2000, Canada/United States, 98 min.
This moving, slice-of-life drama, written by David Mamet (based on his play), focuses on a group of irritable, veteran workers that grad student Dale (Tony Mamet) encounters during his summer stint on a steel freighter that slogs across the Great Lakes. The movie is really a series of vignettes capturing the day-to-day lives of these older men. As the months pass, we discover that what happens on the boat—the card games, the musings on women, the tall tales—is the crew’s whole world. Dale has an opportunity to do something different, even worthwhile, which makes him an object of curiosity and perhaps wistful envy. Robert Forster stands out among the loaded cast (which features Peter Falk and Charles Durning) as the lone crew member who can articulate the freedom and future that Dale represents. Directed by actor Joe Mantegna, a longtime David Mamet collaborator.
