Winter in Minnesota. The radio gives us the forecast for Brainerd. One of our greatest actresses stops at a cabin to ask directions to a nearby lake, uttering “Okey-dokey, oh gosh” in a thick accent. At the lake, a woman with her hands tied behind her back runs, stumbling through the snow, pursued by a cursing, armed man.
No, you didn’t take a time machine to 1996 so you could watch the incredible Fargo in the theatre. You’re watching Emma Thompson in Dead of Winter. Steve Buscemi is nowhere in sight, but Judy Greer—America’s sweetest actress—is playing the psychotic villain. And while it can’t compare with Fargo, you’re really enjoying the show.
A Finnish-German film, Dead of Winter has none of the Coen Brothers’ humor, but it is a taut and simple thriller in which the only thing deadlier than Judy Greer is the frozen wilderness around her. Thompson is great and gets a satisfying character arc in flashbacks. The film never explains itself or talks down to the audience. Yet you know—by the end—exactly what’s going on.
It won’t be in the cinema much longer (a few days only), but it’s a great time. So act fast! It’s rare to find such an unflashy, adult thriller starring a woman over sixty that really holds it down. My only complaint is that Emma Thompson sounds exactly like Frances McDormand…y’know?