Northfork film review

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NORTHFORK

The Polish Brothers, Michael and Mark, have made three films between them that mark them out as a radically different alternative to the Coens. While both share impressive eyes for strange visual detail and quirky stories, the Polish remain resolutely off the Hollywood map, making startling films that cost a fraction of the works of their celebrated counterparts.

Their first filmTwin Falls, Idaho told of the love of a pair of Siamese Twins for the same woman and marked them out as film-makers to watch. Their second effort, the less successful Jackpot, traced a plodding singer's journey through the venues of the bleak Mid-West. Both films shared a unique vision and a distinctive view on the American dream.

Now comes their third work, and if anything the comment on American history is even more evident. But that's not to say that their opinion is obvious: these film-makers work with metaphors and magic realism that make their messages oblique and often difficult to discern.

Montana, 1955. The residents of Northfork struggle to come to terms with the fact that they are being evacuated to make way for an impending dam. While the black suited water officials (led by James Woods) cajole them with fiscal incentives to leave, many do not want to abandon the only way of life they have known.

In the town's crumbling hospital, the priest (Nick Nolte) looks after his remaining charge, a young orphan named Irwin (Duel Harnes). Irwin himself is visited by angels who show him much of the heritage of his town as well as taking him to a group of strange travellers (including Anthony Edwards and Darryl Hannah) who seem intent on taking the boy with them on their travels.

The film flits between the two stories although it is not always obvious to know where the boundaries cross, and to understand what is real and what is not real. Where the film scores strongest is in its arresting visuals: the vista of the Montana mountains seen from a three-walled church or the latterday Noah's Ark built by one of the town's citizens.

The film certainly has a mesmerising quality, and will no doubt inspire many viewers to peel away the layers to find out exactly what is going on. However, many other will find it somewhat impenetrable - although undeniably beautiful.