Hey folks, Harry here and this sounds like another winner for Kevin Bacon. I remember hearing about this one quite some time back, but had forgotten about it even though I've recently been enjoying the special edition DVDs of STIR OF ECHOES and FOOTLOOSE. Now watch out for a few spoilers here and there, but Bacon's playing a child molester... again, and seems like he's good at it.
Hey, Harry and Company,
I saw "The Woodsman" tonight at the Boston Film Festival and figured that I'd give you my shit stain of an opinion. The movie stars Kevin Bacon as Walter, a recently released child molester who is attempting to live a "normal" life, but must first deal with his past and present inner demons as well as with various characters who learn of his dark secret. That's the set up. So is this heart warming tale any good?
Yes. For the most part it is. What makes this movie stand out is the acting in it. Pure and fucking simple. Kevin Bacon does a great job as the hard to like antagonist Walter. It's a difficult character for the audience to sympathize with, but Bacon pulls it off admirably. Maybe this is because he's now been in three movies that involve child molestation and knows the dark territory. In "Sleepers" he was a child molester named Nokes, who molested younger versions of The Pitt, The Lost Boy, The Crudup, and The Eldard. Nokes was a one note, cliche villian. In "Mystic River," Bacon played a character who is deeply connected to a molested individual. Bacon knows the territory and he's not afraid to show us all sides of Walter. It's easily one of his best performances and it might even get him some nominations come awards season. My one gripe is some of the similarities his character shares with Dave Boyle from "Mystic River." Certain mannerisms and traits kept reminding me of Tim Robbins performance, but other than that he was in top form.
Bacon's wife, Kyra Sedgwick, who is still running off her fame from from The Travolta Classic "Phenomenon" is actually very good as the romantic lead. Her character is also deeply wounded by her past ans Sedgwick shows us all up for laughing at her for being in a film with Barbarino. She definitely should work more after this.
Also in tow are David Alan Grier, Eve, and Benjamin Bratt. Both Grier and Eve do good work with their small dramatic parts here, which is a surprising change for both of them. Bratt really surprised me. I saw that tumor that was "Abandoned" of "Abandon" or whatever it was called and I wasn't a fan of his performance. I did however think he was very good in his cameo in "Traffic" as Juan Obregon. Here, he's only in a handful of scenes, but he hits just the right note as Carlos, Walter's brother-in-law. Carlos visit Walter when he gets out of prison due to the fact that Walter was the only one who didn't mind his sister marrying a hispanic man. Bratt plays down the character and it works, especially in a scene where Walter asks Carlos the wrong question. Bratt is pitch perfect in this scene.
However, it's Mos Def of all people who walks away from this film with the best perfomance as Sgt. Lucas. Mos Def uses his raw talent here as a detective who checks in occasionally on Walter. Def is amazing here, even though he's in only three scenes. I haven't got the "shivers" from a performance in a long time, but I got them here when Sgt. Lucas tells Walter about his reaction to a crime scene. The camera HOLDS on Def here and he is unbelievable to watch. I hope someone remembers his small perfomance because its one of the best ones I've seen in a long time. It's that fucking good.
So what about the movie itself? The story is straight forward and the direction is likewise. There are some scenes that really work and others that fall flat. There is one scene that really got to the audience. We'll call it "The Bench Scene" and it's the best scene in the movie. It works all the way up until the end when a character does something really fucking stupid, which almost ruined the scene for me. It's the hug. You'll know it when you see it. I have to say again that the similarities to "Mystic River" kind of got to me, but the cast helped to push me past that. I do give the director credit as it's a hard topic to work with and I applaud the effort.
Go see this movie simply for Mos Def. He is unfucking believable in this.
Call me Mad Dog if you use this.
