At the end of a rave review for this movie, in a throwaway line, eminent film critic Roger Ebert mentions that some people may find COLD WEATHER boring. And I am so in that camp! I usually find something redeeming about any edgy Indie movie, except I couldn’t for this uninteresting drab thriller set in a very grey Portland. Doug, the protagonist, has given up on school and seemingly content enough just crashing on a couch in his sister’s apartment and getting a dead-end job in an ice factory. His ex-girlfriend suddenly appears on the scene and then mysteriously disappears and so Doug and a chum from work play private eye, and then she reappears again. And that is about the sum total: true there was more detail than that but with such a dreary plot crawling along at a snails pace I felt like giving up on it like Doug had down with his life right now.
I was really surprised to read later that the Director had intended the focus to be on the brother and sister relationship and not on the mystery : because he really failed on that. And I really cannot decide if this is meant to be of the ‘mumblecore’ genre, because it almost is on some levels.
The only thing that really puzzles me about this simple movie, is Mr Ebert’s high rating which I simply cannot fathom. I’m almost curious enough to watch it through again, but frankly the mere idea of having to do that depresses me beyond belief.
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