''Northfork'' is a 2003 film directed by

Michael Polish Mark Polish and Michael Polish (born October 30, 1970), known informally as the Polish brothers, are American twin screenwriters and film producers. Michael usually directs their films, and Mark often has an acting role. Life The Polish brothe ...

and written by Michael and

Mark Polish Mark Polish and Michael Polish (born October 30, 1970), known informally as the Polish brothers, are American twin screenwriters and film producers. Michael usually directs their films, and Mark often has an acting role. Life The Polish brothe ...

. It premiered at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,66 ...

on January 21, 2003 and later received a limited release in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

on July 11, 2003. The film stars Duel Farnes, James Woods, Nick Nolte,

Michele Hicks Michele Hicks (born June 4, 1973) is an American screen actress and former fashion model who has worked in both film and television. Career Her television appearances include '' Law & Order: Criminal Intent'', '' Law & Order: Special Victims Uni ...

, Daryl Hannah, Anthony Edwards,

Robin Sachs Robin Sachs (5 February 1951 – 1 February 2013) was an English actor, active in the theatre, television and films. He was also known for his voice-over work in films and video games. Born to a theatrical family, Sachs studied at the Royal Acad ...

Ben Foster Ben Foster may refer to: *Ben Foster (actor) (born 1980), American actor *Ben Foster (footballer) (born 1983), English goalkeeper *Ben Foster (composer) (born 1977), British composer, orchestrator and conductor * Ben Foster (director) (born 1984), ...

Claire Forlani Claire Antonia Forlani (born 17 December 1971) is an English actress. She became known in the mid-1990s for her leading role in the film ''Mallrats'', and in the Jean-Michel Basquiat 1996 biopic, ''Basquiat''. In 1998, she achieved wide recog ...

, Clark Gregg,

Kyle MacLachlan Kyle Merritt MacLachlan (; ' McLachlan, February 22, 1959) is an American actor. He is best known for his role as Dale Cooper in ''Twin Peaks'' (1990–1991; 2017) and its film prequel '' Twin Peaks: Fire Walk with Me'' (1992), as well as roles ...

and Peter Coyote. This is the brothers' third film collaboration, after ''

Twin Falls Idaho ''Twin Falls Idaho'' is a 1999 independent drama directed by Michael Polish, who co-wrote and co-stars in the film with Mark Polish. It premiered at the 1999 Sundance Film Festival and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, who gave the film a l ...

'' (1999) and ''

Jackpot Jackpot or Jackpot! may refer to: * A prize, such as a progressive jackpot * Gardena jackpots, a poker variant * Jackpot, Nevada, a community on the Nevada–Idaho state border Comics * Jackpot (comics), several comic book characters * ''Jack ...

'' (2001).

Plot

The film's narrative consists of several interwoven subplots taking place in the town of Northfork,

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columbi ...

circa 1955. A new dam is being built which will flood the valley of Northfork, and the town is in the midst of an evacuation. The narratives focus on several individuals who, for one reason or another, have yet to evacuate. Walter O'Brien ( James Woods) and his son (

) are on the evacuation team, helping to evacuate the last few inhabitants of Northfork. In return, the government will give them acres of lakeside property if they meet their evacuee quota. Father Harlan ( Nick Nolte) is one such individual, who has stayed behind to care for Irwin (Duel Farnes), a dying orphan too weak to leave town. While the O'Briens and their co-workers encounter an array of unusual characters, Irwin discovers that he is the "unknown angel" through a suitcase with his angel wings in it and a Bible with an angel's feather telling his family 'story', and finds himself a family of angels ( Daryl Hannah, Anthony Edwards,

, and

) in his dreams, who he makes a deal with to take him 'a thousand miles'.

Cast

*Duel Farnes as Irwin * James Woods as Walter O'Brien * Nick Nolte as Father Harlan * Peter Coyote as Eddie *

as Mrs. Hadfield * Clark Gregg as Mr. Hadfield (uncredited) *

as Willis O'Brien *

as Mr. Hope *

as Mrs. Hope *

as Cod * Daryl Hannah as Flower Hercules *

as Cup of Tea * Anthony Edwards as Happy * Jon Gries as Arnold * Rick Overton as Rudolph *Douglas Sebern as Mayor *Josh Barker as Matt

Reception

Northfork received mixed to positive reviews from critics and has a rating of 57% on

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

based on 103 reviews with an average rating of 6 out of 10. The consensus states "Visually poetic, but may be too dramatically inert for some." The film also has a score of 64 on

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that review aggregator, aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted arithmetic mean, weighted average). M ...

based on 31 reviews.

References

External links

*
''Northfork'' on Rotten Tomatoes.com''Northfork''
2003 films 2000s fantasy drama films Films set in 1955 Films set in Montana Films shot in Montana Paramount Vantage films American fantasy drama films Films directed by Michael Polish 2003 drama films 2000s English-language films 2000s American films {{2000s-drama-film-stub