Frozen River

SONY
Street: Feb. 10
Prebook: now
> Forceful indie drama presents a showcase for lead actress Melissa Leo.

One of the most lauded independent features of 2008, this unsettling, powerful saga stars Melissa Leo in a magnificent, award-worthy turn, playing a single mother who’s trying to cope with hard economic times. By accident, she gets involved with a Native-American woman (Misty Upham) and the smuggling of illegal immigrants from Quebec across the St. Lawrence River and into the Indian territory of upstate New York. With subtlety and no sentimentality, debut writer/director Courtney Hunt expertly tackles such disparate topics as single parenthood, America’s treatment of Native-Americans and terrorism, while compellingly delving into both female characters.

Shelf Talk: Winner of big awards at Sundance and other festivals, River has received lots of mentions on best-of-the-year lists. Leo, a veteran low-profile actress best known for her work in Homicide: Life on the Streets, is being talked about as a Best Actress Oscar nominee. Like other low-budget efforts buoyed by a lead actor’s run during awards season, this title will be helped immeasurably by the attention Leo receives. River also will get help from word of mouth and Sony’s push on such mainstream sites as IMDB.com, Yahoo and MSN.