Susan Granger’s review of “THE SHIPPING NEWS” (Miramax Films)
After “The Cider House Rules” and “Chocolat,” we’ve come to expect an annual end-of-the-year Oscar contender from Lasse Hallstrom, and the Swedish director comes through again with this adaptation of E. Annie Proulx’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel about one man’s struggle to rebuild his life. Kevin Spacey plays Quoyle, whose name reveals his awkward, passive nature, like a knotted coil of rope to be stepped on, until a catastrophe – the death of his trampy wife (Cate Blanchett) – prompts him to leave dreary suburban Poughkeepsie for his ancestral home in wintry Newfoundland with his young daughter and long-estranged aunt (Judi Dench). On the tiny, bleak fishing outpost of Killick-Claw, Quoyle revitalizes his life as he restores the family homestead – a dilapidated house, anchored by cables, that’s stood empty, blown by the merciless wind for 44 years, visited only by a mysterious ghost with a white dog. After taking a job as a reporter for the local newspaper, “The Gammy Bird,” Quoyle’s tormented past slowly melds with his present as he discovers the dark secrets of his family’s pirate history and embarks on his own romantic future – with a single mother (Julianne Moore) who runs the local daycare. The characters in Robert Nelson Jacobs’ screenplay resonate with realism, honesty and humanity. In deliberate counterpoint to Quoyle’s oft-repeated claim, “I’m not a water person” – Hallstrom dives into the poetic beauty inherent in the sensitive metaphor of healing and renewal, utilizing free-floating water imagery throughout the film. The impressive cast is flawless, including Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Pete Postlethwaite and the Gainer triplets. On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to 10, “The Shipping News” is a visually powerful, indelible 9. It’s a compelling tale that’s as strange as any truth.
