We all love Robin Wright. Not only is she absolutely stunning and a goddess sent from the heavens, Robin Wright is an extraordinary talent and ones career who spans over 30 years. Whether you’re talking about her roles from Forrest Gump, Princess Bride, Wonder Woman her role off of the Netflix show House of Cards, Robin Wright is a gifted actress who always delivers no matter what movie she’s in. Now, it’s no surprise when a popular and respected actor or actress wants to change things up a bit a step into the director’s chair and for the most part it’s worked out with great effect. Clint Eastwood, Mel Gibson, George Clooney, Ben Affleck Angelina Jolie and even Denzel Washington are just a few prime examples of actors and actresses who can do both simultaneously. With Robin Wright directing her first movie, this should inspire other actors out there to give it a shot and if it doesn’t work out so well, that doesn’t mean it can’t work as second time. With Robin Wright’s first go at making her directorial debut with Land, it, unfortunately, is an underwhelming and weak directorial debut. Aside from the very few redeeming qualities, including Robin Wright’s solid performance, Land doesn’t explore enough or develop its characters as much as it needed to in order to be great because it’s missing so much more that could have made this movie exceptional.
Land simple tells the story of a city woman named Edee, who is struggling with a tragedy that happened to her family. In order to cope with it a find a way to make her feel wholesome, Edee travels out to the American wilderness, particularity in the stare of Wyoming, to witch it becomes abundantly clear that this shift is not working her the way she had hoped it would. But after a random encounter with a hunter (Demián Bichir), it became this way up call for Edee and becomes this sign that makes her want to live her life again.
This is a frustrating dilemma because there’s a good movie somewhere in this one. The concept of a person (in this case a woman) seeking escapism because of a personal tragedy is a narrative that a lot of people can get behind on. It may be an overused story arc, but with the right execution and timing you can create something unique and special. Despite this being a bit of a misfire, Land has a small number of aspects that Robin Wright, as a storyteller, nailed. One of the best things that Robin Wright does well in this movie is she captures the complete isolation and uncomfortable nature that it can be to be in the mountains by yourself. Which gets into something that she also does very well and that’s the idea of someone who doesn’t have a clue on what to do or how to be accustomed in a completely new environment. Watching Edee attempt to chop wood with an axe, start a fire in the cabin or any other form of wilderness activity was actually something that was an effective tool that’s used in this movie. Edee is a character that’s adjusted more towards the city life and watching someone who’s decides to go more down the less traditional way of living was one of the few redeemable elements in this movie. Robin Wright is also very good in this movie. The character could have bene fleshed out a bit more, but as far as her performance is concerned she delivers.
But that is where Land disappoints, despite the potential is had. This is a movie with a 90 minute runtime and before any of you say anything about it being short, there’s anecdotal evidence to prove that there’s a great number of movies that are about the same length or just under the 90 minute mark. A Quiet Place, Toy Story or The Grand Budapest Hotel are all great movies that have about a 90 minute runtime. A short movie can still be great if it’s runtime feels earned and the story felt appropriate with it’s time length. However, in the case Land, there’s a lot of undiscovered territory (no pun) missing from this movie. This is a movie that could have easily benefited an additional 30-45 minutes of expanding on other aspects that felt shoe horned or one that were placed but were never developed. Starting with the character of Edee. Without getting too much into spoiler territory, we learn that the character had experienced a horrific event in which she makes the decision to go out in the mountains by herself. The issue with it is that not only is it not developed, but when we do find out what happened it felt like an after thought by the end of the movie. The biggest issue with Robin Wright, as a filmmaker, is that she never really trusts the audiences to organically discover things as the story unfolds. The movie’s script is also not that impressive because it never dives deep enough into the internal struggles that Edee faces on her journey.
As far as shot compositions go, Robin Wright has a great eye for letting us bathe in the beautiful shots of the mountains and shots of the rivers that run through the land, and aside from her earnest performance, she needs a bit more work on nailing substance and evolving her characters and her milieu. You’re not missing much if you decide to skip on checking out some Land.
My grade for Land: C-
Zane's take at the Cinema's 