Dir.
Michael Polish, 2003, USA, 103 mins
Cast:
Nick Nolte, James Woods, Daryl Hannah, Robin Sachs
Any American film using surreal imagery and featuring an appearance by Kyle MacLachlan is bound to cause comparison with the work of David Lynch. While Northfork does contain much to unnerve and perplex the audience, Michael Polish's dark fable (co-written with his brother Mark) is altogether different from Lynch, eliminating humour and focussing instead on theatricality and stark landscapes.
Set during the mid-fifties in a small, arid town in Montana, USA preparing for the onslaught of a cataclysmic flood, Northfork is an often frustrating and surreal puzzle designed around quasi-biblical imagery. A boy in the charge of a mysterious priest, Father Harlan (Nolte), begins to grow angel wings leaving white feathers in his wake. As the mystery deepens, strange agents arrive intent on finding the boy and evacuating the doomed town. In a remote house (guarded by a weird dog-shaped creature) a strange group of people could provide some answers.
Part of the film's appeal is that it often feels like a stage production. Despite some beautiful cinematography that shows dazzling landscapes and startling vistas, it wouldn't be out of place to see scenery shifters at work. At one point Father Harlan opens some doors on what is assumed to be a set only to reveal the stunning backdrop of a stark and barren landscape. The theatrical feel of the film perhaps goes some way to explain why actors of such a high calibre are present in such a low budget film. Perhaps Northfork's greatest triumph is M David Mullen's staggering cinematography. For any film this would be an effective use of space, but Mullen manages to tie the slightly stagier aspects of the film together while giving it a broad cinematic feel.
Although beautifully made, the film is slightly letdown at times by being a little too enigmatic. With a script that often thrives on atmosphere as opposed to narrative progression there are many frustrating moments during which nothing much happens.
Boasting an effective cast with stunning performances from Nolte and James Woods as Walter O'Brien (the leader of the agents charged with the evacuation of the town), Northfork is very much an actors film. Performances are often bizarre. Robin Sachs, playing a character called Cup of Tea, delivers a sinister, dark turn and Daryl Hannah as Flower Hercules gives a captivating performance from beneath an increasingly unconvincing black wig. Casting an inexperienced local actor in the role of Irwin, the boy who may or may not be an angel, seems like a huge gamble but Duel Farnes is excellent in an ambiguous role. Never descending into the kind of mawkish sentimentality that could easily have blighted the narrative, his scenes with Nolte are hugely poignant and are the best in the film.
Finally gaining a UK release over a year since it debuted at the Sundance Film Festival, Northfork is not an easy film to appreciate. Much of it is deliberately obscure and the narrative leaves far more unanswered questions than any amount of post-film discussion can hope to answer. However, the film's ambiguities are its ultimate triumph, and that it successfully avoids being pretentious and self indulgent is rare for films in this genre.
Jonathan Wilkins
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