Review: Woodshock

The connection between the fashion industry and Hollywood has always been strong. With directors like Tom Ford, the transition between one to the other can be successful. If A Single Man is proof that fashion sensations can direct then Woodshock, the debut feature from Kate and Laura Mulleavy, is proof of the opposite.

Woodshock opens with a compelling and quietly disturbing scene as Theresa (an ever-watchable Kirsten Dunst) prepares a joint laced with some unknown chemical as part of an assisted suicide. We quickly learn that she is helping her mother end her life in a peaceful manner. As Theresa seals the joint, a flash-frame appears of the woods. This imagery continues and is often beautiful to look at but completely hollow. The plot from there is non-existent. Theresa begins to lose control and we the audience are subjected to the world's longest perfume ad. 

Dunst doesn't have much to work with her and yet she escapes the film unscathed. She brings whatever substance there is in the film. Theresa works at a medical marijuana dispensary with Keith (Pilou Asbaek). Together they assist terminal patients in death. The other major presence in her life is her boyfriend Nick (Joe Cole). He doesn't see Theresa slip away and lose grip on reality as grief over takes her. At least, that is what I think is going on.

Why any of this matters is never clear. The film is awash in beautiful imagery and a think mood but the Mulleavys seem to think that is enough. They never attempt to connect the audience with anything happening on-screen or give any meaning to the hallucinatory feel of the film. The film does try to connect the destruction of a forest to the lives that end short from the assisted suicides. The depth of the metaphor ends there, like some bad film school project that attempts to be clever in favor of meditating on the material. The film doesn't know what it is trying to say with all of its juxtaposition of stumps, weed, Theresa's dazed state and the vile of poison used in the suicides.

There is no doubt the Mulleavys have an eye for beauty. Cinematographer Peter Flinckenberg continual captures a hazy, drugged feeling that immense grief can feel like. The sets and costumes all feel designed with meticulous care. It's a shame then that it all amounts to so little. Empty and vacant, Woodshock is a tedious watch despite Dunst giving a strong performance here.

1.5/5