Crossing Over is about illegal aliens of many nationalities in the Los Angeles area and the authorities and individuals dealing with them.Crossing Over is about illegal aliens of many nationalities in the Los Angeles area and the authorities and individuals dealing with them.Crossing Over is about illegal aliens of many nationalities in the Los Angeles area and the authorities and individuals dealing with them.
- Awards
- 1 win
- Zahra Baraheri
- (as Melody Khazae)
- Director
- Writer
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Storyline
Did you know
- TriviaDirector Wayne Kramer's original cut was 140 minutes long, but despite having the right to final cut, this film's producer agreed to be involved in editing the film down to two hours when Harvey Weinstein allegedly threatened to release the film straight to DVD, and bypass theatrical altogether (Kramer had nothing to do with the re-editing).
- GoofsWhen Harrison Ford's character, who is supposed to be an experienced Border Patrol agent, tries to dial the phone number in Tijuana, Mexico, you can see that he dials 1661 and the rest of the number as if dialing within the U.S. An experienced agent should know that it's an international number and one must dial 011 followed by the country code and the number. In this case he should have dialed 01152661 and the rest of the number.
- Quotes
Special Agent Howell: You see what's interesting, Miss Shepard, is we ran a check on your name. A Claire Shepard arrived on a B-2 visitors visa seven months ago, and then, just two days ago, she has her status adjusted to an EB-1 green card for persons of extraordinary ability. According to The Internet Movie Database, the only Claire Shepard that matches your spelling, age and place of birth has two credits on little known Aussie TV shows. Walk on roles. She hasn't won any national or international awards
Special Agent Ludwig: Which is something the adjudicator who handled your case would have to have been aware of, and yet he approved you for an EB-1. Miss Shepard, we'd like you to tell us about your relationship with center adjudications officer Cole Frankel?
- Crazy creditsThe closing credits start rolling on a "roll out" view of the Mexican family's living room and kitchen.
- Alternate versionsThere were two edits made. According to Wikipedia: "Although the film was shot in 2007, it was not released until 2009, and even then only in a limited theatrical run. The film's original running length was 140 minutes, but the film's producer (who had final cut privilege) was convinced to edit the film down to 113 minutes when Harvey Weinstein threatened to release the film straight to DVD and bypass a theatrical release altogether. In many countries outside of the US, the film went straight to DVD anyway."
And it's quite ambitious for Kramer to try and pull off no less than seven parallel threads in the film, which to a certain extent I felt was largely successful, despite some being almost peripheral if not for the presence of a recognized star. Anchored by Harrison Ford as Max Brogan, an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agent, the film weaves in and out of the different threads without feeling too forced, or the need for some compulsory and carefully designed moments to link the stories up intricately. Sometimes like the six degrees of separation, the film captures the fact that we don't have full details of that web of links, and it will feel very artificial if everyone knew everyone else, or if one event would impact severely on another.
In any case, each of the story lines were engaging enough, some employing deep emotions to argue their case, while others even had to build to a crescendo of all out action, such as a supermarket shootout (one of the nicely executed ones I've seen). There's an illegal Mexican woman (a very short role by Alice Braga) who begs Ford's Max to look after her young son in the care of unfriendly relatives, a Jewish musician (Jim Sturgess) who's waiting to qualify for residency and willing to do just anything to get there, his Australian girlfriend (Alice Eve) and Hollywood actress wannabe who had granted 2 months worth of on-demand sexual favours to an Immigration official (Ray Liotta) in exchange for a green card, whose wife (Ashley Judd) wants to adopt a child placed in a detention centre, who meets an Iranian girl (Summer Bishil whose essay failed to condemn the terrorists of 9/11 and gotten her and her family into hot soup. Then there's a Korean family who is waiting to be naturalized whose eldest son got involved with thugs (ala Gran Torino rites of passage style), and another ICE agent (Cliff Curtis) whose family cannot stand their estranged sister whom they feel is a disgrace of their values, tradition and custom by adopting the lifestyle of Americans, yet strangely ironic as they too pursue to be American citizens.
Phew, and all this with a little murder mystery thrown into the mix as well. It's about how one aspires to live in a country, yet uncompromising in one's position to adopt and adapt to the new environment. Which brings about some xenophobia, especially if one's too different from the rest, and things are made worst with the citizens unwilling to understand and lend assistance in assimilation to a new country and its idiosyncrasies.
But what seemed to be a common theme here, is how power can be either used to do what's probably morally right, versus abusing it for personal gain. Given three of the lead characters here are law enforcement or in responsible positions in government agencies, it's easy to abuse privilege, and it's nothing new too, even in local context, where sexual favours get traded for leniency or the closing of an eye pertaining to illegal workers, or those here without the proper papers. And since the law is fixed (and sometimes perverse by those who interpret it), and justice blind, I suppose there are times we may be compelled to lend a hand to a stranger out of nothing but on humanitarian grounds, in doing what's right and decent for a fellow human being.
Crossing Over presents many of such situations and while it may be a mixed bag in its narrative, it certainly pushes the right buttons with its star-studded ensemble cast in making the audience think about, empathize with, and examine if the issues presented could have existed in the local context, with similar challenges in the treatment of those who are illegal immigrants.
- DICK STEEL
- Apr 9, 2009
- Permalink
Details
- Release date
- Country of origin
- Official sites
- Languages
- Also known as
- Перетинаючи кордон
- Filming locations
- Santa Clarita, California, USA(Location)
- Production companies
- See more company credits at IMDbPro
Box office
- Budget
- $19,000,000 (estimated)
- Gross US & Canada
- $455,654
- Opening weekend US & Canada
- $77,370
- Mar 1, 2009
- Gross worldwide
- $3,676,533
- Runtime1 hour 53 minutes
- Color
- Sound mix
- Aspect ratio
- 2.35 : 1