text_a: -lrb- two -rrb- fairly dull -- contrasting and interlocking stories about miserable scandinavian settlers in 18th-century canada , and yuppie sailboaters in the here and now .
text_b: this is as powerful a set of evidence as you 'll ever find of why art matters , and how it can resonate far beyond museum walls and through to the most painfully marginal lives .