The Shipping News (film)

The Shipping News is a 2001 drama film directed by Lasse Hallström, based on Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-winning book of the same title.

It stars Kevin Spacey as Quoyle, Judi Dench as Agnis Hamm, and Julianne Moore as Wavey Prowse. Cate Blanchett, Pete Postlethwaite, Scott Glenn, Rhys Ifans, Jason Behr, and Gordon Pinsent appear in supporting roles.

Plot
Quoyle's father tosses him into the water, expecting him to naturally swim. The image of struggling to swim returns to Quoyle's mind in times of crisis.

Quoyle lives a lonely life and works as an inksetter in a small newspaper in Poughkeepsie, New York. He becomes infatuated with a vivacious local woman named Petal, marrying her and having a daughter they name Bunny. Six years later, Petal runs off with a lover and Bunny, only to die soon after in a car accident. Bunny is returned by the police to Quoyle, who tell him that Petal had sold their daughter off for $6,000 to an illegal adoption agency. Only days before Quoyle had received the news that his ailing parents killed one another in a suicide pact. After collecting their ashes, Quoyle's aunt Agnis arrives wishing to pay her respects to her brother. Agnis is moving to the ancestral family home in Newfoundland, which has been abandoned for 44 years. Realizing that Quoyle is at a total loss through grief, she first offers to stay a few more days and help him through the crisis, and then persuades him to move with her.

While struggling to rebuild his life, fix up the derelict house, and care for his daughter, Quoyle meets local resident Wavey Prowse, a widow who has a pre-teen boy with a learning disability. Wavey's son and Quoyle's daughter become friends, while the two adults become friends, and then more. Wavey has dark secrets in her past, but so does the Quoyle family.

To support himself and his daughter, Quoyle takes a job at the local newspaper Gammy Bird as the "Shipping News" correspondent, covering shipping traffic in town, as well as local car crashes. With no experience in journalism, Quoyle struggles to produce decent articles and incurs the dislike of the newspaper's second in command, Tert Card. An article Quoyle writes about a millionaire's yacht docked in town, however, becomes a great success with readers, and the newspaper's editor, Jack Buggit, is so impressed that he commissions him to write a series of articles profiling boats and the personal history of their owners.

A storm destroys the Quoyle home, and Jack, caught in the rope of a lobster pot while fishing, is believed drowned. His body is recovered, appears to be dead, but is actually in a deep state of shock resulting from hypothermia. During his wake, at his home in front of mourners, he regains consciousness.

Cast

 * Kevin Spacey as Quoyle
 * Julianne Moore as Wavey Prowse
 * Judi Dench as Agnis Hamm
 * Cate Blanchett as Petal
 * Pete Postlethwaite as Tert Card
 * Scott Glenn as Jack Buggit
 * Rhys Ifans as Beaufield Nutbeem
 * Gordon Pinsent as Billy Pretty
 * Jason Behr as Dennis Buggit
 * Larry Pine as Bayonet Melville
 * Jeanetta Arnette as Silver Melville
 * Katherine Moennig as Grace Moosup
 * Marc Lawrence as Cousin Nolan
 * John Dunsworth as Guy Quoyle

Production
The film, while broadly following the plot of the book, makes several changes; notably, Quoyle was obese and had two daughters in the novel, but only one in the film. He's only a timid ink setter in the film and he does not begin writing as a brave reporter until after arriving in Newfoundland. Another difference is that several characters, such as the younger Buggit family, were deleted or merged.

The film was originally to be directed by Fred Schepisi, with John Travolta in lead male role.

Critical response
The Shipping News received mixed reviews from critics. Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a 55% rating, based on 130 reviews, with an average score of 5.8/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Though solidly made and acted, The Shipping News is rather heavy-handed and dull, especially given the nature of its protagonist." At Metacritic, the film has a score of 47 out of 100, based on 31 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Won

 * Florida Film Critics Association:
 * Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett)
 * National Board of Review:
 * Best Supporting Actress (Cate Blanchett)

Nominated

 * Art Directors Guild (ADG):
 * Excellence in Production Design Award Feature Film – Contemporary Film
 * BAFTA Awards:
 * Best Actor in a Leading Role (Kevin Spacey)
 * Best Actress in a Supporting Role (Judi Dench)
 * Berlin International Film Festival:
 * Golden Berlin Bear (Lasse Hallström)
 * Broadcast Film Critics Association:
 * Best Composer (Christopher Young)
 * Best Film
 * Golden Globe Awards:
 * Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama (Kevin Spacey)
 * Best Original Score (Christopher Young)
 * Screen Actors Guilds (SAG):
 * Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role (Judi Dench)
 * USC Scripter Award:
 * USC Scripter Award (Robert Nelson Jacobs and E. Annie Proulx)
 * Young Artist Awards:
 * Best Ensemble in a Feature Film