Customer Reviews

Getting Married in Buffalo Jump

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This movie was a wonderful surprise. I bought it because it stars Paul Gross, whose work I've appreciated in the Due South television series. I expected to see an ordinary boy-meets-girl romance, something cute, fluffy, and forgettable with some nice eye candy.

Instead, I found a well-written, appealingly filmed, and very well-acted story that works on a number of levels. Yes, there's a love story at its heart, though hardly of the traditional sort. More than that, it's an exploration of the realities and economic necessities of life in a small, remote agricultural community - it takes place in the foothills of Alberta, Canada, but could just as well have taken place in any small farm town in North America - and of the intersection of cultures: Ukrainian and Scottish immigrants, Natives ("Indians"), and city folks learning to make a go of small-town farming life. Most of all, it's about the interconnected lives of a handful of people and how they and their relationships grow and change as a result of the unorthodox romance between the two central characters.

The cast is uniformly excellent; there are no weak performances. The beautiful, spare Alberta landscape is an important character in its own right. The score could perhaps be a bit better, but is at least unobtrusive and is enhanced by three k.d. lang songs. The only slight fault I found was with the ending, which I felt was perhaps just a bit more abrupt than it might have been, but that's a very small criticism within the greater scope of a movie that I loved and will doubtless watch again and again.

Very much recommended.

This movie was a wonderful surprise. I bought it because it stars Paul Gross, whose work I've appreciated in the Due South television series. I expected to see an ordinary boy-meets-girl romance, something cute, fluffy, and forgettable with some nice eye candy.

Instead, I found a well-written, appealingly filmed, and very well-acted story that works on a number of levels. Yes, there's a love story at its heart, though hardly of the traditional sort. More than that, it's an exploration of the realities and economic necessities of life in a small, remote agricultural community - it takes place in the foothills of Alberta, Canada, but could just as well have taken place in any small farm town in North America - and of the intersection of cultures: Ukrainian and Scottish immigrants, Natives ("Indians"), and city folks learning to make a go of small-town farming life. Most of all, it's about the interconnected lives of a handful of people and how they and their relationships grow and change as a result of the unorthodox romance between the two central characters.

The cast is uniformly excellent; there are no weak performances. The beautiful, spare Alberta landscape is an important character in its own right. The score could perhaps be a bit better, but is at least unobtrusive and is enhanced by three k.d. lang songs. The only slight fault I found was with the ending, which I felt was perhaps just a bit more abrupt than it might have been, but that's a very small criticism within the greater scope of a movie that I loved and will doubtless watch again and again.

Very much recommended.

Formerly titled "Buffalo Jump", this Canadian romance stars Paul Gross (of Due South fame) and Wendy Crewson (Santa Clause movies.) Wendy plays a woman rancher in need of a hire hand. Paul Gross will help on one condition - that they have a platonic business marriage and share the profits from the ranch. Families from both sides interfere and weigh on the the issue, and the tension and tenderness between the two leads is believable and heartbreaking. The scenary is breathtaking, as is the soundtrack featuring many of K.D. Langs first hits. Whether you rent it or buy it, this is a romance to treasure.

This version is exactly the same as the import version and has cast bios, closed captioning for the hearing impaired, dolby digital sound, and descriptive video for the visually impaired. The only difference is the distribution company.
So if you want to save your money, then order this one instead of the import.

There is another DVD of Getting Married in Buffalo Jump which is a non-import which is identical to this one but has a different distribution company. So buy the one selling for $16.18 (as of July 19, 2004) instead.