Frances McDormand received her fourth Oscar nomination for her performance as Glory Dodge in North Country.
North Country is a flawed film about a female miner who files a lawsuit against the company she works for because of the many cases of abuse and sexual harassment that the women at the mine have to endure. I wouldn't say that the movie is a failure as there is a certain effectiveness in it that mostly comes from the leading performance but it's not a very good picture. The screenplay is very heavy-handed and the courtroom scenes in particular sometimes verge on being a bit ridiculous due to how unrealistic they are. It features a truly great cast that unfortunately is not very well utilized as almost every role feels a bit underwritten.
Frances McDormand is an actress I always enjoy watching on screen: she was a wonderful screen-presence and she can pull off comedy and drama equally well. It's mostly thanks to those quality of hers that she manages to breath life into the character of Glory which is, overall, little more than a cliché: for most of the time, she's the older, wiser, wisecracking friend that has been played million of times. Glory is not a particularly original exposition of it, but thanks to her natural talent and her dedication to the role McDormand always manages to be quite enjoyable whenever she appears on screen. She sells her character's funny remarks without ever overdoing the sass and brings a nice bit of humor to the movie. The two actresses don't share that much screen-time together and their relationship is not particularly complex, but McDormand and Charlize Theron manage to convey the deep and meaningful friendship between Glory and Josey and their small interactions are tender and heartfelt. I also like very much McDormand's chemistry with Sean Bean who plays her husband and I really wish they had more screen-time together as they are incredibly sweet in their short moments together.
Glory works with Josey at the mine and McDormand does a fine job at portraying Glory's attitude towards the men at the mine. Unlike the other women in the mine, Glory actually stands up to them with her biting remarks to the point that they actually respect her a little bit but at the same time, unlike Josey, she accepts the harassments as part of the job and her pride keeps her from complaining. McDormand portrays Glory's view on the subject a striking counterpoint to both Josey and the other women: unfortunately, this is the only truly interesting aspect of the character as Glory is otherwise extremely underwritten. McDormand does not get the screen-time and the focus to deepen her relationships with either Theron or Bean, or even to do all that much in general. There is a scene in which Josey, during a huge outburst, angrily tells Glory that she can't tell her how to handle her son as she never had children of her own, and Glory is visibly hurt by this but unfortunately this aspect of the character is never explored.
In the second half of the movie, Josey discovers that Glory has Lou Gehrig's Disease: McDormand portrays the decay of Glory's health in a very realistic fashion and she's particularly moving in the moment in which the board members of the mine tell her she's not a part of them anymore - the moment in which she walks away with her crutches trying not to cry is probably the most effective moment of her performance. She is also quite good in a later scene at the hospital and the moment in which she tells the lawyer to "fuck off" through the machine that allows her to speak is both funny for what she says and touching for her physical condition as she says that. Her final scene in the courtroom in which she is paralyzed in a weelchair and unable to sepak and makes her husband read a letter in which she says she stands with Josey is a very touching moment in which McDormand does some strong physical acting, but it's also a very short one that ends soon.
In the end, Frances McDormand completely commits herself to a role it isn't worth her efforts. She delivers a fine performance that is enjoyable in parts and touching in others, but the role is too underwritten and clichéd to allow her to shine. She improves North Country whenever she is on screen and while she can't escape the shallowness of the script, she admirably tries to.
3/5
Ratings and thoughts on the rest of the cast?
RispondiEliminaI agree with your review about her, she's just fine and has a good chemistry with Theron
I can't reveal much about my thoughts on Theron, but I don't I'm giving too much away if I say I thought she was by far the best thing about the movie. As for the others:
EliminaJenkins - 3.5 (I thought Jenkins was the standout of the supporting cast as he was very good at portraying his character's arc. He does a good job in the beginning at portraying his shame towards his daughter but what I like particularly is that even if there is a lot of coldness in his behavior Jenkins shows that intimately there is still some love for his daughter inside him. When he finally realizes how unfair his behavior is, Jenkins is quite moving as he finally stands up for his daughter and their reconciliation is moving thanks to his strong chemistry with Theron)
Spacek - 2.5 (Sad to see such a great actress being so underused. I thought the role was poorly written to begin with, since for most of the time her character is on Josey's side while in a couple of random moments she seems to share Josey's father's point of view. Spacek does her best to make something out of her role, her accent is convincing and she has some nice, warm moments but ultimately the role is both too limited and too messy for her to go anywhere with it)
Renner - 3 (Perhaps he had a few shaky moments to due the accent, but past that he did well with his limited character. The script regarding his character is a bit one-note but Renner does well at portraying Bobby as the jerk he is supposed to be. He delivers in his big scene towards the end showing maybe a little bit of guilt in his character and humanizing what could have been a plot device)
Monaghan, Armenante, Schwimmer - 3 (They're all fine at portraying the suffering that comes from their mistreatment at work as well as the fear that keeps them from condemning it. Out of the three, I thought Monaghan left the strongest impression as she's quite moving in the porta potty scene)
Harrelson - 3 (He's fine at portraying a certain shyness in his first scenes and then brings the needed passion in his courtroom scenes, even if in those scenes he's a bit hindered by the screenplay. He's good in the role, unfortunately he is not allowed to do much)
Bean - 3 (I thought he was very endearing in his scenes with McDormand as they are just so sweet together. Bean mostly has to play the thankless role of the supportive husband but he does a fine, moving job at it)
Curtis - 2 (Pretty poor child performance in my opinion. He wasn't actively bad he was just extremely one-note in his portrayal, never making Sammy's ungrateful behavior towards his mother any less unlikeable. I thought the scenes involving his character were the weakest of the movie)
Loved her in Fargo, and found her very strong in both Mississippi Burning and Almost Famous. I know you can't comment on those yet but I've liked her in all her Oscar nominated roles up till this one, which I haven't seen yet. Will probably check it out soon enough.
RispondiEliminaDoes Sean Bean die in this one, or is he given a thankless role? Because it seems to be one or the either nowadays.
McDormand is a great actress. I can't comment on her other Oscar nominated performances but I thought she was pretty great in Burn After Reading.
EliminaAs for Bean, thankless role this time. He is good at it, but it's really thankless.
Sad you didn't like her and the film. I loved both of the nominated performances and I enjoyed the film, as well.
RispondiEliminaWell I did not dislike McDormand's performance. I thought she was good, just nothing particularly impressive, but I'm glad you liked her! As for the movie, I did not hate it and I think it deals with very important matters, but I thought it left much to be desired (even if it was always consistently watchable).
EliminaA very weak 4 from me. Great performance that could have been much more impressive if it was not for that awfully cliched, underwritten character that was captured in a even more cliched and predictible film. The great cast was wasted and she and Theron saved the film from being a ridiculous pure Oscar baity mess.
RispondiEliminaGlad we agree on the film. I like McDormand a bit less than you but I agree that she's one of the best things about the movie.
Eliminai like this one slightly more than Keener, but agreed that it's very clichéd and uninspiring.
RispondiEliminaAs you can see from my ranking, I prefer Keener, but both of them are quite good, just limited by their roles (and in McDormand's case also a poor movie).
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