Lasse Halstrom's (2001) film with screenplay by Robert Nelson Jacobs is based on the novel by Annie Proulx.
Set in Newfoundland sometime in the sixties or seventies, it tells the tale of a slow and steady young man named Quoyle (Kevin Spacey) who falls unwittingly into a marriage doomed to fail. From the wreck and ruin of it, he salvages his daughter Bunny (played at different stages by Alyssa, Kaitlyn and Lauren Gainer) and is persuaded by his beleaguered Aunt Agnis (Judi Dench) to go back to the scene of the crime.
The scene of crime is his old ancestral home in Newfoundland. Arrived there, he chances on a job as newspaper reporter, being hired by the owner Jack Buggit (Scott Glenn), and finds himself suddenly immersed among a group of people who more or less begin the colossal task of straightening him out a little. Not that they're doing it on purpose. For them, it's just second nature.
Tert Card (Pete Postlethwaite) is first to start in on the confused but resilient Coyle - a man whose life 'happens' to him, rather than being the result of any confident effort on his own part to steer his life in a given direction. As the new cub-reporter he is assigned the worst and most uninteresting job on the paper - covering car wrecks and 'The Shipping News'.
But being the kind of man he is, good things come to him like timid, shy creatures which usually stay well out in the wilderness. He strikes up an acquaintance with a single mother, Wavey Prowse (Julianne Moore) but has even more shocks and unexpected skeletons to discover in his Aunt's cupboard.
As the film unfolds, we see a slow and remarkable transformation in the apparently slow and uncomprehending Quoyle. A chance visit by a yacht reputedly owned by Adolf Hitler transforms his career from cub reporter to feature writer. His developing relationship with Wavey creates a rich environment for his wounds to heal and gives him the strength to support his Aunt as she finally confronts her own demons.
We finally learn why she had to come back, and we see Quoyle's journey almost complete as we leave them.
This is a great film with surprises and delights around every corner.
Set in Newfoundland sometime in the sixties or seventies, it tells the tale of a slow and steady young man named Quoyle (Kevin Spacey) who falls unwittingly into a marriage doomed to fail. From the wreck and ruin of it, he salvages his daughter Bunny (played at different stages by Alyssa, Kaitlyn and Lauren Gainer) and is persuaded by his beleaguered Aunt Agnis (Judi Dench) to go back to the scene of the crime.
The scene of crime is his old ancestral home in Newfoundland. Arrived there, he chances on a job as newspaper reporter, being hired by the owner Jack Buggit (Scott Glenn), and finds himself suddenly immersed among a group of people who more or less begin the colossal task of straightening him out a little. Not that they're doing it on purpose. For them, it's just second nature.
Tert Card (Pete Postlethwaite) is first to start in on the confused but resilient Coyle - a man whose life 'happens' to him, rather than being the result of any confident effort on his own part to steer his life in a given direction. As the new cub-reporter he is assigned the worst and most uninteresting job on the paper - covering car wrecks and 'The Shipping News'.
But being the kind of man he is, good things come to him like timid, shy creatures which usually stay well out in the wilderness. He strikes up an acquaintance with a single mother, Wavey Prowse (Julianne Moore) but has even more shocks and unexpected skeletons to discover in his Aunt's cupboard.
As the film unfolds, we see a slow and remarkable transformation in the apparently slow and uncomprehending Quoyle. A chance visit by a yacht reputedly owned by Adolf Hitler transforms his career from cub reporter to feature writer. His developing relationship with Wavey creates a rich environment for his wounds to heal and gives him the strength to support his Aunt as she finally confronts her own demons.
We finally learn why she had to come back, and we see Quoyle's journey almost complete as we leave them.
This is a great film with surprises and delights around every corner.