The Woodsman Review
by Jon Popick (jpopick AT sick-boy DOT com)December 20th, 2004
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Nearly as warm of a holiday release as The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Nicole Kassell's debut, The Woodsman, stars Kevin Bacon as a recently paroled pedophile who moves in across the street from a grammar school and tries to control the urges to have little kids sit on his lap. He tries to keep his wood busy by getting a menial job at the local lumber yard, where he meets and begins a strange affair with everyone-thinks-she's-a-lesbo Vickie (Kyra Sedgwick, Secondhand Lions).
"It's like the whole world has gotten younger," Walter (Bacon, Mystic River) says to his brother-in-law (Benjamin Bratt, Catwoman) shortly after getting released from his 12-year-sentence, obviously unaware of the faux pas he's made concerning his previous predilection for the kids.
The Woodsman is very well directed for a debut (it's photographed by classy Mexican cinematographer Xavier Pérez Grobet, who shot half of Deadwood's first season), and it's also packed full of great performances from the top to the bottom. Dig the surprisingly dour turn by David Alan Grier. Dig the surprisingly low-key performance from Eve, and the surprisingly fantastic one from Mos Def as a local cop making it very clear that he's keeping a close eye on Walter. And prepare to have your socks knocked off by little Hannah Pilkes, who plays one of the film's potential victims. It's unsettling and without resolution, but if you're already taking your children to see Lemony Snicket, you may as well make it a double-feature and really scare the shit out of them.
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