The Shipping News (film)
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The Shipping News | |
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![]() Theatrical release poster | |
Directed by | Lasse Hallström |
Screenplay by | Robert Nelson Jacobs |
Produced by | Rob Cowan Leslie Holleran Irwin J. Winkler |
Starring | Kevin Spacey Julianne Moore Judi Dench Cate Blanchett |
Cinematography | Oliver Stapleton |
Edited by | Andrew Mondshein |
Music by | Christopher Young |
Distributed by | Miramax Films |
Release date |
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Running time | 111 minutes |
Country | United States |
Language | English |
Budget | $38 million |
Box office | $24,690,441 |
The Shipping News is a 2001 drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Shipping News by Annie Proulx.
It stars Kevin Spacey as the protagonist Quoyle, Judi Dench as Agnis Hamm, and Julianne Moore as Wavey Prowse. It also stars Pete Postlethwaite, Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Cate Blanchett, Jason Behr, and Gordon Pinsent.
Overview
The film opens with Quoyle's father tossing him into water, expecting him to naturally swim. The image of Quoyle struggling to swim is reprised several times in later crises.
Flash forward to an adult Quoyle (Kevin Spacey), whose emotionally distant and promiscuous cheating wife runs off with a lover, only to soon die in a car accident, leaving him with their 6 year old daughter (whom she had sold off for six-thousand dollars.) Quoyle's Aunt Agnis (Judi Dench) happens to be visiting when the news arrives; she is moving to the ancestral family home in Newfoundland. Realising he's at a total loss through grief, she offers to stay a few more days and help him through the crisis, then persuades Quoyle to move with her to Newfoundland when he's at a loss of what to do next.
Quoyle meets local resident Wavey Prowse (Julianne Moore), a widow with a pre-teen boy. The two children become friends and the two adults become friends and then more. Wavey has dark secrets in her past; but so does the Quoyle family.
The story climaxes with a storm which destroys the Quoyle home, and the Gammy Bird's editor Jack Buggit, caught in the rope of a lobster pot while fishing, is believed drowned. His body is recovered, appears to be dead, but is actually in a deep state of shock resulting from hypothermia. During his wake, at his home in front of mourners, he regains consciousness - (central to the theme of rebirth in the optimistic ending of the story.)
The film, while broadly following the plot of the book, makes several changes, notably: Quoyle was obese and had two daughters in the novel, but only one in the film. He's only a timid ink setter in the film and he does not begin writing as a brave reporter until after arriving in Newfoundland. Another difference is that several characters, such as the younger Buggit family, were deleted or merged.
Cast
- Kevin Spacey as Quoyle
- Julianne Moore as Wavey Prowse
- Judi Dench as Agnis Hamm
- Cate Blanchett as Petal
- Pete Postlethwaite as Tert Card
- Scott Glenn as Jack Buggit
- Rhys Ifans as Beaufield Nutbeem
- Gordon Pinsent as Billy Pretty
- Jason Behr as Dennis Buggit
- Larry Pine as Bayonet Melville
- Jeanetta Arnette as Silver Melville
- Katherine Moennig as Grace Moosup
Quoyle Point and Killick-Claw
Quoyle Point is a fictional point of land on the Newfoundland coast bearing the family name of the protagonist in both the book and the movie. The actual town used for "Killick-Claw" in the movie was New Bonaventure in the Trinity Bight area of Newfoundland. This area is home to approximately 2,000 Newfoundlanders, most of whom are descendants of 18th-century settlers from England's West Country, the Channel Islands and Southeast Ireland.
In the movie, Quoyle Point is a remote, spectacular site with a cove and dramatic cliffs. There is a desolate, weathered green house on the point, the old family home of the Quoyles. At some time in the past, the house had been dragged across the sea-ice from a neighboring island and cabled to the ground at the four corners to protect it from being blown away.
The film crew pre-built the green house on a stage in Halifax, Nova Scotia, disassembled it, transported it via ferry to Newfoundland, and then reassembled it piece-by-piece on 'Quoyle Point,' using snowmobiles so as not to disturb the natural location. All traces of it were removed at the end of filming.
Reception
Critical response
The Shipping News received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 55% rating, based on 130 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though solidly made and acted, The Shipping News is rather heavy-handed and dull, especially given the nature of its protagonist."[1] At Metacritic, the film has a score of 47 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".[2]
Accolades
Won
- Florida Film Critics Association:
- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett)
- National Board of Review:
- Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett)
Nominated
- Art Directors Guild (ADG):
- Excellence in Production Design Award Feature Film – Contemporary Film
- BAFTA Awards:
- Best Actor in a Leading Role (Kevin Spacey)
- Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Judi Dench)
- Berlin International Film Festival:
- Golden Berlin Bear (Lasse Hallström)
- Broadcast Film Critics Association:
- Best Composer (Christopher Young)
- Best Film
- Golden Globe Awards:
- Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Kevin Spacey)
- Best Original Score (Christopher Young)
- Screen Actors Guilds (SAG):
- USC Scripter Award:
- USC Scripter Award (Robert Nelson Jacobs and E. Annie Proulx)
- Young Artist Awards:
- Best Ensemble in a Feature Film
References
- ^ "The Shipping News (2001)". Rotten Tomatoes. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
- ^ "The Shipping News". Metacritic. Retrieved July 14, 2015.
External links
- 2001 films
- American films
- English-language films
- 2000s drama films
- American drama films
- Films about journalists
- Films based on American novels
- Films directed by Lasse Hallström
- Films set in Newfoundland and Labrador
- Films shot in Newfoundland and Labrador
- Films shot in Nova Scotia
- Incest in film
- Miramax films
- Films produced by Irwin Winkler