>>REVIEW
THE ICE HARVEST
Now playing
Check Listings
Film noirs present a bleak view of humanity and director Harold Ramis' foray into the genre is no exception. Based on Scott Phillips' novel, The Ice Harvest follows the angst-riddled path of Charlie (John Cusak), a fallen legal eagle working for the mob. Divorced, sullen and prickly, he decides to steal over $2 million from his menacing boss to start a new life. But, things quickly go south as he realizes no one is to be trusted.
This film portrays Middle America at its gritty worst. It's a world populated by bruised strippers, horny politicians, and rabid bartenders. The fact it's Christmas Eve means nothing to most, as they swill and seduce their way deep into the rain-soaked night. The inept local deputy is oblivious to the shifty goings on behind the thin moral veneer of festive lights and nativity scenes.
Cusack brings his haggardly nervous character alive in a way only he can and it's unclear whether Charlie has any soul left under his boozy, grim exterior.His partner in theft, played with robust sliminess by Billy Bob Thornton, quickly ferrets away the cash, not telling Charlie of its whereabouts. Thornton's best-buddy exterior is soon replaced with a sociopathic venom that is chillingly believable.
No film noir would be complete without a seductive, opportunistic vixen, and Renata (Connie Nielsen) is stunning as the Veronica Lake-esque strip club manager. It's easy to see how Charlie would be seduced by her charms.
Charlie’s true friend Pete (Oliver Platt), is a drunken buffoon who slurs his way through life, boasting about his friend Charlie's mob involvement. Right down to his ruby red alcoholic nose, he's the most sublimely harmless of all the characters.
Randy Quaid's brief but deliciously scary performance as mobster Bill Guerrard proves it sucks to be a criminal in modern-day America. As he tiredly points out during his savage attack on Charlie and Renata – there's more money in God than sin.
The Ice Harvest is a bleak, scathing and unforgiving close-up of Kansas. But anyone who has made mistakes and submitted to their urges will squirm nervously in their seat as they see a bit of themselves in this clever movie. |
Copyright ©2005 FFWD. All rights reserved.