Woodsman, The

Time Richard Schickel

It is among the best and most delicately managed films of the year.

Dallas Observer Bill Gallo

So thoughtful and provocative that we cannot help but become engrossed.

New York Post Lou Lumenick

One of the year's best.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

It's Bacon who overcomes all obstacles.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Bacon is a strong and subtle actor, something that is often said but insufficiently appreciated. Here he employs all of his art.

Washington Post Ann Hornaday

Not to be missed, if only for an unforgettable leading performance by Kevin Bacon.

Film Threat Elias Sevada

Bacon's performance is so riveting that you no longer see the 46-year-old actor.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

Bacon's subtle, assured performance keeps us with him every step of the way.

Empire Adam Smith

It's Bacon's astonishing performance that is a quiet, challenging and ultimately discomfortingly human voice.

Slate David Edelstein

The Woodsman should be pretty intolerable, but the writing-line by line-is heartfelt and probing, the direction gives the actors room to stretch out, and the performances are miraculous.

Los Angeles Times Kenneth Turan

The film's core, anchored by a fine ensemble cast and a controlled, focused performance by Bacon, is completely solid.

The Hollywood Reporter Duane Byrge

A stunning, difficult film.

Variety David Rooney

A stunningly crafted work from first-time feature director Nicole Kassell.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

An engrossing study of a protagonist who variously inspires pity, clinical interest, fondness, and revulsion-sometimes all at once.

ReelViews James Berardinelli

It takes a confident actor to accept a role like this and to perform it to flawless perfection.

San Francisco Chronicle Mick LaSalle

Tasteful but not compromised.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

Kassell has serious talent. The movie is beautifully shot, and the performances are all spot-on. But like many young screenwriters today, she has overwritten her script to the point where everything is simply too tidy for the messy psychological material.

Miami Herald Connie Ogle

What makes The Woodsman meaningful is Bacon's tortured suffering.

The Globe and Mail (Toronto) Rick Groen

The film manages the extraordinary feat of forcing us to empathize simultaneously with both the potential victim and the potential villain.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Bacon's portrait chills to the bone.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer Sean Axmaker

It's a tough movie with a fearless performance by Bacon and brave filmgoers will be rewarded with a bracing experience.

The New Republic Stanley Kauffmann

Sympathy for a pedophile is difficult, but surely comprehension may be possible, and Bacon evokes it.

The New York Times Dana Stevens

What is more remarkable is that he (Bacon)has found a way, without the slightest hint of vanity or ostentation, to convey the inner life of a man who is almost entirely shut down.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Kassell's visual influences are evident -- she's clearly a fan of the down-and-dirty films of the '70s -- but the consistently fine performances smooth over the rough patches.

Chicago Reader Andrea Gronvall

Bacon conveys the weight of his character's anguished struggles through his economy of movement, and the powerful, spare script is refreshingly devoid of cant.

Entertainment Weekly Owen Gleiberman

Worth seeing for Bacon's lived-in minimalist purgatory, but the movie soft-pedals the nature of the desires he's at war with: the fact that they will never go away.

Portland Oregonian M. E. Russell

Bacon's mature performance serves a story that's considerably less sophisticated than he is, making The Woodsman less "brave" and more a slightly better-made movie of the week.

Austin Chronicle Marjorie Baumgarten

You can tell that everyone's whole heart is in this project, you just wish that a little more of the heart was conveyed on the screen.

Boston Globe Ty Burr

An honest, honorable indie chamber drama that, if anything, errs on the side of caution. It benefits from a scrupulously observed performance by Kevin Bacon.

Baltimore Sun Michael Sragow

In real life, Bacon and Sedgwick are husband and wife. Their scenes mark one of the rare times an off-screen couple's intimacy enriches on-screen passion.

Chicago Tribune Michael Wilmington

Melodrama triumphs. But here's at least some muted applause for a fine cast and filmmakers trying to confront the real world and its shadows.

Wall Street Journal Joe Morgenstern

In a film that's carefully crafted but also airless and overcalculated, Mos Def walks away with every scene he's in because we're never sure what his character is up to, and we're never told.

The Onion (A.V. Club) Scott Tobias

While The Woodsman gets the psychological profile right, it fails to make Bacon a man.

LA Weekly Ella Taylor

Overblown melodrama, as muddle-headed as it is palpably sincere.