- Film Review
- Reviewed By Lorien Haynes
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3 out of 5
The icy mists, haunting sounds and shadows of the Newfoundland shores imbue The Shipping News with a bleak sadness that the intriguing storyline and strong performances fail to dispel. A miscast Kevin Spacey stars as Quoyle, a dull, uninspired man who is seduced into marriage and fatherhood by the sluttish Petal Bear (Cate Blanchett), then deserted and widowed in short order. An estranged aunt (Judi Dench) invites him and his daughter to return with her to the family home - a fishing village in Newfoundland, seemingly populated solely by eccentrics. Quoyle lands a job writing the shipping news on the local paper and begins a tentative love affair with widow Julianne Moore. However, this glimmer of romantic hope and the eventual uncovering of disturbing family secrets aren't enough to energise Lasse Hallström's muted movie. Still, the always watchable Moore and Dench go a long way in compensating for the film's overall emotional chilliness, investing their characters with warmth and life.
Plot Summary
Drama, from the director of Chocolat and The Cider House Rules, based on the bestselling novel by E Annie Proulx and starring Kevin Spacey and Julianne Moore. After the sudden death of his trailer-trash wife, unassuming nobody Quoyle moves to his ancestral home in a fishing village in Newfoundland with his daughter and finds a job writing a column for the local paper. As he becomes immersed in the lives of the people there, he establishes a special connection with a local single mother and widow, Wavey Prowse.
Cast and crew
Cast
- Quoyle
- Kevin Spacey
- Wavey Prowse
- Julianne Moore
- Agnis Hamm
- Judi Dench
- Petal Bear
- Cate Blanchett
- Tert Card
- Pete Postlethwaite
- Jack Buggit
- Scott Glenn
- Beaufield Nutbeem
- Rhys Ifans
- Billy Pretty
- Gordon Pinsent
- Dennis Buggit
- Jason Behr
- Bayonet Melville
- Larry Pine
- Silver Melville
- Jeanetta Arnette
Crew
- Director
- Lasse Hallström
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