Woodland

Intensely boring.The film falls into a pattern of following one man's daily routine, and so we get him doing the same things over and over again. Here he is, walking through the woods, talking about trees. Here he is fishing with his boss, the only other character to mention. Here he is not experiencing paranormal events or anything horrifying.

It's well filmed. The cast is okay, although they don't really have anything to work with. The old man gets a couple of moments to act towards the end. There aren't a lot of effects, but those they use are fine. There just isn't anything going on. Boring cyclical activities, and very occasionally something mildly creepy happens.

The horror elements are limited. There's a girl in make-up, there's a big CGI shadow of something we don't get to see, and there's a mild air of fatalism that pervades the entire movie.

I'll avoid spoilers, but I'll tell you that the movie really goes nowhere. The plot doesn't develop, there's no tension, and there's no climax.

The 2 main characters portrayed by Harmon and Granger are believable. Set in the 80's this film shows a drug addict trying to contend with his past while escaping to a woodland fishing lodge during the off season. Its slow, building pace adds to the suspense. The beauty shots of Canada's west coast tie the story together. If you are looking for a multi-million dollar Hollywood thriller, you've got lots of other choices, but this film gets into your head...wondering - is what we see real or just in Jake's head?? Great acting. No surprise Granger won an award for his supporting role.This is a good Indie film!

I don't really know what to say by and large about this movie's plot. It is a very quiet, slow, methodical film, framed in such a way that its supernatural synopsis almost feels like a bait and switch of sorts.

The setup is some photojournalist guy, Jake, in 1989 is going up to Alaska for some reason to a heavily secluded area with just one another guy called "Sparky". Jake takes random photos and when he develops them finds that they contain imagery that wasn't in the scene when he photographed them. Later on he finds that the imagery in the photo ends up appearing on the objects he shot. As in, he seems to be taking photos from the future.

But this plot element is played down so heavily that it could have been completely removed and the film would've been almost exactly the same. It's done so lethargically and without any impact on the story as a whole that it's almost entirely possible that it's not even happening, that he's somehow hallucinating that these photos are from the future somehow. Considering all the flashbacks showing him rolling around flailing in seemingly drug-fueled stupors, he may just be hallucinating as a result of long-term drug abuse.

Ultimately, this gimmick plays no role in what the film is really about, and that which he himself monologues at one point in the film; something's gone wrong with his life and he's essentially taken himself and all his worldly possessions to live and work in a completely abandoned part of Alaska, and we, the audience, and to some degree even he doesn't entirely know why. Or does he?

All of this would be much more compelling indie-movie type fare if the character weren't so insufferably obnoxious, brooding, and seemingly prone to violent outbursts for no clear reason. Instead of being an intense character study of an intense character, it becomes almost the living embodiment of the meme "God has allowed me to live another day and I'm about to make it everyone's problem"

The only good thing in this mess of a movie is its actors. Both Richard Harmon and Philip Granger were solid and believable. The rest is barely watchable, unfortunately. A poorly written script delivers a truly abhorrent lead character that is as interesting as a roach caught in a jar trap: you're annoyed by him and can't wait for him to drop dead; disappointing cinematography fails to capture a beautiful Canadian landscapes; and ludicrous CGI scares away even those who came to terms with all the above. 'Woodland' could be much better that it is. A huge waste of acting skills.

I liked the photography. Basically nothing new under the sun, or trees. A dude with substance abuse takes on a watchman job with a camera. He begins to soulsearch..yawn..and sees his failed future. Not sure about anything "thriller" in here but it could've been a short film instead. I agree the acting was wasted by the lead, but, hey, meloncoly is always a hoot , right! Not sure exactly the point, the message or the underlying theme here, other than a drunk or druggie should never be secluded in the wilderness with their thoughts or conscience.