After helming multiple episodes of her show House of Cards, Robin Wright makes her feature directorial debut with Land, in which she also stars. While the movie takes her far away from the Beltway of her Netflix series, it not only proves her competence as a director, it also showcases her range as an actor. Wright gives a raw, stripped-down performance as the film's main character Edee, however the quiet journey Edee takes from anguish and isolation to acceptance and connection is so subtle, the film never achieves the emotional punch its subject matter lends itself to.
The movie starts in civilization but doesn’t stay there for long. Edee has suffered a recent loss that’s left her feeling disconnected from people, even her sister Emma (Kim Dickens), so she decides to remove herself from society. She buys a log cabin in the Rocky Mountains, throws her cell phone in the trash and has someone remove the vehicle she used to drive into the wilderness. This achieves her objective of being totally alone, but Edee is woefully unprepared for the challenges of her new lifestyle. And when winter comes, things turn dire as Edee uses up the wood that keeps her fire going and the canned goods that keep her fed.
Luckily, a local hunter, Miguel (Demián Bichir), becomes aware of her plight and comes to her aid just in the nick of time. He nurses her back to health and then agrees to teach her how to hunt and trap while never bringing her any news of the outside world. The middle of the movie focuses on their budding friendship as Edee slowly learns to fend for herself in the natural world. While she initially moved to the wilderness to get away from people, because Miguel selflessly helps her without ever prodding for personal details, she's able to slowly connect with him without the pressure of typical social expectations. And soon Edee finds herself caring and reaching out in a way she never thought she would again.
Land’s depiction of Edee’s profound grief in the movie's first half hour is powerful but delicate. She spends her initial days in the gorgeously photographed wilderness remembering past experiences with the son and husband she lost to some unspecified tragedy and then falling into despair again after remembering they’re gone. Yet this understated portrait soon gives way to the realities of the situation Edee has gotten herself into, which drive home how desperately she wants to get away from any semblance of the life she had. While we know nothing about Edee before now, these scenes successfully justify the character’s choices, and once she's alone in her cabin, the sound design does a good job of communicating how threatening the foreign cries and calls of nature initially are to her. Meanwhile, a bit later, when the snow and ice comes, the cinematography and Wright’s performance are so evocative, you'll feel chilled too.
However, the emotional resonance of Edee’s malaise fades as the movie's focus shifts to the realities of her quest for survival and the mechanics of Miguel’s tutelage. Bichir’s performance is warm and comforting and he and Wright have an easy kinship, but since the characters rarely discuss the reasons they’ve chosen to isolate themselves, their interactions never shed much light on them as individuals. In fact, their primary means of bonding is by singing Tears for Fears’ 1985 song "Everybody Wants to Rule the World," which while mildly funny and a sign of their growing camaraderie, also gets the film away from Edee’s deeply interior perspective from earlier in the film. As a result, while Edee seems motivated to survive, at times she also comes across as someone who’s moved to the wilderness as a project to distract herself, which can make the high-stakes situation feel more frivolous than intended. Still, even though the final act doesn't feel entirely earned, the films' concluding scenes have a tender poignance that’s hard to resist. They aren’t exactly tearjerking, but they are nonetheless gently touching.
Land speaks to the healing power of nature and the value of nonjudgmental kindness but doesn't manage to fully convey the emotional depths of the story. Still, between the magnificent scenery and Wright and Bichir’s accomplished performances, it’s still a satisfying enough way to spend an hour and a half.
Directed by Robin Wright and starring Wright, Demián Bichir, Kim Dickens and Sarah Dawn Pledge, Land premieres in theaters on Friday, Feb. 12.