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The Shipping News

The Shipping News

Drama · Romance · 2001

An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.

Movie details

The Shipping News

“Dive beneath the surface.”

2001 Drama · Romance 1h 51m

Critical arithmetic

One number, for now.

TMDB

6.4 / 10

Community rating

An emotionally-beaten man with his young daughter moves to his ancestral home in Newfoundland to reclaim his life.

CriticWise case file

What this film says about your taste.

Not a recommendation score. A measure of how closely the film’s taste signals resemble yours.

The archetype split

Who fights over The Shipping News?

The split comes from the same five-axis model used by the test, not audience ratings or review sentiment.

Taste neighbourhood

Nearby on the taste map.

TMDB supplies the candidates. CriticWise reorders them by craft, strangeness, prestige, emotion, and pace.

Madame Bovary

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Room at the Top

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Drama · 1958

An ambitious young accountant schemes to wed a wealthy factory owner's daughter, despite falling in love with a married older woman.

Little Children

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Drama · 2006

The lives of two lovelorn spouses from separate marriages, a registered sex offender, and a disgraced ex-police officer intersect as they struggle to resist their vulnerabilities and temptations.

Fifty Shades Freed

Fifty Shades Freed

Drama · 2018

Believing they have left behind shadowy figures from their past, newlyweds Christian and Ana fully embrace an inextricable connection and shared life of luxury. But just as she steps into her role as Mrs. Grey and he relaxes into an unfamiliar stability, new threats could jeopardize their happy ending before it even begins.

Fifty Shades Darker

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Drama · 2017

When a wounded Christian Grey tries to entice a cautious Ana Steele back into his life, she demands a new arrangement before she will give him another chance. As the two begin to build trust and find stability, shadowy figures from Christian’s past start to circle the couple, determined to destroy their hopes for a future together.

The Piano

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18-year-old Noah moves from America to London, with her mother who's recently fallen in love with William, a wealthy British businessman. Noah meets William’s son, bad-boy Nick, and soon discovers there is an attraction between them neither can avoid. As Noah spends the summer adjusting to her new life, her devastating past will catch up with her while falling in love for the first time.

The Burning Plain

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Names above the title

The people responsible.

Directed by

Lasse Hallström

Written by

Robert Nelson Jacobs

Kevin Spacey

Kevin Spacey

Quoyle

Julianne Moore

Julianne Moore

Wavey Prowse

Cate Blanchett

Cate Blanchett

Petal

Judi Dench

Judi Dench

Agnis Hamm

Pete Postlethwaite

Pete Postlethwaite

Tert Card

Scott Glenn

Scott Glenn

Jack Buggit

Rhys Ifans

Rhys Ifans

Beaufield Nutbeem

Court is in session

Put The Shipping News on trial.

Two incompatible taste archetypes. One film. Read the arguments, then issue a completely binding cultural ruling.

The defence The Sentimental Softie

“Sincerity is not manipulation.”

The film risks embarrassment to make emotion communal, and that openness is harder than fashionable detachment.

The prosecution The Cool Ironist

“The strings are showing.”

Every cue tells you exactly what to feel and when, leaving sentiment to do the work character should have done.