Winter of Discontent

An Arctic thriller delivers shivers.

by Cindy Fuchs

Recommended

SNOW WAY OUT: Impending doom weighs heavily on greenie scientist Jim (James Le Gros). (CLICK IMAGE FOR LARGER VERSION)

"Alaska, the land of black gold." So named by a promo film for the fictional North Industries, the setting for Larry Fessenden's new eco-horror film is wide, white and windy — and not nearly so willing to give up its riches as North presumes. Combining global warming politics with smartly allusive cinematography, The Last Winter isn't so much scary as it is poignant and provocative.

The menace of the Arctic is set up early, and cagily associated with the man who wants most to exploit it. Ed Pollack (Ron Perlman) arrives at the base camp knowing that he's right, his massive, can-do energy contrasted with the implacable snowscape all around him. The weary advance crew is waiting for temperatures to drop in order to begin drilling in a formerly protected wilderness preserve. The unusually warm February has precluded bringing in the necessary equipment. Ed is impatient with such details and starts imagining alternative ways to get the machines moving.

Aside from the weather, Ed's most visible obstacle is Jim (James Le Gros), the "greenie" North has brought in to write a company-friendly "impact statement." Jim submits not only that the project is environmentally unsound, but also that the environment is unsound, or more precisely, "unfamiliar and erratic." But even as rain falls, ice melts and Jim makes a fervent case ("The climate's changing exponentially, it's collapsing"), Ed's focus is on the younger man's affair with Abby (Connie Britton). Even if he knows his own relationship with her wasn't true love, news of their trysting only adds insult to injury.

While the humans roil about, their concerns trivial, the greater plot is indicated by remarkable framing and a pervasive wind on the soundtrack. The literal explanation is corny, if grand: The beastie-ghosts thundering and dissolving in front of the film's designated sensitive "kid," Maxwell (Zach Gilford), appear to be the return of those fossils now destined to be fuel sources. Like other horror movies that filter existentialist fears through the Arctic's isolation (John Carpenter's The Thing being the model), this one emphasizes the effects of vast whiteness on an eroding, increasingly desperate community.

The film is best when it abandons dialogue and leaves the camera to do its very spooky work. Following an impromptu football game Ed organizes on his first night in camp, the individuals retreat to their rooms, the camera peering in their windows one at a time, lurking. When they realize that Maxwell has wandered into the white, the camera actually waits and watches as riders set off on Ski-Doos, their shapes receding until they're almost invisible. The sheer patience of such imagery makes the long shots feel lonely and sad, without emotional payoff or resolution, and it's far more daunting than any ghost.

(c_fuchs@citypaper.net)

The Last Winter

Directed by Larry Fessenden

An IFC First Take release