Kirsten Dunst stars as Theresa in this independent art film about the grieving process of a young woman who lives in a timber harvesting town. Theresa's role in the assisted suicide of her ailing mother at the beginning of the movie lingers in the background. The movie incorporates the use of heightened audio sounds and photographic shots of nature along with a sound track to enhance the cinematic experience and pacing. The juxtaposition of the old industry of timber mining that Theresa's husband undertakes while she, herself, actually helps out in the newer assisted suicide dispensary commercial field is a fascinating contrast of old and new occupations. The timber mining scenes are enlightening for their graphic and location setting ambiance of a hard and perhaps life limiting expectations for a future couple now living in Theresa's mother's home which was her mother's wish and which, however, her husband isn't exactly thrilled about and whose promotion will take him away from home for longer hours.

Insect sounds, bird chirping, the wind along with the creative shots of wood old growth, shimmering sun rays all combine to portray a sense of nature that humans only inhabit as interlopers and observers. Theresa is often seen as a diminutive figure against the larger natural setting of gigantic wooden tree trunks and lakescapes along with the plucking of wistful musical string accompaniment. Very solitary, very somber. At the same time, the director shifts perspectives between nature scenes and wood cutting scenes offering the contrasts in the environmental setting where the movie is set and where the movie's character's exist and likely living out their lives. There is very brief physical motion of an older man turning himself in a circle while saying, "I'll see you around." in a touching, melancholy moment as he's about to leave the medicinal dispensary.

Whether or not seeing Theresa a lot of time in short skirts and in one scene almost half-naked while hanging out at home alone was deliberate to keep the male audience interest or not, it still was effective in presenting a captivating figure as well as suggestive of an authentic presentation of life at home usually covered up or lewdly displayed in most other typical movies. Yet unlike the trailers, the movie seems to revolve around the meaningless lives of people living in a timber town and the aftermath of a possible important life altering mistake. As a consequence, the movie seems to plod through its visual and audio digital footprints in a languid, almost boring pace like those characters on the screen, only heightened by the editing and addition of environmental sounds and music and artful depictions of nature -- Even the swishing, sparkling crisp tinkle of musical tones and glittering splashes of light from a carwash. There is also a lingering unspoken relational tension between Theresa, her husband, and the medicinal dispensary owner as a underlying theme to the movie. At the same time, there is a sense of decay, an almost empty refrigerator with uneaten cake and spoiling eggs.

The totality of this movie is a slow slog through a meditative photographic lens that seems to lead towards an ambivalent and meandering course to an inconclusive ending unlike an analogous but more striking and straightforward storyline like one of the best of its drama genre Another Earth (2011) or even Dunst's earlier stark and hard-hitting drama Melancholia (2011).

I admit I had plenty of difficulties liking this movie. I could not understand the meaning and the reasons behind the actions of the leading character. It takes patience (desire) and multiple views in order to understand how guilt and ambivalence play over a conflicted personality. Certain scenes, that appear to have no meaning, represent how Theresa (Kirsten Dunst) experiences the uncertainty in thoughts (life or death) and actions (end with life or the opposite) before finally succumb with it and embrace it as she gave up with life. She also ends up homicidal as she appears to be led by anger towards the people who belittle or embrace a certain emptiness and carelessness towards life and human beings. She follows with total self-destructiveness. Kirsten Dunst ("The Beguiled" "Midnight special" "Fargo" (II Tv Instalment) gives another tortured performance growing each moment until it completely becomes overwhelming. Being the film really difficult to enjoy, I suggest only people interested in more views and studying see it.

(Flash Review)

Apparently we are presented with a woman who has a terminally ill mother. She quickly dies after her daughter brings her some sort of potent herbal drug to smoke. This event torments her for the entire film. There are an abundance of vague scenes that are shot to visually highlight the woman's emotional state with lots of reflections and double exposures. Yet for me are way too abstract (I enjoy abstract visually-focused films; Terrence Malick - need I say more?). What questions are we supposed to wrestle with while watching? The infinite turmoil she has for ending her mother's pain? You certainly feel and experience her loneliness and you can argue how small she feels in the world while wandering through trees in the Red Wood Forrest. Even after watching the bonus feature of the director duo, I didn't get any more clarity. That is apparently the point; the viewer brings their own interpretations to it. So....it was visually impressive but super thin on context.