Beyond the Woods

There is not much to be said for this movie other than it should not have been made as it is so slow and boring and rather a depressing and futile experience and who needs that these days when there is enough misery around; it makes watching paint dry a fun experience.

Not much to review about this film as it does not deserve much more than a few lines - If you are thinking the bad reviews might be shills or exaggerating like I did, then don't; it is a moronic film! So pay attention to the low star reviews on this one or you will waste and hour and a half of your time which would be better spent washing and waxing your car!

I hope all of the investors of this waste of disk space went broke. They are definitely in the wrong business. A visual wasteland.

What I couldn't reconcile with this film was why it had a low rating score and yet had several wins in the awards circuit. So I decided to make up my own mind about it. Firstly this is an ensemble cast of 3 main actors who for the most part do a sterling job with a scant dialogue script. They create an air of tension and frustration around a murder and missing person. Steven Roberts plays Andrew Bennett a solitary widower living in an isolated snowbound area close to a forest. Roberts finds a convincing balance between giving off a caring persona and a cruel individual. Jeff Evans-Todd plays Jack Rogers the brother-in-law of Bennett. Prior to his sister's funeral, Jack visits Bennett to support him through his grief. However, finding evidence that not all seems as it is, he has no option than to confront Bennett. The camera work captures the austere landscape and the severe climate which adds to the hopelessness of Jack's situation. This isn't a gun toting, ultra violent action movie but a slow burn that builds the narrative and tension gradually. It's probably more a 5 to 6 rating but I rated it 7 as the low score ratings here are unjustified.

The Story is pointless. 10 mins in you already know how the movie ends. The movie is so slow that you might as well be watching paint dry. Can't think of a single good thing to say about this movie. The only reason I watched to the end was because all along I was thinking that this movie can't be this bad, there must be some really intelligent twist at the end which will totally make watching it worthwhile. I was wrong and I lost almost 2 hours of my life for absolutely nothing. Don't make the same mistake!

In a few scenes, I literally laughed out loud at how slow and brooding this movie is. So in that sense, it's almost worth watching just for that: sort of like "It's so bad that it's good". The script must have been approximately one paragraph worth of dialogue and action: the rest of the movie involves the camera in one angle for untold minutes while characters say approximately three words per minute, they sit or stand. I only made it 40 minutes in before giving up, and I don't give up on movies. I guess it was worth the laughs though.