Far North ** (1988, Jessica Lange, Charles Durning, Tess Harper, Donald Moffat, Ann Wedgeworth, Patricia Arquette) – Classic Movie Review 9184

Jessica Lange stars in the gentle 1988 family comedy-drama Far North, written and directed by her partner, Pulitzer Prize-Winning playwright Sam Shepard, about a New York career woman who returns home after her father (Charles Durning) is hurt in an accident with a horse.

He tells her to shoot the horse, but her sister (Tess Harper) and niece (Patricia Arquette) have other ideas.

There are strong performances from the fine cast in this meandering, symbolic, stagey drama.

The quality is there but Shepard doesn’t seem to have got the hang of working in films.

Also in the cast are Donald Moffat, Ann Wedgeworth, Nina Draxten, Tim Hanrahan, Pearl Fuller, Mary Russell, Sandra Iverson, Sarah Gramse, Paolo Rossi, Lindsey Handel, and Melissa Sue Anderson.

It is one of the five cinema movie collaborations of Shepard and Lange: Frances (1982), Country (1984), Far North (1988), Crimes of the Heart (1986) and Don’t Come Knocking (2005).

Far North is directed by Sam Shepard, runs 91 minutes, is made by Circle JS Productions and Nelson Entertainment, is released by Alive Films (1988) (US) and Rank Film Distributors (1989) (UK), is written by Sam Shepard, is shot by Robbie Greenberg, is produced by Malcolm R Harding and Carolyn Pfeiffer, is scored by The Red Clay Ramblers and J A Deane and is designed by Peter Jamison.

© Derek Winnert 2019 Classic Movie Review 9184

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