It is always disappointing when an actor commands both the lead role and producer credit yet does not deliver. Billy Zane's performance in Morgan's Ferry is flat and complacent, removing any audience inclination towards empathy for his character.
Zane plays Sam, the principal of three convicts who seek refuge in an old farm house in the deep south, inhabited by an embittered and lonely woman, herself seeking refuge in her own isolation. It is an archetypal story of unlikely love and the overcoming of adversity.
Zane aside, the film fails in a number of areas: the script is weak with stereotypical vernacular, the characters are not sufficiently fleshed out, omitting what at one moment promised to be an interesting back-story of the relationship between two of the convicts, and in the latter third descends into pure, unequivocal sugary gloss, superficial and disappointing.
These crucial aspects aside, Morgan's Ferry ticks a few boxes: beautiful cinematography, powerful symbolism and a gripping narrative, albeit unexplored to its full potential. Acting honours go to the highly overlooked Johnny Galecki – whose unique and compelling contributions to cinema have gone largely unrewarded – for superb characterisation and moving delivery of a difficult role.
With a little more investment in budget, time and characters, this romantic tragedy could have been fantastic. Instead it flounders rather weakly under its mediocre script, tired and overused plot and – Galecki excluded – disinterested actors.
Zane plays Sam, the principal of three convicts who seek refuge in an old farm house in the deep south, inhabited by an embittered and lonely woman, herself seeking refuge in her own isolation. It is an archetypal story of unlikely love and the overcoming of adversity.
Zane aside, the film fails in a number of areas: the script is weak with stereotypical vernacular, the characters are not sufficiently fleshed out, omitting what at one moment promised to be an interesting back-story of the relationship between two of the convicts, and in the latter third descends into pure, unequivocal sugary gloss, superficial and disappointing.
These crucial aspects aside, Morgan's Ferry ticks a few boxes: beautiful cinematography, powerful symbolism and a gripping narrative, albeit unexplored to its full potential. Acting honours go to the highly overlooked Johnny Galecki – whose unique and compelling contributions to cinema have gone largely unrewarded – for superb characterisation and moving delivery of a difficult role.
With a little more investment in budget, time and characters, this romantic tragedy could have been fantastic. Instead it flounders rather weakly under its mediocre script, tired and overused plot and – Galecki excluded – disinterested actors.