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Review

Albert, very sweet and a little slow, is guided through life by his caring if overprotective mom Edna. He works at Mr. McNally’s copy center (one old Xerox machine and some office supplies), but his passion and uncanny talent lies in ice fishing — he can hear the fish, and is something of a celebrity in the ice fishing community. And he’s won a surprising amount of money in competition. Edna has worked hard to keep Albert as dependent on her as possible, leaving him quite at a loss when she is murdered. Alone and way too trusting, he’s at the mercy of the dubious characters who swirl around him like the ubiquitous snow and frigid winds of his dismal, depressing neighborhood. Siblings Tuey and Stanley, small-time grifters on the run from their own horrors, target Albert as an easy con. Sleazy traveling salesman Jerry peddles men’s shirts in bars and commits breaking and entering when the opportunity exists. Tuey tells Albert she’s a reporter from Time magazine, and wants to interview him as an ice fishing master, while bemoaning Stanley’s inability to pay for chemotherapy (to his credit, Stanley has half-convinced himself that he actually has cancer). Meanwhile, Jerry tells Albert that he’s his dad, not really dead at all. Duplicities and treacheries abound, and human nature appears to hit the skids; but sometimes, when least expected, people surprise you with grace and a tender heart . . . and startling intelligence.

 -- Ann Yarabinee