Matt DC has somewhat stolen my thunder on this ILX thread about Northfork. You see rather than go on an in depth discussion of this dreamlike collection of impressions which passes itself off as a movie, I was going to mention the “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis” moment. Sadly I will have to do the former.
Northfork is decidedly an Art Movie. In as much as the composition of the shot, the set and scenery are at least as important as any semblance of plot. There is a plot though; the last few residents of a town due to be submerged by a new resevoir are moved on. It is a simple but oddly compelling plot, allowing us vignettes of the kind of oddball characters American Indie films seem to slowly be falling out of love with (not a bad thing in itself). However alongside this relatively straight narrative, we also have the perplexing case of four extreme oddballs in search of angels. Antony Edwards with wooden hands, Daryl Hannah as an armour clad Flower Hercules. Their existance, or lack of, later becomes slightly clearer (clue, check out the dying kids bedside table), but their presence certain adds to the otherworldliness.
What is it all about? There are big themes to be teased out, there are small ones. At the heart of it though is a simple tale of a town, and a boy – which manages not to be too sappy. The Polish Brothers have managed to create, for me at least, an art film in which the unraveling of meaning is as much fun as watching it. Which for me is actually rather rare.
Still, in a bone dry austere movie, the laugh “What you talkin’ ’bout Willis gets” is a blessed relief.