LAND

THREE STARS A woman avoids dealing with people and the past by moving to a remote corner of Wyoming.

DRAMA US #LAND

Robin Wright, Demian Bíchir

Edee Holzer (House Of Card’s Robin Wright) doesn’t particularly like people, nor wants to be around them. She has her reasons. Determined to live a hermit’s life, Edee buys a shack in a remote corner of Wyoming and tells the agent to take her car with him when he leaves. It’s not an especially wise choice. Edee was a city woman who lacks the skill to live alone in the mountains. She can barely split wood, much less keep a stove going, and once winter settles in she runs right up against her limits.

Enter Miguel (Demían Bichir) a kindly man who frequents Edee’s neck of the woods, a man who has his own reasons for living a quiet life. After tragedy strikes, they strike up a loose friendship that becomes deeper as survival skills and personal tragedies are shared. Edee’s motives for escaping the world slowly become clear.

As directed by Wright, LAND is a straight-forward tale that does a surprisingly good job of keeping your attention for a story so slight. The Wyoming landscape has a lot to do with that, as do vagrant bears and some fearsome storms. Moreover it’s the gentle friendship forged between two strangers that spurs our interest over the film’s compact runtime. Understated performances by Wright and Bichir are at the heart of that.

LAND is not a big film by any means, nor does it try to be. Instead, Wright has penned a simple tale about human generosity that also serves as a sympathetic reminder about personal growth, our responsibility for one another, and to the world in general.

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