Props to you Emma Thompson. You’re out their busting your rear giving the Thursday Murder Club a new crime to investigate while sipping tea in their retirement homes. Though if Dead of Winter is the only projects she’s getting now, maybe she’ll join the Thursday Murder Club for the next cold case?
We’re in bumf*ck Minnesota, middle of nowhere. Crestfallen, newly widowed Barb (Emma Thompson) is fulfilling her husband Carl’s last request to go to the place of their first date, Lake Hilda. Barb gets lost, and ends up at a remote cabin. When she goes to ask for directions, she sees some blood on the ground, not great. A bewildered man (Marc Menchaca) pops out and explains he’s hit a deer, and gives her Lake Hilda directions. Barb plays dumb and gets to the lake, but then she hears some screaming coming from the direction of that cabin…
With such a small cast, I was curious if Dead of Winter could sustain its momentum and not resort to crazy logic leaps. For the most part Brian Kirk and his writers do a good job of ushering this movie to the 90 minute threshold. Flashbacks are utilized effectively to convey Barb’s motivations to stay and not just find a way to get out of there and call for help. There are multiple very tense stand offs, that take place every 20 minutes or so, high points of Dead of Winter. But, to get to those highs, we get detailed time with the fallout of these stand offs as characters regroup and get ready for their next course of action.
But the movie works because of the two leading ladies. Emma Thompson, despite the cold, looks like she’s having a blast. She plays Barb like a long lost Fargo character, filled with amusingly simple dialogue hiding a wealth of emotional and world knowledge. I could have watched a large chunk of this movie with her just narrating to herself what’s going on, like little pep talks to get herself going. And when Thompson is called upon to action it up, she takes the requisite shots but makes the audience clench up knowing this is not the sweet old lady’s forte. Every great Barb needs a foil, in this case the Purple Lady. I’d seen Judy Greer play a bad person before, but she’s wonderfully chilling as Barb’s nemesis here. The writers come up with a great backstory for her, which Greer gives the woman a compelling mix of heartbreaking, broken, and menacing.
It’s not even Dead of Winter yet, but might as well get a preview of coming attractions. Here’s hoping there’s a Barb out there looking out for us if we get in some deep doo doo. Or icky icky. Or whatever mom like Midwest mannerism Barb would say to us.