Woodland

Directed by Elisabeth Scharang, Woodland follows Brigitte Hobmeier’s Marian Malin as she arrives in her family’s remote home after experiencing a traumatic event. Filmmaker Scharang, working from her own screenplay, delivers an exceedingly slow drama that benefits from its stirring visuals and compelling central performance, with, in terms of the latter, Hobmeier’s often spellbinding efforts going a long way towards compensating for a narrative that’s sporadically far too spare and deliberate for its own good. It’s apparent, as well, that Woodland’s watchable vibe is initially perpetuated by its undercurrent of mystery, as the nature of the aforementioned traumatic event is left unclear right up until virtually the movie’s climax. (It’s also not immediately obvious why the town’s various residents seem to hate Marian so much.) There’s little doubt, then, that Woodland’s overall impact is diminished by a somewhat padded-out and esoteric third act, as Scharang attempts to prolong the proceedings by emphasizing elements of a rather needless nature (eg flashbacks, appearances by imagined figures, etc). Such issues are relatively easy to overlook in the final analysis, however, as Woodland, which boasts a tremendously satisfying finale, generally comes off as a compelling character study that features a first-class performance at its core.

*** out of ****