Most
Will Ferrell fans point to Marc Forster’s 2006 film Stranger than Fiction as the comedian’s brief foray into dramatic
acting, but it actually started much earlier that year with Anthony Rapp’s
brother-turned-filmmaker Adam Rapp’s bittersweet dramedy Winter Passing. Sharing the
screen with such industry giants as Ed Harris, Zooey Deschanel and Amelia
Warner, Ferrell’s presence in the picture is at once offbeat and entirely
appropriate considering the bizarre, dysfunctional circumstances surrounding
the broken family inhabiting Rapp’s film.
Very much a homegrown indie, this warm-hearted and curiously affecting
yet quiet dramedy seen now is best remembered for being the one and only narrative
feature film to mention Traverse City, Michigan as one of its primary
locations.
Re-released
by the MVD Marquee Collection, the film tells the story of Reese Holdin (Zooey
Deschanel), a depressed actress/part-time bartender living in New York. Estranged from her famous author parents, Don
and Mary Holdin (Ed Harris and Mary Jo Deschanel) we meet her sharing cocaine
with her punk drug dealer when she isn’t having sex with him and if that’s not
enough she copes by smashing her hand in between the drawers on her
dresser.
One
day she is approached by a publishing agent keen on building a story around the
letters exchanged between her parents and accepts the offer to retrieve the
letters for $100,000. Thus begins her
return to Northern Michigan to confront her father as well as her own longstanding
demons she spends the first half of the film running from. Reese doesn’t know it yet but her outlook on
life and her strained relations with her father are about to change forever.
While
leaning a little too heavily towards offbeat quirk including still unresolved
peculiarities such as Ed Harris sleeping outdoors in the winter within a full
bedroom set, Winter Passing as it
stands is an engaging and heartfelt dramedy with Zooey Deschanel and an unrecognizable Ed Harris
taking center stage as years of suppressed feelings of anger and guilt bubble
to the surface. Amelia Warner is also a
strong supporting character as a former pupil of Don Holdin’s who has since
taken refuge along with Will Ferrell within Mr. Holdin’s home. Ferrell, though still an oddball character,
dials down his comic energy and gives a well-rounded performance as a man
struggling with his own anxieties and fears.
Shot
by Wendigo cinematographer Terry
Stacey, visually Winter Passing makes
great use of the rural locations though it turned out the film was shot in New
York and New Jersey rather than Michigan.
The soundtrack is a soft mix of preexisting pop tracks and original
orchestral compositions by A Decade Under
the Influence composer John Kimbrough though much of the score is used for
montage.
Mostly though, this is a
mid-sized actor’s picture about familial strife and trying to overcome one’s
own self-destructive vices. More than
anything, it’s a chance to see Will Ferrell flex his dramatic muscles and in
the end proves to be a stepping stone for Zooey Deschanel. While Adam Rapp is primarily a playwright and
novelist, his stab at film directing presents a unique and oddly heartwarming
look at life in small town America. Its
quiet charm starts to grow on you over time.
--Andrew Kotwicki
