Frozen River: What a literal title!

Premise: Suddenly-single mother Ray needs to pay for her brand spanking new double-wide, so she starts trafficking slaves across the Canada/Mohawk/New York border with the help of a widowed Mohawk girl who can't see very well.  Sounds like a comedy, right?

Comments:

1.   Tone: A humorless, slightly less violent Fargo meets the The Sweet Hereafter.   

2.  All kidding aside, this movie is a better-than-average meditation on abject poverty, both of Ray, the Mohawk girl, and of the foreign-born people they're transporting across the river.  It's not bad, and it's not good.  Just watchable.  

3.  Ray's kids have Tang and popcorn for dinner (seriously), but they have a big screen TV.  My hard heart finds it difficult to sympathize.  

4.  I was primed to be in awe of this movie based on its indy reputation, it's praise-smathered marketing campaign, and Melissa Leo's Oscar nod (deserved only because of the relatively shallow pool this year.)  Rule 345: Never go into a movie with any expectations. 

Recommendation: If you like navel-gazing indy flicks, this is your cup o' tea.   Don't expect any thrills or laughs.  Just frowns and sighs.