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"Land" (2021 release; 89 min.) brings the story of Edee. As the movie opens, Edee confesses to her shrink that "it's difficult to be around people", visibly in distress. Edee heads out west, and rents an abandoned cabin somewhere in Wyoming, throwing away her cell phone along the way. She is a city girl and not really prepared for what challenges are coming her way in the outdoors... At this point we are 10 min. into the movie but to tell you more of the plot would spoil your viewing experience, you'll just have to see for yourself how it all plays out.
Couple of comments: after an illustrious acting career to date, Robin Wright finally takes the plunge and makes her directing debut (she also stars and produces). And what a debut it is! The movie is at its very best when Edee, the character played by Wright, is on her own trying to get things organized in her cabin. Hardly a word is spoken in that first half hour. Just Edee and whatever mother nature throws at her. Of course, the question that is on your mind is what exactly happened to Edee to drive her to the point where she cuts all contact with the outside world? (We don't get the full picture on this until almost the very end of the movie.) In the second half of the movie, Edee develops a bond with Miguel, a local hunter, which leads to some unexpected twists and turns as well. Along the way we get glorious photography of the outdoors (the movie is set in Wyoming, but really was filmed in Alberta, Canada). Check out also the beautiful original score, courtesy of Ben Sollee and Time For Three. Bottom line: Robin Wright's directing debut is a labor of love AND tour de force that I thoroughly enjoyed from start to finish, and one of the best movies of 2021 I've seen so far.
"Land" premiered at this year's Sundance film festival a few weeks ago, and opened this weekend in theaters. I couldn't wait to see it. The Sunday early evening screening where I saw this at here in Cincinnati was attended okay: 7 people in total, which seems to be par for the course these days as COVID-19 continues to rage through the country (most of the movies I've seen typically get between 5 and 10 people). I honestly don't know how theaters can operate profitably under these circumstances... Anyway, if you have an interest in seeing a deeply human outdoor survival drama or simply are a fan of Robin Wright, I'd readily suggest you check this out and draw your own conclusion.
score 8/10
paul-allaer 15 February 2021
Reprint: https://www.imdb.com/review/rw6599921/ |
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4-3-2021 04:55:07