Northfork By Rick Curnutte Richard A. Curnutte, Jr. is the Editor of The Film Journal. He has studied English and Film at Ohio University and The Ohio State University. He is a founding member of the Central Ohio Film Critics Association

Somewhere in the American Northwest, a town called Northfork's days are numbered. Located in the shadow of a mighty dam, the citizens of Northfork are being driven from their homes for the day when the floodgates are opened and the peaceful town rages with water then settles into a lake.

While most of the townsfolk have already taken flight, an assortment remain steadfastly behind: a man who has built an ark for himself and his two wives to escape on; another man who has resolutely nailed his feet to his front porch in protest and who fires a shotgun at anyone who approaches him; even one of the men charged with ousting the Northforkians (James Woods) has his wife buried in the town and must exhume her body.

A young, ill boy has been abandoned by his adoptive family, and a haggard preacher (Nick Nolte) has once again taken him in to care for him.

And a hodgepodge of off-kilter, questionable celestial beings have descended upon Northfork to find a lost member of their "family".

Northfork, the final installment in a Northwestern trilogy by twin filmmakers Mark and Michael Polish (Twin Falls, Idaho and Jackpot are this film's predecessors), is an ambitious, if uneven, visual experience, whose impact is lessened by being forcibly mannered and emotionally introverted.

The Polish brothers have a keen eye for the poetry of the heartland; some of Northfork is among the most beautiful photography I've seen this year. Yet they seem unable to avoid a disconnect with their intended audience. Those who might normally embrace such a formalist exercise will find themselves put-off when they realize that Northfork is, for the most part, formalism for formalism's sake.

Without much meat to sustain itself, Northfork collapses into a series of uneven set pieces, the best of which (the previously mentioned ark, an encounter with a stilted monster straight out of The Dark Crystal) don't add up to much of a whole.

I have no question that the Polishes have talent to spare. Their films, varying in quality, remain positively singular in voice and vision. Hopefully, they can pare down that iconoclastic vision into something more successful in the future.

                                                                 © FILM JOURNAL 2002