The News Herald (Willoughby, OH)
A grounding experience
Robin Wright’s ‘Land’ a compelling story of woman in need of emotional healing
Robin Wright exhibits a great deal of talent when she’s in front of the camera.
Look no further for evidence of this than her years as one of the strongest aspects of popular-but-overrated Netflix drama “House of Cards.”
A veteran actor whose myriad big-screen credits include “The Princess Bride,” “Forrest Gump” and “Nine Lives,” Wright also has directed episodes of “House of Cards” as far back as the show’s second season, which debuted in 2014. However, the right film project to direct never fell into place.
That is until “Land,” a small movie with a significant emotional resonance about a woman who goes off the grid after a life-altering tragedy. It debuts in select theaters this weekend.
Starring in the film and sharing only a handful of scenes with other actors, Wright shows a delicate touch in the director’s chair and is as responsible as anyone for the way “Land” affects you.
Written by Jesse Chatham and Erin Digman, “Land” is the story of Wright’s Edee Holzer, to whom we are introduced during a session with a therapist recommended by her sister, Emma (Kim Dickens, who worked with Wright on “House of Cards”).
The counselor asks Edee how she’s feeling.
“I’m feeling that it’s really difficult to be around people because they just want me to be better,” she says.
Edee goes on to say she doesn’t want the people around her, the people who care about her, to have to share in her sadness. “They can’t anyway.” So, instead of staying in Chicago, she purchases a remote parcel of land in the mountains of Wyoming on which sits an old log cabin and heads out there with enough supplies for a few months.
Edee is so interested in being isolated that she pays the man who shows her the property (Brad Leland of “Friday Night Lights”) to return her rental car and trailer. He says he doesn’t believe someone should be in these mountains without a vehicle; she isn’t interested in his opinions.
Not surprisingly, though, Edee has a tough go of it. She has visions of a young boy and a man we strongly suspect are a deceased son and husband. These are sad but beautiful moments in “Land.”
Of more immediate concern, though, is her failure
to grow or kill much food — and that’s before winter comes. And come winter does.
After a problematic encounter
with a wild animal on a snowy day, she faces a blizzard that literally knocks her out.
Enter local man Miguel
Borras (Demian Bichir), who discovers the unconscious Edee after noticing smoke no longer was emanating from her cabin’s chimney. With some initial help from a nurse (Sarah Dawn Pledge), Miguel helps Edee to heal physically, if not emotionally.
That may come, too, however, as the pair begin to spend time together once she’s well.
Although she agrees only to allow him to teach her how to hunt, fish and generally survive better in this environment, she soon looks forward to his visits — and is disappointed when they don’t happen.
As fine as Wright is in her many solo scenes, it’s not surprising “Land” picks up when Edee has someone with whom to interact. And Bichir (“A Better Life,” “The Hateful Eight”) is quite well-cast as the quiet, gentle and patient Miguel.
As convincing as Wright is as this woman who wants absolutely no contact with humans, it is easy to believe she would bond, relatively easily, with Miguel given their personalities and not-so-different life experiences.
At not even 90 minutes, “Land” could have delved deeper into the psyches of both characters or simply given us more time with them. It definitely leaves you wanting a bit more.
Nonetheless, it keeps you invested right through its impactful final stretch, which may not be quite what you’re anticipating.
Considering its dearth of characters, you may wonder if “Land” was filmed during
the novel coronavirus pandemic, but no, it was shot in 2019. Still, if you’re you’ve been spending a lot of time alone these last 12 months, it may resonate even that much more.
The shoot took place in the western Canadian province of Alberta, with much of the filming done at Moose Mountain. Given that you can view the land
as the film’s titular character, it’s wonderful that so much scenery is captured so gorgeously by cinematographer Bobby Bukoski (“Irresistible”), starting with the overhead shots of Edee driving west.
Of course, “Land” is the story of an emotional journey — a memorable one that makes us want to see more from Wright as a director.