyle discovers a number of other secrets, like the bad behaviour of his ancestors, his father's bad treatment of his aunt, and the like.


8. By the end of the film, Quoyle is part of the community, and much more at peace with himself.


3. Conclusions
1. One sentence summary: A weak man finds himself and his family's history in Newfoundland.
2. Four stars of five.


4. Scores
1. Cinematography: 8/10 The majority of the film's frames are on the dark side, almost to the point where some camera/light source changes might have been called for.  On the other hand, the film's locations are northerly with frequent overcast skies.


2. Sound: 10/10 No problems.  The incidental music was excellent.


3. Acting: 8/10 Kevin Spacey is both the worst (as the younger Quoyle) and the best (older Quoyle) actor in the film.  Judi Dench delivered another fine performance.  Cate Blanchette's performance was quite repellant, but that was her assignment.  Julianne Moore was good.  Scott Glenn was delightful. Pete Postlethwaite was great.


4. Screenplay: 8/10 Nicely done, except for the early material.  A separate actor for the younger Quoyle would have been much better.