ROBIN WRIGHT’S ROUGHING IT IN ‘LAND’
There’s an emptiness in Edee’s life as vast as the wide-open spaces she sees as her emotional escape route. We don’t know why, but we know it’s bad.
That’s the beginning of “Land,” and Edee is played by Robin Wright, who not only makes us feel her pain but also makes an effective and visually lush directorial debut about a woman who seeks to lose herself but, against her wishes, is found.
Edee moves to Wyoming’s mountainous Big Sky country, running from something. She trashes her cellphone, occupies a deserted cabin that has been owned by her family for years, then tosses the keys to her rental truck to the man she hired to accompany her to the cabin and asks him to drive away.
She is alone, stranded. Miles from nowhere, with no electricity, no means of communicating or traveling, and no wilderness training.
On the verge of either starving to death or freezing, she is found by Miguel (Demián Bichir), a rugged outdoorsman who happens to pass by. Edee rebuffs his attempts to take her to the local hospital — so he nurses her back to health. When she is well, he returns regularly to train her in outdoor living.
Bichir, a Mexican-born actor most recently in George Clooney’s “The Midnight Sky,” turns in a charismatic, easygoing performance as Miguel, a saint whose main job seems to be acting as a conduit between Native
Americans and the local townsfolk .
Wright is perfect, and Edee is an interesting character, but it’s fair to say that when Bichir first appears he livens up the film considerably. Credit also goes to the lean screenplay by Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam and the cinematography by Bobby Bukowski.
One odd directorial choice made by Wright is the reason for Edee’s depression, which is hinted at throughout the film but not fully explained until the end.
From the beginning, we root for her in an appealing film that has something to say about the current human condition.
ACROSS
1 Batting practice structures
6 Golfer Jon __, 2020 BMW Championship winner
10 Target
14 Historic mission
15 One saying “Don’t do it!”
16 Say “Do it!”
17 Morning beverage for a plumber?
20 Everlasting, to a poet
21 Tender
22 Condor quarters
25 Greek celebratory cry
26 Plumber’s response about connecting hardware?
31 High points
32 Mists (up)
33 Boring
35 Ala. neighbor
36 5G __: mobile standard
37 Asian language
38 Corn __
40 Undecided
41 Crafty
43 Like a successful plumber’s bank account?
46 Job ad abbr.
47 Falls hard
48 “Finally, good news”
52 Studio do-over
56 Where a plumber learns new moves?
59 Something to think about
60 Caspian Sea land
61 Doles (out)
62 Alluring
63 Kate Atkinson’s “One Good __”
64 Medium for Michelangelo
DOWN
1 Loose garment
2 Came to rest
3 Hang open
4 Kuwait, for one
5 Browning’s 44 “from the Portuguese”
6 Bit of a cheer? 7 “Is that __?”
8 URL letters
9 Millionth-of-ameter measures
10 Hearty laughs
11 “Carmina Burana” composer
12 “The African Queen” screenwriter
13 Creepy stare
18 “Deadwood” actress Jewell
19 “My bad”
23 Donations to a fund drive, say
24 Me time?
26 Bass staff symbol
27 “__ ears!”
28 Emma Thompson role in “Men in Black 3”
29 New York Harbor’s __ Island
30 Raid victim?
31 Andrews, e.g.: Abbr.
34 Asian pan
39 Election time
40 2000s TV series inspired by Army Delta Force operations
41 Hollers
42 Numbers before closing time 44 Bubbly quaff 45 Launch
48 “No kidding”
49 13-time NBA AllStar Dwyane
50 High point
51 Neutral shade
53 Concerning
54 Excited about, with “on”
55 In __: actual
57 Kernel holder
58 MSNBC rival