There are many films about mothers who go to great lengths to protect a child.
The Stolen (2017) is another. Set in New Zealand in the late 1800's, it is the story of a beautiful, upper class farmer's wife whose child is kidnapped and husband murdered. She sets out on the trail alone, traveling through territory every bit as wild, savage and harsh as the unsettled American west was, and populated with hard-nosed and shady characters. In the company of three prostitutes, she books passage by wagon to a mining town whose workers are desperate for female companionship. Although the tale is predictable, it is viscerally satisfying. Niall Johnson directed and co-wrote the screenplay with Emily Corcoran. Their previous work is unfamiliar to me. They provided just enough info to explain the motivation of the other characters, who all seemed to have suffered agonizing hardship. Alun Bollinger's cinematography is first rate. Alice Eve, a Londoner, is fine in the lead. Jack Davenport, another Brit, chose to go low key as the villain. Each is in the midst of a solid career. The supporting cast, all unfamiliar to me, is excellent. Although there is considerable violence, there isn't a lot of splatter. It runs only 98 minutes, a plus given the material. 458 users at IMDb have rated
The Stolen, forging to a consensus of 5.1 on a scale of ten. Although that is understandable given the movie's flaws, it seems too low. I'll say six. I always enjoy the frontier justice theme. Here's a still of the lovely Miss Eve in action:
GDP growth in the first quarter came in at 2.3%. This is especially disappointing given that the tax cuts did not push it higher, and the fact that the previous three quarters averaged 3%. It is better than the 2% averaged during the Obama years, but still far from robust, and light years from the revenue needed to finance the spending of the reprobates in Congress.
Kudos to the Seahawks, who selected UCF LB Shaquem Griffin, whose left hand is missing, in the fifth round of the draft. He joins his twin brother Shaquill, who was drafted in the third round last year by Seattle.
It looks the like the weather has finally broken, the long range forecast promising. For a change, fiction was king at the floating book shop. All but two sales were thrillers: Ayn Rand's
Atlas Shrugged and Sara Gruen's
Water for Elephants. My thanks to the kind folks who bought, and to the woman who did a three-for-two swap of books in Russian. One of my regulars was having trouble finding anything to her liking. I asked if she were a fan of the Dexter TV series. She said she has it memorized, having watched it many times. She purchased
Dexter by Design by Jeff Lindsay.
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