The Polish Brothers' Northfork Implodes from the Weight of Its Pretentiousness

With its wonderful cinematography and religious iconography Northfork comes across as an interesting, meaningful work of art. That is to say, I assume it is according to what I hear from some other reviewers. I was actually bored almost to the point of unconsciousness and had no idea what was going on.

There are two plotlines that run through Northfork. The town is being evacuated of its last residents to make way for the installation of a dam and reservoir, and a young orphan boy named Irwin is sick and dying. The parallel nature of the stories starts off as an interesting premise, but they go nowhere excruciatingly slow.

Most of the town's residents have left Northfork, Montana, to make way for the dam. Some people have refused to leave initially, but three two-man groups of evacuators are trying to persuade them. The motivation for the evacuators is that if they get 65 homeowners to leave, they will receive lake-front property after the town has been flooded. One incentive being given to the residents is a large pair of white wings; they are about the size a person could wear. This odd gift doesn't get much of a reaction from those who encounter it, which is even odder than the gift itself.

Meanwhile, Irwin's adoptive parents return him to the orphanage on their way out of town because he's too sick to make the drive. Father Harlan doesn't believe them, but has no choice, so he takes care of the boy. While in bed battling his illness, Irwin meets/creates some sort of dream/hallucination manifestations from his surroundings. The foursome is made up of Cup of Tea, Happy, Flower Hercules, and lastly Cod who never speaks.

I must admit, when Cod was introduced his name sounded like it was God. He was never referred to again so I found this annoyingly pretentious throughout the rest of the film until I learned the character's name in the credits, which I know is unfair, but maybe a character should be referred to more than once.