The Ice Harvest may be the most misleadingly marketed film ever. It snuck up on me–the very first I heard of it was from Dave Kehr’s fairly new blog in November (thanks to Cinetrix for first word of DaveKehr.com). He wrote:
After all the failed attempts to capture the flavor of the great noir novelists like Jim Thompson, David Goodis and Charles Willeford, here is the film that finally does it, and without betraying the slightest sign of self-consciousness. This is no stuffed-and-mounted “homage” but a living, breathing film with a black heart and a sense of humor. Ramis demonstrates again how closely related comedy and suspense timing are, introducing his twists and reversals with the same dual sense of surprise and inevitability that sets up a great punch line. His control is perfect but his presence is imperceptible