WOODSHOCK – Review

It’s travel time at the vacation wing of the ole’ multiplex yet again. A couple of months ago we explored France in PARIS CAN WAIT, and just a few weeks ago we joined Steve and Rob for a food-filled travelogue in THE TRIP TO SPAIN. Summer may be over, but it’s not too late to “get away from it all” with another trip….a trip inside your mind. If you’re thinking of “mother’s little helper” then you’re on the right track. Movies about drugs have changed with society over the years. The first flicks were hysterical (in more ways than one) cautionary tales epitomized by the camp classic REEFER MADNESS. With the counter culture’s rise in the 60’s and 70’s there were more enlightened films like, well Roger Corman’s THE TRIP. And in the 80’s Cheech and Chong finally took their weed humor to the big screen with UP IN SMOKE, which begat a new genre, the “dope comedy” with PINEAPPLE EXPRESS, HALF BAKED, and it’s “Citizen Kane”, THE BIG LEBOWSKI. Now that states are easing up on pot, many legalizing it, will there be a new “strain” of “chronic cinema”? Well here’s a unique mix, a thriller/marijuana whose title is a nod to a 60’s movie/event: WOODSHOCK. Oh, and you’d best hit the concession stand first.

Theresa (Kirsten Dunst) shares a rustic house with her husband Nick (Joe Cole). He works clearing trees in the massive wooded area just outside their little town. At the beginning of the story, they’re taking care of Theresa’s gravely ill mother, who’s occupying a bedroom. As the days drag on, Theresa tries to relieve Mom’s pain with marijuana. Before she rolls the joint, she mixes in a few drops of a liquid from a small amber-colored bottle. After a few tokes, mother drifts away into the embrace of death. This sends Theresa into a tailspin of grief, wearing mom’s old clothing, and weeping beside her empty bed. Nick is of little help, since he accepted a promotion and is putting in lots of extra hours. Finally Theresa decides to return to her old job at a state-sanctioned marijuana dispensary run by the gregarious Keith (Pilou Asbaek). One of the shops regulars is senior citizen Ed (Steph DuVall), who needs to ease his suffering from a lingering illness. One day Keith suggests that Theresa add a little “something special” to Ed’s prescription to “help him out”. She douses the buds and gives him the special supply. But both are stunned when Ed returns to the shop after word gets out about the death of another “regular”, college-age Johnny (Jack Kilmer). has she lost her mind? Did she deliberately switch their orders? And what about her midnight walks about the woods and her nocturnal fence building? Will a few joints laced with the liquid help her understand what happened?

After co-starring in last year’s unexpected box office smash HIDDEN FIGURES, Dunst is re-establishing herself as an “indie” film icon with this role (even more arty that THE BEGUILED remake from a few months ago). Her Theresa is the film’s main focus. Dunst conveys the all-consuming grief Theresa feels over the loss of her mother, and her own hand in it. It’s followed by numbed days, leading to extreme self-meditation. Dunst makes her an enigma (or perhaps a mystery wrapped in an enigma), a blonde ghost often literally floating through life (echoing her MELONCHOLIA role in many ways). She’s the opposite of Asbaek as the “party monster” Keith who seems to always be on the search for the newest thrill or high. His relationship with Theresa is complex. Were or are they lovers? We know they’re boss and employee, but something deeper is bubbling under the surface. There’s more passion between them than there is with Cole as the confused, clueless Nick. He wants to help his wife, but doesn’t have the skills or time to break through to her. DuVall is a hovering reminder of mortality, a guy wanting to go, but can’t get the exit door to work. Kilmer is almost a kid brother to Dunst, a warm fire snuffed out cruelly, though it’s never clear if it was by accident.

Nothing’s very clear about this film at all. Fashion documentaries Kate and Laura Mulleavy in their feature film making debut (script also) aim for atmosphere rather than coherence. the camera lingers on Dunst as she gazes into mirrors, an angel of death dispensing truly “killer weed”. Much time is spent on double-exposed images with flowers and butterflies suddenly dissolving into the background. Are they trying to make us feel as though we’re on some powerful stuff? Oh, and what’s with the fence building anyway? No clues are present nor hinted. The whole flick’s a hazy fever dream that never really lets us wake up. While the recent mother! flaunted its artistic intents, it had an energy to it, while this film glides along in a slow-motion haze. We never get attached to the characters (who mumble more than speak), which lessens the story’s impact and heightens the frustration at the stupefying conclusion (everything just stops instead of resolving). WOODSHOCK is one long pretentious trip. Bummer man.

1.5 Out of 5

WOODSHOCK opens everywhere and screens exclusively in the St. Louis area at Landmark’s Tivoli theatre.