Land (2021)

Directed by Robin Wright. Starring Robin Wright, Demián Bichir, Sarah Dawn Pledge, Brad Leland, Kim Dickens. [PG-13]

Traumatized by the loss of her family, Wright chooses to shed herself of human interaction by retreating to a remote cabin in the wilderness of Wyoming and living in isolation. Overwhelmed by hardships, she battles threats of starvation, the freezing cold, and thoughts of suicide, before befriending a friendly local hunter (Bichir) who also has a troubled past of his own. A languid drama that consults from too many bedfellows that came before to ever find firm footing or an original voice, in spite of plentiful breathtaking scenery and a pair of formidable performances cut from the same cloth of perseverance, he being warmer and more pliable, and she being more stubborn and reticent. Obliquely suggests more questions about the grieving process than it actually asks (or, for that matter, bothers to attempt answering), and amid such familiar soul-searching cinematic feelings and aesthetics, hits on too many hollow generalizations. A confident if imitative debut for Wright as a director. Written by Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam.

58/100