September 29, 2007
The Backwoods
Don't mess with the locals, how much clearer can I be?
Starring: Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine
Rating: 8/10
Directed By: Koldo Serra
Runtime: 98 minutes
Starring: Gary Oldman, Paddy Considine
Rating: 8/10
Directed By: Koldo Serra
Runtime: 98 minutes
"There are only hunters and prey . . . that's the only fucking truth in this world!"I can't help but draw some comparisons between The Backwoods and Deliverance - a quartet of citified rubes, one of whom is attempting to recapture a sense of his primal man, are thrown into the woods and of course run afoul of the locals after finding a little girl locked in a cabin. But where Deliverance at times becomes almost cartoonish, The Backwoods maintains an air of European seriousness, also calling to mind at times Straw Dogs.
Oldman delivers one his strongest and most subdued performances to date, and Paddy Considine shows us again why he is destined to be a star. The quartet is filled out by the wives, thankfully doing more in this story than just providing eye candy.
At a film festival that was high on the weirdness and gore factor, this film was a welcome respite . . . dramatic, tension filled, and nary a ghost in sight.
One of the little things I liked about the film is that the English characters speak English and the Spanish locals speak primarily in Spanish (sub-titled for the American audience). It leant an air of realism to the film that is usually overlooked for simplicity and pandering to the laziness of the hoi polloi. The story speaks to the effects of poor communication, and to consequences of one man's sin.