''Rachel River'' is a 1987

drama Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radio or television.Elam (1980, 98). Considered as a g ...

film directed by

Sandy Smolan Sandy Smolan is an American feature film, television, and documentary film director. Early career Smolan's debut feature film ''Rachel River'' was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize at the Sundance Film Festival and took awards for Best Cinemat ...

and written by

Judith Guest Judith Guest (born March 29, 1936) is an American novelist and screenwriter. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and is the great-niece of Poet Laureate Edgar Guest (1881–1959).

. It is inspired by ''Letters From the Country'', a collection of short stories by Carol Bly. The film centers on the residents of a small northern

Minnesota Minnesota ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Upper Midwestern region of the United States. It is bordered by the Canadian provinces of Manitoba and Ontario to the north and east and by the U.S. states of Wisconsin to the east, Iowa to the so ...

town. It stars

Pamela Reed Pamela Reed is an American actress. She is known for playing Arnold Schwarzenegger's police partner Phoebe O'Hara in the 1990 film '' Kindergarten Cop'' and portraying the matriarch Gail Green in ''Jericho''. She appeared as Marlene Griggs-Knop ...

Viveca Lindfors Elsa Viveca Torstensdotter Lindfors (December 29, 1920 – October 25, 1995) was a Swedish-American stage, film, and television actress. She won an Emmy Award and a Silver Bear for Best Actress. Biography Lindfors was born in Uppsala, Swed ...

Željko Ivanek Željko Ivanek (; ; born August 15, 1957) is a Slovenian-American actor of Croat descent. Ivanek's film credits include '' Courage Under Fire'' (1996), '' Donnie Brasco'' (1997), '' Hannibal'', '' Black Hawk Down'' (both 2001), '' Unfaithful'' ( ...

, James Olson, and Craig T. Nelson. The film premiered at the

Toronto International Film Festival The Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF, often stylized as tiff) is one of the most prestigious and largest publicly attended film festivals in the world. Founded in 1976, the festival takes place every year in early September. The organi ...

and was given a limited theatrical release on January 20, 1989.

Plot

The film follows various townspeople in the small, predominantly Scandinavian community of Rachel River in northern Minnesota. Mary Graving, an independent, unattached young woman, works for a weekly radio show. She is also a single mother who worries about not being able to provide for her children. Mary must contend with the advances of several local men, including ex-husband Cordell; Jack, a funeral director; and Marlyn, the deputy sheriff. Meanwhile, Harriet White, the stoic wife of a farmer, bravely confronts the impending death of her husband. Momo, a developmentally disabled man, may know the truth to rumors that a horde of cash was hidden on the property of Svea Estava, a recently deceased townswoman.

Cast

Production

The film was a longtime passion project for

. He first got the idea for the film in 1983 after moving to Moose Lake, Minnesota from New York for a job and wanting to do a feature about the community where he lived. For a few years, he could not envision what the story would be about until he remembered he was given ''Letters From the Country'', a short story collection written by Carol Bly shortly before leaving New York. The stories happened to be set in the Moose Lake area. He decided to adapt it and was able to get

Judith Guest Judith Guest (born March 29, 1936) is an American novelist and screenwriter. She was born in Detroit, Michigan and is the great-niece of Poet Laureate Edgar Guest (1881–1959).

, author of the novel ''

Ordinary People ''Ordinary People'' is a 1980 American Tragedy, tragedy film directed by Robert Redford in his List of directorial debuts, feature directorial debut. The screenplay by Alvin Sargent is based on the Ordinary People (Guest novel), 1976 novel by ...

'' and a Minnesotan, to write the script. Financing was a prolonged process involving grants from the

Corporation for Public Broadcasting The Corporation for Public Broadcasting (CPB; stylized as cpb) is an American publicly funded non-profit corporation, created in 1967 to promote and help support public broadcasting. The corporation's mission is to ensure universal access to ...

and

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

's ''

American Playhouse ''American Playhouse'' is an American anthology television series periodically broadcast by Public Broadcasting Service (PBS). It premiered on January 12, 1982, with ''The Shady Hill Kidnapping'', written and narrated by John Cheever and direc ...

''. In 1984 and 1985, Smolan was invited to present his concept for the film at the

Sundance Institute Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by actor Robert Redford committed to the growth of independent artists. The institute is driven by its programs that discover and support independent filmmakers, theatre artists and compo ...

. The film was the recipient of the first ever Sundance/Panavision Filmmaker Grant, which provided the production with a

Panaflex camera Panavision has been a manufacturer of cameras for the motion picture industry since the 1950s, beginning with anamorphic widescreen lenses. The lightweight Panaflex is credited with revolutionizing filmmaking. Other influential cameras include ...

. Filming took place over 30 days in November 1986, in

Sandstone, Minnesota Sandstone is a city in Pine County, Minnesota, United States, along the Kettle River. The population was 2,849 at the 2010 census. Interstate 35 and Minnesota State Highways 18 and 23 are three of the main routes in the community. Banning ...

with post-production completed in August 1987. The budget was $1.2 million (equivalent to $ million in ).

Release

The film had its world premiere at the

on September 17, 1987. Thereafter, it played the film festival circuit, including the 1988 Sundance Film Festival,

Berlin Film Festival The Berlin International Film Festival (), usually called the Berlinale (), is an annual film festival held in Berlin, Germany. Founded in 1951 and originally run in June, the festival has been held every February since 1978 and is one of Europ ...

, and the

Seattle International Film Festival The Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) is a film festival held annually in Seattle, Washington, United States, since 1976. It usually takes place in late May and/or early June. It is one of the largest festivals in the world, and feature ...

. A year after its Toronto premiere, the film secured a distribution deal with Taurus Entertainment Company, a specialty unit of

United Artists United Artists (UA) is an American film production and film distribution, distribution company owned by Amazon MGM Studios. In its original operating period, it was founded in February 1919 by Charlie Chaplin, D. W. Griffith, Mary Pickford an ...

. It was given a limited theatrical release on January 20, 1989. The film was later broadcast on ''American Playhouse''.

Critical reception

Kevin Thomas of the ''

Los Angeles Times The ''Los Angeles Times'' is an American Newspaper#Daily, daily newspaper that began publishing in Los Angeles, California, in 1881. Based in the Greater Los Angeles city of El Segundo, California, El Segundo since 2018, it is the List of new ...

'' gave a positive review in which he praised the performances of Lindfors and Reed. He concluded,

What distinguishes 'Rachel River' from most other independent American films is not only its ensemble portrayals under the spare and rigorous direction of Sandy Smolan, a documentary film maker in his feature debut. It also boasts appropriately austere images, captured by cinematographer Paul Elliott and its exceptionally rich and evocative score, composed by the distinctive New Age composer Arvo Part. The contrast between the way 'Rachel River'...looks and the way its sounds expresses perfectly the difference between the faces its people try to present to the world and what’s going on behind them.

''Spirituality & Practice'' also praised the film, writing "''Rachel River'' is a magical movie about the emotional education of adults in a world of mysteries which have no name and of little things that people are reluctant to talk about, such as vague longings, roving fears, and unfulfilled dreams."

Awards

The film won the Excellence in Cinematography Award Dramatic for Paul Elliott and a Special Jury Prize for Acting for Viveca Lindfors at the 1988

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with 423,234 combined in-person and online viewership in 2023. The festival has acted ...

References

External links

* * * {{Mojo title, rachelriver 1987 films 1987 drama films 1987 directorial debut films 1987 independent films Sundance Film Festival award–winning films Films based on American short stories Films set in Minnesota Films shot in Minnesota American drama films 1980s English-language films 1980s American films English-language drama films Films scored by Arvo Pärt English-language independent films