3 Short Paragraphs (Or Not): Dead of Winter

2025, Brian Kirk (21 Bridges) -- download

No, not a remake of the 1987 Mary Steenburgen flick, but a curious cold-weather crime thriller set in the snow-bound northern reaches of Minnesota, shot entirely in Finland. It has a limited cast that makes it feel like a Pandemic flick but somehow doesn't feel... small. We watched it because it has Emma Thompson doing her best Frances McDormand "homespun midwest" accent. And because I like cold weather flicks.

As mentioned, in the wilds of Minnesota, probably close to the Canadian border, amid rural dirt roads, lakes and bad cell reception, Barb and her husband ran a bait shop. They lived a small life, their home a cozy mobile-home across the yard from the bait shop proper. Her husband Karl has recently passed and she has promised him that his ashes will be scattered on the lake where they had their first date -- yes, he took her ice fishing on their first date and it seems they never left that life behind. The depiction of that connection is exquisite, emotive and true. 

But Barb hasn't been to Lake Hilda in quite some time, and a news-making snow storm is on its way, so when she chances on a tucked away cabin on a side road, she stops to ask for directions. A startled man is nice enough, tells her she is near it, and explains away the blood on the ground as a nose bleed. Barb thinks nothing of it and heads off, finding Lake Hilda and getting lost in memories. But then she hears a gun shot, a crack as clear as new ice in this empty wilderness. She hides behind her truck and spies the man who just helped her chasing a young woman across the ice. He recaptures her and suddenly Barb has a new goal.

The Man (Marc Menchaca, Companion) is married to an irascible Woman in Purple (Judy Greer, Halloween Kills), who is obviously very ill. They have kidnapped the young woman for reasons unknown, but obvious The Woman is desperate, and The Man is utterly under her thumb. Barb dives into a rescue mission without thinking, promising the young woman (Laurel Marsden, The Pope's Exorcist) through the basement window that she will not leave her, no matter what.

The thriller part of the movie is pedestrian enough, but Emma Thompson is, as usual, compelling as Hell. Barb is not the woman Emma Thompson is, entirely rough around the edges, likely having spent most of her adult life in a stinky one-piece set of overalls. I cannot say if the accent is accurate but it is definitely regional. I could not help but think of her other recent role, as Zoë Boehm in Down Cemetery Road, which I did watch but did not write about (still having issues with writing about TV despite a failed attempt to reignite it), in that the character entirely stands out. I could not say faithfully that Emma Thompson has been a "character actor" throughout her career but maybe she is giving it a go? Maybe next up she will get a Liam Neeson "aging action star" type role?

If I was disappointed by anything with this movie it was the lack of role that Winter played. The movie starts with the hinting of coming Bad Weather but.... we never really see it. Its gawddamn cold, for sure, but there is no blinding blizzard or even never-stopping heavy snow. The movie is just set in a wintry environment. I wanted to feel the weather instead of just observing it having happened.