I’m trying to figure out how a great actress like Michelle Yeoh tends to end up in less than stellar films. The Malasyan actress who apparently exploded onto English language films with her appearance in 2000’s Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon has proven she has the chops but for one reason or another, and especially of late, she’s appeared in a string of less than successful films. Unsurprisingly, Yeoh is always good but the films are, for the most part, awful: Memoirs of a Geisha (beautiful but long and boring), The Children of Huang Shi (great performances from everyone but a poorly put together film), The Mummy: Tomb of the Dragon Emperor (skipped this altogether – maybe it’s good?), Sunshine (the best of the bunch) and… what’s this Far North?

A little digging has uncovered that Asif Kapadia’s film has been kicking around since 2007 (not a good sign) when it first premiered at the Venice Film Festival. The film stars Yeoh and Michelle Krusiec as two women surviving on the Arctic tundra when a dying man (the fabulous Sean Bean; another actor who can’t seem to catch a break though he’s definitely deserving) stumbles onto their camp. The women, who have survived largely by avoiding contact with others, nurse the man back to health but things go sour when the man begins a relationship with Krusiec’s Anja character.

I’ve yet to see any of Kapadia’s other films but the trailer for this one has my full attention. Not only does it look beautifully shot it appears that both Yeoh and Bean have landed in lead roles on a film that’s not complete crap. Considering that it looks good, why has this been buried?

Far North opens in the UK on December 26th but after a bit of poking around, I’ve found out that Image Entertainment has released the film on DVD which is available on Amazon. Looks like I’ll be buying more than just Mamma Mia! (our review) the next time I visit my local house of worship.

Trailer is tucked under the seat!