The Shipping News

Quirky bittersweet drama adapted from E. Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize winning novel. Spacey plays Quoyle, a blue-collar worker who, after a family tragedy, decides to make a fresh start with his daughter in the land of his ancestors, Newfoundland. Attempting to come to terms with his own pathetic life and family history, Quoyle, with the aid of his deceased father's half sister, (Dench), slowly carves out a new career and (love) life for himself. Beautifully photographed and produced, 'The Shipping News' is a marvellous looking film, with Hallstrom capturing the rugged beauty of the landscape in splendid detail. Yet the contents of the book have been toned down significantly, leading to the movie possessing an overly sentimental core, and one that is not always palatable. Still, not bad.