Note the headline on my review of the slow burn thriller that grabs your heart, Little Woods. “Tessa Thompson’s star-making turn,” is what I say. Given the fact that the world has discovered her in one of a few places—opposite Chris Hemsworth in Thor: Ragnarok, opposite Michael B. Jordan in Creed and Creed II, or in that sizzling Men In Black: International trailer … that happens to also find her with Hemsworth once again! All that is impressive, sure, but what she achieves in the independent movie Little Woods is sublime and is an astounding landscape for her to show that she can carry a film packed with emotional turmoil, dramatic power and a cinematic metronome that firmly hits all the right beats.
Little Woods finds Thompson starring as Ollie, the adoptive sister to Deb (Lily James, Baby Driver and Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again). They live in rural North Dakota and Ollie is facing merely days of probation before she can be “free” after getting caught bringing painkillers over the border from Canada into America for her dying mother. As the film begins, we learn that Ollie was the one who mostly cared for her and Deb’s mother. It was Ollie who sought out the additional painkillers to ease her mother’s suffering because her pain was immense and intense. Ollie has paid the price for breaking the law, even though she has no internal remorse (externally, she’s as sorry as can be to her parole officer, Carter—John Wick star Lance Reddick) and is doing nothing but looking forward. She has secured a job interview for a fabulous professional opportunity in Spokane, Washington. Complications arise and whether our protagonist will get her dream job and be able to escape this dreary North Dakota landscape is firmly up in the air.
Her sister is a single mother to an adorable little boy, Johnny (Charlie Ray Reid). Her ex, Ian (James Badge Dale), is the father and to everyone’s surprise—Deb learns she’s pregnant. She’s in a Catch-22 in many ways. Deb cannot afford to have the child (she’s told it will cost $8,000 at the minimum) and doesn’t want to because Ian is not exactly the idea father at the most or partner in raising a child at the minimum. To end the pregnancy is also quite expensive, as she learns. Deb is lost. Deb is barely hanging on. But at the end of the day, she is doing everything she can to raise Johnny in the right way. Adding another child to her life does not, in any scenario, work out well for anyone.
Meanwhile, Ollie learns of Deb’s pregnancy and immediately swings into action. The house that Ollie has been living in is her mother’s. Due to her extremely high medical costs, mom got behind in the mortgage payments and the bank will foreclose unless Ollie and Deb can come up with $3,000 to cover the back bills. Ollie faces a choice that should not be levied on anyone. The only way she can make the kind of money required to keep the house (so her sister can move in and raise her son well—currently they are living in a camper van, that’s not even theirs, in a parking lot that is mobilizing to tow the vehicle away). Ollie has the connections. Ollie knows the people in need, so … Ollie is going to deal pharmaceuticals to make all the cash she can and quickly. Yes, her probation clock is ticking and as such, writer-director Nia DaCosta has masterfully given us a landscape that is ripe with tension and feels much like a thriller.
Little Woods is a thriller, innately, due to the various balls that are up in the air for these two sisters. It will test their relationship, their stamina and their ability to excel in every facet of their life imaginable because that is what it will take to make it through this without being homeless and/or returned to jail.
Thompson is the acting equivalent of a hurricane. She is a true force of nature. You think you have seen the best of this actress? Think again. As Ollie, she takes it to a whole nether level of showcasing her titanic talent. There are countless nuance-laden moments throughout that finds the actress exuding empathy one minute and complete and utter bravado the next. Witnessing Little Woods, something kept popping in my head throughout and that is that one day, this actress will surely win an Academy Award. Many of us will hark back to her turn in this little indie that raises so many questions for the viewer that will never be easily answered.
How far would you go to protect your family? What lengths would you go to save your family and ensure facets of life that so many of us take for granted—a roof over your head, food in your belly and a landscape that is rich with opportunity, love and aspirational hope for our younger family members. Ollie is an aunt, after all. Even though her sister Deb keeps making decisions that hurt her more than help her, at the end of the day, Thompson’s character has a nephew that has her culling internal strength she never knew she possessed. Little Woods also showcases the utter travesty that is the United States health care system. Many of the characters in DaCosta’s brilliant feature talk readily about heading to nearby Canada to use illegally obtained state medical ID cards. Even though the filmmaker’s work is not meant to be a civics discussion about the state of the U.S. healthcare system, one cannot help but naturally going there … of course after the credits roll because this is a film that firmly grabs you by the collar and never lets you go. In fact, it is one of those cinematic experiences that has a shelf life of days and even weeks. This one will stick to you.
James, once again, shows the world why she is one of the most in-demand young actresses of her generation. Is there anything she cannot do? I’m beginning to think there isn’t. This is a classically British trained thespian who, between Baby Driver and Little Woods, has captured the sentiment of a middle American young woman in a way that would easily having many wondering if that was where the actress was born! Deb is not exactly a character that is easy to support. Her decision making skills are not the best. At one point, Ollie trusts Deb with something of the utmost importance to both of their futures. Let’s just say, it disappears and anyone witnessing the film will be surprised in the least. Yet, we do pull for Deb. Because of James’ uncanny gifts, we possess a heavy amount of endearment towards her and that is all due to the British actress.
I foresee a future where not only Thompson’s admirers trace back her Oscar success to Little Woods, DaCosta will also have fans looking back on her film as the site where all this talent was exposed to the world. She is making her big screen narrative debut with a richly layered screenplay and direction that is utterly divine. The filmmaker has done something extraordinary as well. It is the rare storytelling experience where the viewers are so wholeheartedly cheering on our protagonists to break the law and get away with it. Even crazier, we are pulling for Ollie to essentially contribute to the opioid epidemic that is paralyzing our country.
There is no sugar coating this—Ollie is securing mass amounts of painkillers from “friendly” doctors and unloading them on folks who are abusing them. Yet, we want her to succeed. There is something about how DaCosta has crafted these characters that we desire this little family—that solely consists of a mother, a son and an aunt—to catch a break for once. It’s truly stunning how all of this is achieved, in under 100 minutes, with a tightly wound tale that should be celebrated from the movie mountain tops.
Grade: A