Woodshock Blu-ray Movie

Rating summary

Movie		2.0
Video		4.0
Audio		4.5
Extras		0.5
Overall		2.0

Woodshock Blu-ray Movie Review

This is your film on drugs.

Reviewed by Jeffrey Kauffman November 26, 2017

Here’s an idea (not necessarily a great one): how about if a future season of Project Runway has a challenge where the fashion designer contestants have to write and direct a feature film? Of course, if Woodshock is any indication, this is not simply not a great idea, but perhaps a pretty bad one. This odd film, one which is awfully long on style (as befits its fashion designer creators) but arguably pretty lacking in substance, offers Kirsten Dunst as a woman named Theresa who is involved at least tangentially in the legal cannabis world, and whose emotional world seems to come crashing down after the death of her mother, a death which is for all intents and purposes an “assisted suicide” facilitated by Theresa herself. Woodshock is the brainchild of sisters Kate and Laura Mulleavy, siblings famous for their creation of fashion line Rodarte, though the film is so patently hallucinogenic that some may aver that this particular “brainchild” is a brain on drugs (so to speak). Woodshock plays like the cinematic equivalent of a self absorbed essay written by a precocious student who has just downed 30 Days to a More Powerful Vocabulary: it’s showy and (visually) hyperbolic, but one is continually left to wonder what any of it actually means.

Woodshock plies much the same territory, both tonally and even content wise, as films like Requiem for a Dream, where the first person quasi-psychosis of a someone “under the influence” is depicted with a series of seemingly random vignettes and (more importantly) imagery. In Woodshock’s case, the Mulleavy sisters have crafted a pretty creaky metaphor that is based in Theresa’s memories of once having gotten lost in the gigantic redwood forests of Humboldt County in Northern California. The film’s title refers to the feeling of desperation one can feel when a surrounding (and maybe even encroaching) wilderness becomes threatening when there’s no easily discernable trail homeward.

The stylistic excesses of Woodshock are so relentless that attempting to figure out what’s going on in the minimalistic narrative is probably a futile exercise, one made perhaps even more futile by the fact that there’s simply not that much “there” there beyond the film’s style. Theresa is married to Nick (Joe Cole), a logger who works to chop down the immense trees that Theresa seems to see as both a protective and a menacing force. She asks him if he feels guilty about denuding nature, which he kind of casually admits he sometimes does. But this interchange, as with so many others in this film, never amounts to anything — it’s an opening gambit without any follow up, something Woodshock does repeatedly, instead offering shiny (or, actually in this case, kind of hazy) objects in the place of any storytelling acuity.

Theresa ekes out a living working at a local pot dispensary run by the film’s most eccentric character, Keith (Pilou Asbæk), but as with the two other main focal characters in the film, Keith is pretty much plopped down and left undeveloped. The entire film in fact feels like a rough draft for something that could have benefited from both more clear writing and simply additions like a bit of backstory. The whole melancholic aspect of the film hinges on Theresa’s mourning for her mother, and yet the film spends precious little time actually detailing why her parent’s loss is so traumatic for her. Don’t get me wrong — the death of a parent is a major life transition that all of us have to go through, and it can be devastating, but this film seems to suggest that there’s some kind of “special” depth to Theresa’s roiling psychological state that the Mulleavy sisters simply leave to the viewer to figure out.

All of this said, there is a distinctive style in Woodshock that may appeal to some viewers (whether or not they’re “enhanced”, if you catch my drift). A lot of the imagery is weirdly calming and almost reminiscent of the old Topics releases like HD Moods Mountains, releases I perhaps cheekily described as “ambient television”. A lot of the unapologetically psychedelic imagery tends to feature weird superimpositions and refracted sights that are apparently meant to offer an insight into Theresa’s unraveling mental state, and in that regard, one might view the overly stylized attempt as “successful”. But without any really substantial underlying story elements, the entire film comes off as an enjoyable enough “high” that, like many drug fueled trips, will fade from memory almost as soon as it’s been experienced.

Note: My colleague Brian Orndorf perhaps arguably liked Woodshock at least minimally more than I did (though one would hardly call Brian's thoughts a rave). You can read Brian's review here.

Woodshock Blu-ray Movie, Video Quality 

Woodshock is presented on Blu-ray courtesy of Lionsgate Films with an AVC encoded 1080p transfer in 2.39:1. Interestingly, the closing credits of the film feature both a "captured by Alexa" logo and a "shot on Kodak film" branding, but I have to say very little if any of this presentation has the sleek, smooth look of digital capture. Instead, there's a seemingly intentionally very grainy looking presentation (whether "natural" or digitally achieved in any given sequence will need to be determined by someone with more technical expertise than I have), one that approaches noise territory on occasion, but again, seemingly by design and not necessarily linked to the darkness of the scene in question. There are some interesting online data points (many of which reference 35mm film) which state that cinematographer Peter Flinckenberg achieved many of the film's visual effects in camera, and that strategy coupled with any number of stylistic tweaks like lens flare, double exposures, extended dissolves or conversely, quick cutting, tends to produce an overall fairly soft appearance quite a bit of the time. As can be seen in many of the screenshots accompanying this review, there's kind of a dreary, dark and desaturated look to at least some of the scenes, and this particular approach tends to limit fine detail levels. With an understanding that (at least in my estimation) many of these issues are stylistic choices, this transfer offers what I assume is an accurate representation of the film's theatrical exhibition. That said, those coming to Woodshock expecting crystal clear imagery and consistently superb fine detail levels are probably going to be in for at least something of a letdown.

Woodshock Blu-ray Movie, Audio Quality 

Woodshock has a rather nicely detailed DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 track, one that derives some impressive immersion from sound effects like a kind of ambient synth pad that accompanies some of the wooded material, or even simple ambient environmental sounds in the great outdoors. There are bursts of sometimes rather furious energy, as in some scenes documenting the logging activities of Nick. The film's dialogue is halting at best, but is delivered clearly. Peter Raeburn's score is often quite effective, helping the film bridge some narrative gaps, and it also resides comfortably in the surround channels.

Woodshock Blu-ray Movie, Special Features and Extras 

• Making Woodshock: A Mental Landscape (1080p; 13:23) is an OK EPK consisting basically of interviews (both on screen and via voiceover) with the Mulleavy sisters. Speaking of which, when they're both in frame together, pay attention. It may just be my perception, but there is some very interesting body language going on between these two.

Woodshock Blu-ray Movie, Overall Score and Recommendation 

There's a lot of interesting content in Woodshock, probably most notably its stylistic peculiarities, but I just wish the film could have taken a more coherent approach toward simple narrative issues like Theresa's relationship with her mother. Dunst seems to be hinting at untold depths in Theresa's unraveling psyche, but without any context, the film ultimately is a trip without a destination. Technical merits are generally strong, though those interested in a purchase should parse the screenshots accompanying this review to get at least some idea of the kind of hallucinogenic ambience of the film.