Indie Gems: Little Woods

You can start over.

Ollie (Tessa Thompson) is trying to lead a straight(er) life after getting caught running drugs over the North Dakota/Canadian boarder. When her sister Deb (Lily James) falls pregnant and knows she can't afford to have the baby, Ollie turns to dealing again for hopefully the last time. 

First off, thank you all for leaving comments on the two posts I had scheduled while I was on vacation. I'm currently typing up a bit of content, then I'm off to read your lovely blogs. Even when I travel I normally set aside time each night to check out my blog roll, but I was EXHAUSTED at the end of each day. I'm happy to be back in the swing of things.

I had to laugh when I started watching this movie and realized it was set around the area I grew up in. (Though they choose a fictional name for the town) They certainly capture the despair and general bleakness of Western North Dakota well, especially now that oil drilling is so common there. The desperate need of affordable health care is prevalent and I found the way the film addressed that to be very believable. 

Tessa Thompson gives a very understated performance here that I just adored. Ollie is a good person trying to make the best out of hard times, for herself and her mess of a sister. I enjoyed Lily James in this role too. I felt like it was fairly different for both of them.

I give this major props for not going with the ending that I was sure they choose. It's a very quiet film, there's not a lot of action nor excitement but something like this is rare. We have so many films about trafficking drugs through the Mexican boarder but barely any that address the desperate need for pain killers and how some attempt to get fake Canadian ID cards just so they can afford basic health care. 

Grade: B

Watched on: Delta Studios In Flight Movies

Memorable Quote: "How do you always manage to fuck things up?" - Ollie (Tessa Thompson)

Comments

  1. This sounds really interesting, and like you said a very different take on drug trafficking! You also did a nice job - at least for my weird brain - keeping me guessing if this is about the opiate crisis or more about getting sick people the meds they need. DON'T TELL ME! :P

    I have a checkered history with opiates so I'm gonna be hoping for the former option there. I'm surprised that there hasn't been a film about it, recently I mean. Actually, there probably has but it flew over my head, much like this ;P Either way it sounds like a cool movie.

    Yknow, at first I dismissed Tessa Thompson, but since Annihilation I'm warming to her. She was really good in that. Not great, but very good. I look forward to seeing her in this.

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    1. Tessa has always been really solid for me. She was the only thing that kept me from not falling asleep in Creed lol.

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  2. Okay I need to see this, I really like Tessa Thompson! I hope you had a great vacation! :)

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    1. I did! Rainy in Europe but I'm always happy to visit new countries. :)

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  3. You're welcome for the comments, wtf else am I supposed to do on my way to/from work 😂i have this movie but I am not a fan of Tessa she just seems so uptight or I am just pissed off she didnt pet Rocket in Endgame

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    1. I think it's Rocket lol. I wish Lizzie Olsen would've gotten to pet him too. She's actually really good here, you should check it out!

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  4. I do want to see this. I'm sure it's no fun watching films on a plane where it's partially-censored and do some weird things with the aspect ratios of films.

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    1. Surprisingly it wasn't censored. They tend to beep out words like "cunt" but they'll leave "fuck" in there because sexism. And there was no extreme gore for them to blur out.

      Airplane movies amuse the hell out of me. I watched Shutter Island on a plane once and they bleeped out all the curse words but left in all the slaughtered bloody children.

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