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Article: `The Shipping News'.(The Dallas Morning News)
- Article from:
- Knight Ridder/Tribune News Service
- Article date:
- December 24, 2001
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2001 Knight-Ridder/Tribune News Service. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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"The Shipping News" has a strange sort of symmetry.
It's a haunting but flawed film about haunting but flawed people. Much as its characters possess psychological wounds and emotional strengths that they cannot begin to articulate, the film itself has difficulty finding its own emotional center. But ultimately audiences will care about the film and its people.
Director Lasse Hallstrom and star Kevin Spacey are odd choices for this particular venture. Hallstrom's strength lies in condensing strong emotional currents and tangential storylines into viable cinematic fare. He did so most successfully in 1999's "The Cider House Rules," although 2000's ...