The Woodsman (2004)

saw the tuesday morning showing at Sundance and let me tell you, this is by far the best thing Mr. Bacon has ever done, and should garner him some acting awards this year, though since the subject of the movie deals with a tabboo subject, it might not get picked up by a major studio, and with limited release could keep him out oscar contention. I don't care though, he and his wife pull out incredible performances and if acting awards are giving to great actors, he deserves one for this movie.

I'm not going to go into the plot, basically it's based on a play that I never saw, (obviously living in the Midwest, we rarely get plays). and deals with a convicted pedofile trying to re-adjust to live after 12 years in prison, as well as confronting the demons that put him in jail in the first place. Kyra plays a woman who befriends him, and even after she finds out what his crime was, falls in love with him and assists him with his struggles. of note is a very special performance by a young Hannah Pilkes who plays a young bird watcher who temps Bacon's character and shows him that abuse is everywhere.

Fmovies: I saw The Woodsman at the 2004 Stockholm International Film Festival. It was quite a popular film at the festival, especially with all the Oscars-buzz surrounding Kevin Bacon due to this film.

The Woodsman is about a pedophile who gets released from prison and tries to fit into society. He works at a sawmill, meets a woman and tries to stay out of trouble. But feelings he tries to push away emerge again, and the question is if he can stay out of trouble for long.

Kevin Bacon is terrific in The Woodsman, but The Woodsman is not a terrific film. Rather it's a quite mediocre film that has it's points but also walks into some of the traps that always surround dramas that deal with a difficult subject.

Let's start out with Kevin Bacon. He is as good as i have ever seen him. He has been one of my favorites for a long time, and i hope that this film can finally give him a shot at the Oscars. He really lifts this film a couple of notches as well. So, what about the film itself?

Well, it has it's ups and downs. The up is that it deals with a difficult subject in a rather good way. Instead of just boiling everything down into just black and white (as is often the case in Hollywood films) this film tries to understand. While most of us feel that pedophiles are disgusting people and that the crimes they commit are horrible, they are still human and as complex as you or me. It doesn't excuse them in any way, but perhaps in understanding them we can better prevent these crimes. Just categorizing them as plain monsters doesn't help us stop any of this from happening.

The downside in this film is mostly the exaggerations added to make a greater impact. Sometimes you get the feeling that there is a pedophile waiting behind every tree, and it just becomes a bit too much. Also the love story between Kevin Bacon and (his real-life wife) Kyra Sedgwick feels a bit shallow.

All in all this is an interesting film well worth the effort of watching it. I guess many people will shy away from the subject matter, which is sad really since this film in no way tries to justify child molestation. So watch it, more for Kevin Bacon than for the story. I rate this 6/10.

A very interesting movie, and great performance, specially from Kevin Bacon. I was looking for seeing it in Oscars. But, the deep and human stories, cannot touch the Hollywood's system. Perhaps, they prefer to avoid truths, it hearts or it gives away... Anyway, this movie can be appreciated by spectators and they can admire an actor complete and mature, perhaps one of the rare actors in USA's cinema of today. I liked the scenes, the discreetness of the scenarist, the zoom in Kevin Bacon face, as the feelings and the inner battle of the hero, were obvious, perhaps more eloquent than words. Nicole Cassel and all the cast did really a great job. Congratulations!

The Woodsman fmovies. I held my breath throughout this film wondering if he would repeat his mistakes. It was obvious that this was a molester of young girls who hated himself and you could see him fighting the whole way through. Possibly many people who gave this film a low rating said to themselves that a portrayal of a paedophile deserved no sympathy and the producers should not have made it. But the film addressed two salient facts. Firstly there are far more paedophiles around than caught and this type of thing happens frequently in a domestic situation. Far more frequently than anyone is willing to admit. Secondly paedophiles come in many forms and some are as Walter is. He hates it but cannot help it without a huge amount of inner strength. At the end you do not know if he will do it again, it seems likely, but he hates himself and the urges he gets even more than others around him do. It was an intense film, very hard to watch but it points out some ugly truths which most people will not want to admit happens. yet there are a thousand stories of this happening with no one bought to justice. First class acting by all but no one will thank them for it (as we see from the ratings).

Greetings again from the darkness. Although I am a self-proclaimed Kevin Bacon hater, let me stand up and shout that this is not only his best ever performance (by far) but also a performance that will stand up against most any dramatic turn by any actor. For the first time, Bacon is understated rather than overacting and hamming. The film and Bacon capture the emotional torment of a recently released from prison child molester as he struggles to fit in and "be normal". Bacon's remarkable acting is extremely well supported by (his real life wife) Kyra Sedgwick, Mos Def, Benjamin Bratt and a most surprising Eve. Bacon's eyes are truly haunting and we feel his pain as he struggles to find a bit of joy amidst his demons. Two weak script features were the rapidness of Sedgwick's character's acceptance of Bacon and the over the top scene in the park with young Robin. Otherwise, the realism was gritty and believable. Not one I want to see again, but the creepiness and edginess make it worth seeing.

THE WOODSMAN (2004) ***1/2 Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, David Alan Grier, Eve, Benjamin Bratt, Mos Def, Hannah Pilkes.

Sympathy For The Devil: Bacon's best performance to date

Kevin Bacon has always been one of my favorite actors and constantly proves to be such a truly exceptional one at that. In his latest as a recently paroled convicted pedophile he gives the performance of his career that should entitle him to his first Academy Award nomination (long overdue).

Walter (Bacon) is an ex-con attempting to begin a normal life after being incarcerated for molesting several young girls. What seems to be a large task at hand only proves to be increasingly difficult for a variety of reasons including the fact his apartment is just out of reach of the mandated length he cannot be within the distance of a school which rests – tauntingly like a diabetic a candy factory – directly across the street where he now lives. This is a test he rationalizes and reports this discovery and others to his appointed therapy sessions with a psychiatrist which only makes Walter increasingly uncomfortable as the good doctor suggests he keep a journal and reflect on what he has done (or worse what he may do).

Getting a job as a factory worker in his run-down Philly suburb Walter keeps to himself especially from the slyly sexy Mary-Kay (rapper Eve) who has other plans for the newcomer and instead is befriended by the tomboyish yet open-minded Vickie (Bacon's real-life wife Sedgwick also giving a career high performance with just the right amount of fronting toughness and vulnerable empathy when she beds and eventually discovers Walter's burning secrets.

All of the proceedings lead to a keg of explosive ramifications as Walter tries desperately to walk the straight and narrow but it isn't helping matters as the deck is stacked against him in the form of police Sgt. Lucas (rap star Mos Def in the Walter Matthau role) dogging Walter as a likely suspect in rash of recent child molestings. Sooner or later Walter is going to return to his old form. Or so it seems.

Bacon is truly amazing in his implosive turn as a man so at odds with being in his own skin it threatens to suffocate him in his vein gestures at becoming 'normal' and his body language suggests a crumbling man of sand about to blow away in the winds of society. His pained, grimace of accepting his sickness only curdles his well intended desire to shirk his monstrous past but will not embrace the touchy-feely psycho-babble that he must endure to delve into his childhood as perhaps the key to his perversities.

Smartly directed by newcomer Nicole Kassel – who co-scripted the usually on-target screenplay with Steven Fechter (they bungle it when Walter's play-by-play inner monologue of a perceived local molester makes a mark outside his window is a tad uneasy) – wisely allows her character just enough rope to hang himself before reeling himself back to square one. There is a nice interplay of just the right amount of nervous tension between Bacon's Walter and a little girl named Robin (perfectly played by Pilkes) he espies one day and follows into a local park .

Bacon is a journeyman character actor trapped in a leading man's body but has what so few of his contemporaries do : moxy, talent and the chops to tackle a taboo subject without being exploitative. That is the true skill of a marksman and that is truly what Bacon is.