Rocky Mountains the perfect backdrop for directorial debut Land

A real ‘one-woman show’, Luna Cinema’s new, post-Covid drama ‘Land’ is the perfect vehicle for multi-talented US actor Robin Wright, who makes her feature directorial debut and also stars in it.

In Land, Wright plays Edee: a grieving, disillusioned city-dweller who escapes to live in the forest around the rugged Rocky Mountains because she is ‘sick of people’.

From the beginning, Edee’s true history and reasons for escaping are kept low-key, and the mystery deepens further as the movie progresses.

Land begins with Edee buying a run-down cabin and a huge tract of land in the spectacular foothills of the Rocky Mountains; despite having zero experience of living in the wilderness.

To make things even harder, she decides to live there with no mobile phone, no car and no gun; so, it is little wonder that once winter hits, she finds herself struggling.

Fortunately, a friendly hunter (the enigmatic Miguel, played by Demián Bichir) and his young niece, have become aware of Edee working outside her cottage on one of their hunting trips.

They soon become concerned though when on returning from a trip, and despite the bitter cold and it being the middle of the day, no smoke is evident coming from the chimney of her cabin.

Entering the cabin to investigate, Miguel is shocked to find Edee collapsed on the floor in an advanced state of hypothermia and dehydration.

Returning to the cabin with his sister, who is a nurse at the local hospital, together they manage to resuscitate and slowly nurse Edee back to life.

“Why are you helping me?” Edee asks in surprise, when she realises what they are doing.

“You were in my path,” replies Miguel, as if he is doing this out of obligation rather than charity.

Interestingly though, when she recovers, Edee does try to pay Miguel for the drugs and other medicines he bought to help her, but he declines.

Also, and without giving too much away, the backgrounds of both Edee and Miguel do create an air of mystery, and it is only towards the end of the movie the real truth is realised.

Before that, Miguel and Edee strike up a strong friendship, despite her misgivings about people.

An accomplished hunter, trapper and woodsman, Miguel spends some carefree days with Edee: passing on some of his skills and showing her how to survive in the wilderness.

The Rockies’ magnificent scenery is the perfect backdrop for Land and one woman’s journey to find peace and meaning in her life.

Land is showing at Luna Leederville and Luna on SX from April 29, 2021.

By Mike Peeters