Underplayed Gems

Silence of the North (1981)

Silence of the North poster
Directed by
Allan King
Genre
drama film
Country
Canada
Runtime
1h 34m
Rating
7.0 of 10 from 2 voters
Elsewhere
IMDb
The 3D catalogue: film cases on wooden shelves, with the cat sitting at the counter next to its greeting.

The catalogue in 3D

The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.

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How it feels

A woman survives harsh conditions and personal loss while building a life in the Canadian wilderness. She marries twice and faces both tragedy and partnership.

earnestquietly intensebittersweetunderstatedmelancholicresilientintimateslow-boiling

What happens

Silence of the North is a 1981 semi-autobiographical Canadian film of author Olive Frederickson, taken from the book of the same name. The film stars Ellen Burstyn as Olive, Tom Skerritt as her first husband Walter Reamer who was killed, and Gordon Pinsent as her second husband John Frederickson. All three main actors were nominated for Genie Awards, as was the director, Allan King. Originally, the film was set to share the title of its country music theme song, "Comes a Time" performed by Lacy J. Dalton and composed by Neil Young, but at the last minute the title of the book was retained for the film. The film was a box office flop upon its original theatrical release, but a combination of the song winning an award and pay-TV service SelecTV picking it up 18 months later for its evening lineup, allowed the film to develop a cult following. Canadian filmmaker Guy Maddin said in an interview that he worked as an extra in the film. (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

More like this

This page is from Underplayed Gems. Not quite it? You can browse by genre, country and year, or take this one into the 3D catalogue and ask the Catbot for something closer.