Melissa Leo (second to right)
The star that broke out and claimed her fame in the 2008 film Frozen River will be playing the film’s main character, Francine.
Francine gets started after she’s released from prison and tries to get her life back on track through work and meeting new people. That doesn’t pan out so well for her so she looks to animals to give her the support she needs. (Reminds me a lot of 2007 Molly Shannon film, Year of the Dog)
According to the press release, it’s going to be a very quiet film, not much dialogue. One can only imagine that it’s because of Leo’s ability to tell so much of a story in her movements and expressions.
Oddly enough there isn’t a trailer for the film available yet. But here is what David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter had to say about the film:
“A minimalist, image-based character study that is almost impossibly fragile and yet emotionally robust, Francine is a legitimate discovery. It’s propelled by Melissa Leo’s remarkable title-role performance, rigorous in its honesty and unimpeded by even a scrap of vanity.”
It’s also, very uniquely enough, going to run at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City and get a national rollout after that.
Francine is an official 2012 selection of the SXSW Film Festival and the 2012 Berlin Film Festival.
photo: Staff Sgt. Carlos Lazo
