Far North

nice movie

source: Far North

I thought that Far North really reflected traits that all humans hold, however deeply we may bury them. Greed, survival and the need to be loved. When Saiva, Michelle Yeoh, was born her tribe shaman told her mother that she would grow to be evil and that everyone close to her would die. So as soon as she is old enough she is banished to travel and live alone. But she soon meets a tribe when they are rounding up the caribou and she becomes close to one man in particular. Then the Russians invade their land and she comes back from a short trip to discover soldiers have killed the whole tribe, except her man friend and a baby. They are still there, though, and they rape her after slitting the man's throat. She escapes with the baby, though we are never sure whether it is her daughter or someone else's. We cannot be sure of the time frame in these flashbacks, as Kapadia has left this open to interpretation. I'm not sure whether this is good or bad, good in the sense that spectators can defend Saiva's actions at the end if they so wish or bad because it requires less effort to speculate on facts rather than assumptions. The ending itself is truly disturbing, it kept me thinking and reflecting for days on end. 'Disturbing' was the word I used to describe it to others, quickly adding that this was a good film. I did enjoy it; the scenery itself was almost overwhelmingly beautiful and was matched in its beauty by the cinematography. The performance from Yeoh was lovely to watch, and in my opinion her character was easy to make an allegiance with, as I could understand her reasons for doing what she did at the end. Her performance was strongly supported by Michelle Krusiec and Sean Bean, although it could perhaps be said that Krusiec made her character a bit too ahead of her time. And judging by the ending for Mr. Bean, I think I can safely assume that he'll be staying in climates above 0 degrees Celsius for quite sometime...wearing as many layers as possible.

Life in the barren north, is cruel and harsh, and so are the people that eek out an existence in this frozen hell-hole. Upon looking at the cover with MIchelle YEOH (luv-her) and Sean BEAN, and a young Asian actress named Michelle, I couldn't wait for the sex scene with the three of them. Bodies wrapped as one trying to fight off the cold. Well what does everybody want but no-one likes. Getting exactly what you want. I got it alright and wished i never saw it. Anyhoo the movie starts off with the lead character killing one of her sled dogs to make a hearty beefy stew. You then see the harsh existence and life out there. they pass a work camp. Finally an escapee from the work camp or deserter arrives. He brings with him the marvels of the modern world and jealously as the two pine for his affection. In the end your left speechless and no anyone who lives up there has to be crazy.

I really didn't understand the purpose of making this film. I think of myself as a pretty good film critic and most films I like the masses enjoy as well. This film was slow and quiet and I guess the climax was the shock value at the end. Shocking yes, but valued no. I was dissapionted and felt cheated, because there was no valid reason for her to kill someone she saved from death and raised like her own child. If she was a psycho path and the director gave us glempses of that then maybe it would have made sense. I mean, things should make some sense and what she did made none. I'm not one who needs movies wrapped up in a cute bow at the end so I leave happy, but cmon maaaan, this was disturbingly stupid and anyone who enjoyed this film must like contrived controversy. Well, to each his own, but this one could have stayed on the shelf.

Having a movie with very little dialogue is a risky proposition. In my opinion, it almost never works. "Far North" is a case in point. This could have been a devastating and disturbing tragedy, but the way it's presented, it's boring and tedious. A woman named Saiva (Michelle Yeoh) lives with her daughter, Anja (Michelle Krusiec) outside of human contact. Because of past experiences, Saiva avoids other people like the plague. Then an outsider, Loki (Sean Bean) comes into their midst, which changes the status quo. The acting is not the problem, nor is the cinematography (which is stunning). Yeoh and Bean are well-known faces (both have been in Bond movies) and are capable actors. But there is little they can do with such limited material. Michelle Krusiec may not be as well known as her co-stars, but she matches them. The problem with the film is that with almost no dialogue, it's too simple, and with the resulting minimal character development, it quickly becomes a sleep-inducer. I will say that the ending is a great twist, but not even that can make up for the 80 minutes of tedium that come before it.

If there is a war being waged between good and evil, between right and wrong, then everyone involved in the production of this movie have aligned themselves on the side of evil. I'm not sure what it is about modern movies being made with the sole intention of hurting your mind, but this is just another one of those. You will be no better off for having seen this. You will not be improved. You will not be educated. You will not be enlightened. You will not be entertained. There is no good in it at all. It's just trash. If you like Michelle Yeoh, turn off Far North right away. I have no idea why she would agree to play in this abomination. My very high opinion of her fell dramatically. The title of the movie and the book are both terribly misleading. This story could have taken place in any setting. You see Michelle Yeoh in an eskimo outfit and take into consideration the title, The Far North, and you think that it might be a love story. It most definitely is not. The viewer is literally tricked into watching this movie from the beginning up until the very last moment where the filthy excuses for human beings spring their trap. Boom, they win. They've put something in your mind that you would never have agreed to allow in. And you most definitely wouldn't pay for it. This is not entertainment. I'd like to believe that the majority isn't going to tolerate this from the mainstream for much longer. People seriously need to start fighting back. At the very least, there should be a new rating introduced. Like rated L for liberal entertainment.

Rarely does a move disturb me and haunt my thoughts for any length of time. This one has. I highly recommend. I will have to watch again because I wasn't paying the greatest attention to the foreshadowing and buildup, I wasn't sure where the movie was going, but man what a 'trippy' flick when it all unravels. The way this movie was done is really cool, I wondered why everything started so vaguely, and now I realize how well that vagueness lent itself to the overwhelmingly powerful emotion of this movie. Almost channeled it in fact. I am amazed at the range of feelings I experienced from this movie and how my feeling changed for the characters. I attribute that to the sincere acting, the dramatic story line, and the vivid yet harsh visual aspects.

I read some of the comments about that film and really thought i was gonna watch something worth watching, but..... The film in itself is very quiet, there is hardly any talking, which i personally don't like. You get to like the characters through their actions, but even then I was not impressed with it. The ending is very disturbing and fair enough it might happen far in the north but not everybody want to watch a film about a disturbed middle aged woman. My advise watch this if you really and even really bored, but overall the film was not to my liking and I'd say to any of my friends not to bother with it, even though it's got good actors in it.

Meditative, thoughtful love story told against the silently cruel arctic landscape. Almost wordless intercourse between Russian refugee soldier, presumably diamond or gold digger, and two female natives, mature and young one. And, as usual, love, jealousy and revenge go hand in hand. Great cinematographic and actors' performance will be appreciated by the cinephiles with some refined taste, but the end of the story was a kind of disappointment for me. Yes, it's obviously foreseeable end, but it was impossible for me to predict the way that revenge can come. Figuratively speaking, exaggerated evil envy served by the director as the grateful disciple's acknowledge of Kim Ki-Duk's poetic violence mastership.