There's an aching weariness that flows through "Frozen River," an all-permeating sense of abandonment and exhaustion. Its world is dirty, broken, run-down and sad.

And yet instead of what could be crippling despair, there's also slim hope, a fine line of possibility that the film's characters cling to with a tenacity that's testament to the human spirit.

On the other hand, what choice do they have?

Melissa Leo stars in an Oscar-nomination-worthy performance as Ray Eddy, a woman whose spirit is as faded as the tattoos that adorn her body. She has a 5-year-old boy (James Reilly), a surly teen son (Charlie McDermott) and a part-time job at the local dollar store in far upstate New York, just a frozen river away from Canada.

She also has a gambling addict husband who, as the film begins, has run off with the money she's scraped together for a new mobile home, intended to replace the rusty trailer now housing the family.

While trying to chase down her husband, she runs into Lila (Misty Upham), a Mohawk who lives on the nearby reservation. Lila tricks Ray into helping her smuggle some illegal immigrants into the United States by driving them across the river ice.

At first, Ray is as hesitant as Lila is duplicitous. But she soon realizes she can make a lot more money smuggling people than she can working at the dollar store.

Lila needs the money to try and get back the baby that was taken from her; Ray needs the money to feed her own babies and pay for the new trailer. An uneasy partnership is born.

Make no mistake -- smuggling is new to Ray, but a hard life is not. She has no qualms about brandishing a gun, and if her kids have to eat popcorn for dinner, then that's what they'll eat.

But still, as she hustles illegals across the ice, she wonders what the future holds for them and whether she's doing a wrong thing for the right reasons. Lila plain doesn't care; if anything, her lot in life is even worse than Ray's.

So they keep crossing the river, even as cracks begin to weaken the ice.

Hopefully, Leo ("21 Grams," TV's "Homicide") is the new Tilda Swinton -- a veteran, under-appreciated actress who finally gains well-earned recognition with this role.

From the opening, as writer-director Courtney Hunt's camera traces the wrinkles and lines etched into her freckled skin, Leo delivers a performance of tremendous physical presence and emotional purity. You never doubt for a moment that she is this woman, and you always know precisely who this woman is.

"Frozen River" won the Grand Jury prize at Sundance this year, and it's been garnering acclaim at other festivals since, and the reasons are apparent. This is Hunt's first film, and she immediately becomes an important addition to the finally swelling ranks of female writers and directors.

But "Frozen River" isn't just a good movie made by a woman; it's a good movie on anyone's terms, one of the year's best. To find hope beneath this ice, in this ugly terrain, is to dream big.

© Copyright 2008, New York Times Syndicate