X
- 2016
- R
- A24
- 1 h 41 m
- 2016
- R
- A24
- 1 h 41 m
Summary Set in the near future, this riveting and suspenseful apocalyptic drama follows two sisters, Nell (Elliot Page) and Eva (Evan Rachel Wood) who live in the Pacific Northwest with their kindly father, Robert. Nell is focused on her studies and Eva is training to be a dancer, but their peaceful lives are disrupted one day by what turns out ...
Directed By: Patricia Rozema
Written By: Jean Hegland, Patricia Rozema
- 2016
- R
- A24
- 1 h 41 m
- 2016
- R
- A24
- 1 h 41 m
Into the Forest
59
5.8
Where to Watch
Summary Set in the near future, this riveting and suspenseful apocalyptic drama follows two sisters, Nell (Elliot Page) and Eva (Evan Rachel Wood) who live in the Pacific Northwest with their kindly father, Robert. Nell is focused on her studies and Eva is training to be a dancer, but their peaceful lives are disrupted one day by what turns out ...
Directed By: Patricia Rozema
Written By: Jean Hegland, Patricia Rozema
Where to Watch
Top Cast
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
59
61% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
33% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
Metascore
Mixed or Average
Based on 18 Critic Reviews
59
61% Positive
11 Reviews
11 Reviews
33% Mixed
6 Reviews
6 Reviews
6% Negative
1 Review
1 Review
This isn’t torture-porn dystopia; it’s a singular, honest, heartfelt portrait of sisterly devotion at the end of the world
The one major problem with Into the Forest, the one that keeps it from making that final leap of good movie to a potentially great one, is that the final third is just not quite as strong as the stuff that precedes it.
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 51 User Ratings
5.8
43% Positive
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
37% Mixed
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
20% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
User Score
Mixed or Average
Based on 51 User Ratings
5.8
43% Positive
22 Ratings
22 Ratings
37% Mixed
19 Ratings
19 Ratings
20% Negative
10 Ratings
10 Ratings
An absolute tour-de-force for Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood, the story is pretty straight forward but the chemistry between Page and Wood is undeniable. It's a fine film, no doubt but the issue I had with it had to be that it was set in a post-apocalyptic future but the cars all look fairly modern and the only things that seem futuristic is the televisions, computers and cell phones. Otherwise, it's a fine film
Report
Wood and Page generate a believable, prickly sibling closeness in Rozema’s unhurried but harrowing micro-portrait of how easily civilization could crumble.
It’s an inspiring story, acted with heart and grit by Paige and Wood, and film directed with adroitness by Rozema in a ruin of a set in the woods.
Indeed, there are stretches of Into The Forest during which one could momentarily forget that it’s a survivalist tale at all… or even that it’s taking place in the middle of nowhere, for that matter. The essential becomes irrelevant.
Ms. Rozema tries to build tension and sustain interest by thickening the atmosphere and layering on details rather than big incidents. Yet while she creates intimacy as well as interiority by visually closing in on each sister...the movie lacks urgency.
Essentially a post-apocalyptic telenovela, it sanitizes the concept of sisterhood, and even womanhood.
Are people crazy? This movie was great. Two uber talented young hollywood actress working together to tell a great story. I guess if Jlaw or Emma stone aren't starring people aren't interested these days. Movie has a slow burn feel to it but never gets boring and the movie keeps burning brighter until it burns out. Definitely worth a watch and one of the most underrated films of 2016.
Report
This movie was okay. Everyone involved generally does a good job. But the post-apocalyptic genre is overdone now. The movie tries to be different and it succeeds in some and doesn't in others.
Report
Patricia Rozema's Into the Forest is just fine as a film, but really does nothing for me. It just felt cold and unwelcoming as a film and one that seemed to try and instill some sort of allegory, but wound up just being a relatively straight forward post-apocalyptic film with a statement about our dependence on technology. Of course, the funny part is that while Rozema tries to critique our use of technology, she has the characters resort to books to survive. That is fine, but certainly seems to defeat the point of naturalism since it is not their own ingenuity.
That said, Into the Forest is quite funny for the first half of the film. The power goes out for a few days and there is no running water so the world turns into chaos where store employees pull guns on shoppers. I do not care what anybody says, that is hilarious. Humanity has descended into chaos merely by this super advanced technology failing. Oddly, the technology shown in the film is not currently available and the film seems to be occurring in the modern day, but I guess not. One of the film's biggest faults is its characters. Both Nell (Ellen Page) and Eva (Evan Rachel Wood) really get no development. They just walk around the home, adjust to living without technology, and fight with each other about how to use the gas. This one of the film's biggest faults and why it often leaves you disconnected. Though I thought Evan Rachel Wood was terrific (especially during and after the harrowing **** scene), Ellen Page was so disconnected. As she was mostly the lead, this really hurt the film. Her character never gets any development and I have no idea who she is, other than she was studying about amnesia before her SAT's (is Ellen Page really still playing high schoolers? Since when is amnesia on the SAT?). Her character's only individual action is to be a whiny baby early in the movie and then a responsible one later, as if she just woke up one day and decided to be a grown up. Oddly, Eva's character does the exact opposite and is mature one day and a wreck because she cannot listen to music the next.
The film is also incredibly politically charged, which really seems to hold it back more. Articulating the battle between technology and naturalism, Into the Forest certainly seems like it tries to be symbolic about how we have to cut our dependence on technology. Yet, the characters solve their problems by reading and then just copying stuff from the books. Seems as though that's a problem solved, no? If technology dies, just go raid the library for books about how to gut animals, right? Based on the movie, that does seem to be the answer.
In other political arenas, Into the Forest seems to try and make a comment on **** culture in America. Yet, the scene does nothing for the film. It just serves to have some weirdo male character from earlier in the film come back and **** one of the characters. I guess the comment there is that if you are weird, you are probably a rapist. In terms of abortion, this is even comes up in the film and Rozema does not shy away from proclaiming her pro-life stance. That is no problem with me, but I did not need this political element in the film. Just have her keep the baby, no need to bring up abortion.
Yet, after all of this complaining, Into the Forest is not that bad. Occasionally thrilling, Into the Forest - when it is focused - is a riveting look at how we would cope with the loss of all infrastructure in an instant. From the paranoia to the rumors to the desperate attempts at survival, Into the Forest is a quality post-apocalyptic film in this arena. Though unoriginal, it is still intriguing enough on its own in this area to stand on its own two feet.
Overall, Into the Forest is an emotionally distant, unfocused, and politically charged post-apocalyptic thriller. When it focuses on its genre though, Into the Forest can often embody the very best of the narrative potential found in the post-apocalyptic world.
Report
This is in no way a thriller this is a drama that fails to fully hit on all cylinders. The film looks great and the two female leads are good, I just couldn't feel emotionally connected to the story. C+
Report
[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]
Report
Production Company
Rhombus Media,
BRON Studios
Release Date Jul 29, 2016
Duration 1 h 41 m
Rating R
Tagline Hope is power
Awards
Imagine Film Festival, NL
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Directors Guild of Canada
• 1 Win & 1 Nomination
Canadian Screen Awards, CA
• 1 Nomination
