Cast: James Woods, Mark Polish, Nick Nolte, Duel Farnes, Daryl Hannah, Ben Foster, Anthony Edwards, Robin Sachs, Peter Coyote
Director: Michael Polish
Producers: Mark Polish, Michael Polish
Screenplay: Mark Polish & Michael Polish
Cinematography: M. David Mullen
Music: Stuart Matthewman
U.S. Distributor: Paramount Classics
Northfork is moody and atmospheric - a study in tone over plot and pacing over characterization. Unfortunately, in devoting all of their efforts towards the film's look and feel, co-creators Mark and Michael Polish have crafted a motion picture that is static, occasionally opaque, and, worst of all, boring. The thin storyline is little more than a framework upon which the Polish brothers can hang well-composed images of open spaces and lonely vistas. They evoke a sense of isolation and vacancy, but little more. This is the kind of movie that will be beloved by a small cadre of viewers (those who appreciate pictures that place style over substance), but disliked or disregarded by all others.
It's 1955 in the small town of Northfolk, Montana, which is about to end up at the bottom of a lake when a nearby dam is put into use. With the exception of a few stragglers, Norfolk is a ghost town. Three pairs of men are making their way from house-to-house, ensuring that the place has been evacuated. At one house, they are met by gunfire from a man who won't abandon his property. At another, they encounter a modern-day Noah who is ready to sail his house-turned-ark onto Lake Northfork. Meanwhile, the local preacher, Father Harlan (Nick Nolte), is caring for a dying orphan named Irwin (Duel Farnes), who is having visions of angels.
No one can deny the care and craft that obviously went into Northfork's production. From a purely visual standpoint, this is a striking motion picture. The color has been leached out, leaving behind images that are almost, but not quite, of black-and-white quality. This approach enhances the sense of grim loneliness. After all, what color is more conducive to isolation than gray? But it also establishes an emotional barrier between the characters and the audience that nothing can bridge. From the very first shot, we are distanced from the men and women populating the story, and, as events progress, the gap widens into a chasm. Irwin's story - an orphan rejected by his adopted parents because of his poor health - is supposed to be affecting, but it isn't. The situation is projected too coldly. We feel nothing for anyone in this movie. They are incomplete abstracts; we never believe for a moment that they're real people worthy of our sympathy.
The Polish brothers leave it up to each individual to make a determination about the nature of the angels. It's possible to make cases arguing that they're real, imaginary, or ghosts. There are four of them - sad Flower Hercules (Daryl Hannah), who offers comfort to Irwin; catty Cup of Tea (Robin Sachs), who, unsurprisingly, is always offering others a cup of tea; nerdy Happy (Anthony Edwards), who wears headgear that allows him to see all sorts of interesting things; and silent Cod (Ben Foster), who dresses like a cowboy. As the movie developed, I found myself becoming increasingly more annoyed by these characters, who seem like refugees from a pretentious playwright's Greek chorus.
Some critics have invoked the name of David Lynch when discussing Northfork, but this movie is more reserved, less energetic, and less overtly weird than anything Lynch has done in the past two decades. In terms of the tone - part mournful, part darkly comedic, and part self-indulgent - the film bears a closer resemblance to the Polishs' debut feature, Twin Falls, Idaho, although the material is less engrossing. Northfork is not entirely without merit, but its good points are likely to be seen only by those who appreciate inert, emotionally stunted cinema and who manage to stay awake.
© 2003 James Berardinelli