Thin Ice

Posted by Charmaine Blake on Feb 1st, 2012 in Crime, Drama, Mystery | 0 comments

Thin Ice Movie Trailer

Thin Ice is formerly known as “The Convincer” and is directed by Jill Specher. Thin Ice revolves around the story of a con-man/insurance agent, Mickey Prohaska played by Greg Kinnear. Mickey is desperate to find money and this is where he collaborates with another man to still a valuable violin from an old man. Thin Ice will give you different twists and turns along the way. This new crime/drama film will leave audiences guessing on how the story will evolve. Thin Ice will receive a limited release on February 17th 2012. Here is a movie review from a critic that watched Thin Ice (The Convincer) at the Sundance Festival:

“The US public accustomed to hearing the praises of the small businessman will flock to this black comedy. With Alan Arkin, Greg Kinnear and Billy Crudup in the cast, this indie project could find its way into the mainstream with the right promotion. English-speaking territories outside the US are a potential market, yet other foreign interest in this un-American story will be minimal.

Mickey Proharska (Greg Kinnear), a glib insurance salesman, is in trouble. His wife threw him out, his wallet disappeared during a fling with a hooker at a casino, and he needs money. Thanks to another seemingly well-meaning agent (David Harbour), he finds an eccentric but willing client (Arkin), and then he finds a valuable violin in the man’s attic that can be turned into cash. It’s an ideal setup for a scam that goes awry.

The polished pitiless script by Jill and Karen Sprecher – daughters of a Wisconsin insurance salesman themselves – follows Mickey as he pries nickels, dimes, and anything else available out of his town’s humble folk, only to stumble onto a scheme that’s more promising, and more perilous. It’s a tale with a McGuffin worthy of Hitchcock and dialogue worthy of the Coen Brothers.

At first glance, The Convincer looks like it could be Fargo II, with swindles conducted in the snow and smalltime doublecrossers (Mickey is reminiscent of William Macy’s Jerry Lundegaard) who think they’re smarter than their would-be prey.

As a vain schemer without a conscience Kinnear plays a liar whose see-through cunning is sending him downward. Alan Arkin as the eccentric old man living alone with his dog plays a seeming- bumbler in a memory depot of a farmhouse. Production designer Jeff Schoen gets the obsessive hominess just right.

Also appearing at the farmhouse is Billy Crudup who plays a psychopathic ex-con who with an energy that reminds you of the army of killers that might lurk in those open spaces and wholesome towns. Cinematographer Dick Pope, a veteran of Mike Leigh’s films, targets the propriety of the surroundings and plays it off against close-ups that signal the schemes in play.

The surprise in The Convincer is the punchiness of the writing and the darkness of the imagination, a new direction from the Sprechers’ earlier collaborations onClockwatchers and Thirteen Conversations About One Thing. Here the confidence game is the gift that keeps on giving, and the same people who are telling you to ”have a nice day” are stabbing you in the back.”

You can read the complete article at Screen Daily.

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Charmaine Blake loves movies, musical theater listening to music and taking pictures of anything that she finds interesting. She is a voracious reader and writer, and enjoys her time writing for New Movie Launches. Charmaine loves spending time with her pets and currently has a Siberian Husky, a toy poodle and a cat.