Like father like son...?
A small town policeman must investigate a suspicious hunting accident. The investigation and other events result in him slowly disintegrating mentally.
- Addiction
- Animal harm
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Character
Contemporary, contemplative, bleak and overwhelming.
- contemporarynostalgic
- contemplativerelentless
- warmbleak
- cooloverwhelming
- classical in formformally daring
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“Is this Paul Schrader's best work?”
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Reviews on TMDB
Written by TMDB members; each links to the original. Not part of Tastebuds's numbers.
- Wuchakon TMDB · Dec 20257/10
**_Oddball drama about a troubled sheriff in snowy northern New Hampshire_** Shot in the winter of 1997, this is a psychological drama with some mystery, suspense and thrills, similar to "A Simple Plan," which was shot the next winter. While that film deals with corruption via the temptation of easy wealth, this one involves the corruption of sons (Nick Nolte and Willem Dafoe) by the sins of the father (James Coburn). Both movies are worth seeing, but "A Simple Plan" is all-around more coherent and effective. This is more ambiguous, respecting the intelligence of the viewer to put the pieces together. It's a study of a likable man's downward spiral with constant hints as to what led to it, not to mention his misguided attempt to redeem himself. Like "The Spitfire Grill" from a year or two earlier, the events take place in a small New England town, and you get to know the denizens as they're fleshed out, including the girlfriend played by Sissy Spacek. The difference is the wintry milieu and the lack of any sense of salvation. I've heard people describe it as dark, haunting and even scary (the dad), but there's also a glaring element of amusement with these people being parodied by
Read the whole review on TMDB - CinemaSerfon TMDB · May 20247/10
There's always something more affecting about a story set above a wintery snowline, and though this drama in itself is not really anything special, the effort from Nick Nolte is. "Wade" is the local sheriff who is held in disdain by just about everyone from his disparaging ex-wife (Mary Beth Hurt) to his brute of a father (James Coburn). Then he hears of a fatal hunting accident and decides to investigate. Finally with some purpose, he begins to suspect that this wasn't just a simple slip on the ice incident, but that there are more nefarious plans afoot that could affect everyone living in this small community. As his self-imposed pressure mounts, we realise that he is only just on the right side of sane and is really struggling to keep it that way. Initially his investigations are derided but that just seems to galvanise him further, and drive him nearer to the edge. Might he be right about the conspiracy? Well that's not so important as the really potent effort from Nolte as a man dealing with a backstory from hell, a family who are at best indifferent to his plight, and an increasingly toxic professional reality that gradually sees him reduced to nothing - an angry and despairi
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Cast
- Nick NolteWade Whitehouse
- Sissy SpacekMargie Fogg
- James CoburnGlen Whitehouse
- Willem DafoeRolfe Whitehouse
- Mary Beth HurtLillian
- Jim True-FrostJack Hewitt
- Marian SeldesAlma Pittman
- Holmes OsborneGordon LaRiviere
- Brigid TierneyJill
- Sean McCannEvan Twombley
Crew
- Paul SchraderDirector
- Paul SchraderScreenplay
- Russell BanksNovel
- Paul SarossyDirector of Photography
- Michael BrookOriginal Music Composer
- Jay RabinowitzEditor
- Linda ReismanProducer
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Pairings
Companions we picked from the closest works, and how to take them.
Similar in taste
Closest on the same fourteen dimensions, from everything scored on Tastebuds Other media included when they land close.
Hallam Foe 200780% alikeBoth contemporary.
Blue Jasmine 201378% alikeBoth contemporary, classical in form.
25th Hour 200277% alikeBoth contemporary, contemplative.
Dead Ringers 198876% alikeBoth contemporary, bleak, contemplative.
Little Children 200674% alikeBoth contemporary, classical in form, contemplative.
Both contemporary, contemplative.
Light Sleeper 199274% alikeBoth contemporary, contemplative, classical in form.
The Believer 200173% alikeBoth contemporary, classical in form, bleak.
Six Feet Under 200181% alikeTelevision · Both contemporary, overwhelming, contemplative.
Euphoria 201975% alikeTelevision · Both contemporary, overwhelming.
Often watched with
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