Director: Brian Kirk
Writers: Nicholas Jacobson-Larsen, Dalton Leeb
Stars: Emma Thompson, Judy Greer, Marc Menchaca
Synopsis: A woman, travelling alone through snowbound northern Minnesota, interrupts the kidnapping of a teenage girl. Hours from the nearest town and with no phone service, she realizes that she is the young girl’s only hope.
For those who have ever wanted to see Emma Thompson get her shot at playing a wintry, frost-bitten Rambo, Dead of Winter is just that. A widowed fisherwoman roaming the frozen tundra falls into the wrong crosshairs, all set in northern Minnesota. Director Brian Kirk blends unrelenting action with a love story that tugs at the coldest of hearts. While the film captures chilly isolation well, its story goes overboard, losing its most tender moments to an over-the-top kidnapping plot that ends too abruptly—making Dead of Winter an enthralling story that doesn’t live up to its potential.
Barb (Thompson) lives in a remote trailer home that she once shared with her husband Karl (Cúán Hosty-Blaney). As she is packing up her aged pickup truck with all the essentials for ice fishing, there’s an overwhelming sense of gloom. She speaks to herself as she loads up, often looking at a photo of Karl, even making sure to tell the picture that she will be safe. Instantly, their connection is felt, even when Karl isn’t there, and their shared love of wilderness is captured in the beauty of their home. As Barb embarks on her journey, the roads are covered with ice and snow, but even the treacherous roads aren’t the worst that she will encounter.
Dead of Winter gives Judy Greer a rare opportunity to be completely unhinged with her character, Purple Lady. When Barb ends up in the front lawn of Purple Lady and her husband Camo Jacket (Marc Menchaca), little did she know she wouldn’t make it out unscathed. What starts out as a friendly interaction with Camo Jacket ends with Barb discovering fresh blood in the snow. After getting directions for her husband’s favorite lake, Barb sets up her ice shanty, and after seeing a young woman fleeing on the ice, her inner hero kicks in, and she knows that she must make some tough decisions: help save a stranger or flee with her life intact.
Dead of Winter works best when showing the love story that shaped Barb into the woman she is. Kirk and writers Nicholas Jacobson-Larson and Dalton Leeb explore this in flashbacks that show a young Barb (Gaia Wise) and Karl as young lovers before they decide to get hitched—featuring their first date, Barb’s pregnancy, and how their home was their sanctuary. Learning about Barb in this way, juxtaposed with her current life, answers many questions that pop up, especially with how Barb is able to evade danger for so long—stitching up her own wounds, creating icy booby traps, and her ability to use anything as a weapon. Glimpses of her life indicate a life full of love, making her choices in the present that much more compelling.
The film’s main villain is Purple Lady, who is holding a young woman, Leah (Laurel Marsden), hostage in hopes that Leah can help cure health ailments that are debilitating her. While the premise seems intriguing, and where the film’s best action scenes come from, the plot itself is hard to connect to—especially when mixed with Barb’s journey. Purple Lady and Camo Jacket only ever have interactions where she’s berating him, even when situations are out of his control. With her being severely ill, she often takes the lead, guns blazing. Their relationship and motivations aren’t fleshed out enough to connect with, especially when Barb’s story is done as well as it is—making the moments with them, outside of the action, feel like filler instead of pushing the story forward.
Each performance in Dead of Winter elevates the film beyond a run-of-the-mill action thriller, especially with Thompson leading the cast. She gives Barb a touching duality: on one hand, she’s a grieving wife who has lost the only person in her life, while also a woman with incredible survival instincts. Greer is intense, and unlike her previous roles, she’s weapon-toting and not afraid to pull the trigger. She taps into Purple Lady’s desperation well, especially through crazed looks and declarations of her plans. Both women play off each other well, and their encounters are fierce, giving audiences the best action pieces of the film.
What really shines in Dead of Winter are the stunning visuals that capture the beauty of winter, with frozen lakes under a blanket of snow and the clothing that keeps its residents warm. Christopher Ross’s cinematography uses the bright whiteness of the snow to showcase the blinding conditions these characters face. Filmed in Koli, Finland, the vast and almost never-ending landscape shows just how desolate and isolated Barb is. Frozen lakes with ice beginning to crack with each step remind viewers of the unforgiving nature of these conditions. The costuming in Dead of Winter is any Midwesterner’s dream: oversized jackets that can hold any tool needed, and when characters are put in compromising positions, their clothing is often what saves their lives.
Overall, Dead of Winter is worth a watch for Thompson’s performance—a rare role that older women are offered—and she excels. Her love story and, ultimately, her heroic deeds are admirable and give her character unique motivations. But its main conflict is rushed and out of place.
