Life has not been kind to Ollie Hale (Tessa Thompson). Living in small town North Dakota, job opportunities aren’t exactly easy to come by. Her mother passed away, leaving her with a mortgage to pay, but no way to pay it. Her sister Deb (Lily James) is a struggling single mother who finds herself pregnant again. And Ollie is coming off an arrest for smuggling drugs back across the Canadian border. But at least she’s just days away from finishing her probation period. It’s about the only bright light at the end of this long, dark tunnel.
Ollie wants nothing more than to leave her drug trade days behind her, find a new job in a new state, and start to put her life on the right track. But all of these obstacles make that hard to do, as her own wants and desires are pitted against the needs of her only remaining family. Deb can barely get by as it is with her one child, living illegally in an abandoned trailer that remains illegally stationed in a parking lot. Deb also has to decide between keeping the baby or terminating the pregnancy, both of which are expensive options she can’t currently afford. Whichever way she decides, Ollie feels that burden – financially, at least – lies with her. Feeling as if she has no other choice, Ollie reluctantly goes back to her old life, selling drugs at a breakneck pace.
While there is a set-up for a potentially good movie here, Little Woods never quite manages to find its footing. Director Nia DaCosta (her directorial debut) touches on a plethora of current hot-button social issues, but that ultimately detracts from the story as a whole. Whenever one storyline feels like it’s about to really get going, DaCosta switches gears to a new line. From the state of U.S. healthcare to the opioid crisis to abortion to family relationships, the film hits on a lot of topics that many viewers will feel some personal connection to. And that effort to connect to the audience should be applauded. But the execution leaves a lot to be desired.
It comes off feeling as though DaCosta was simply running through a check list of issues to mention. And in doing so, she removed the weight of these ever-present, ever-important topics. A character turning to drug dealing to help her pregnant sister can be a movie on its own. We don’t need the mortgage issue; we don’t need the commentary on healthcare. The film’s focus is too broad, plain and simple. However, I’m willing to chalk that up to a first-time director getting a little over-eager. DaCosta clearly has a lot to say, and shows flashes of talent of effectively conveying her intended message. I only wish she had shown a bit of patience and narrowed the focus here.
When a movie has this many top-level faults, I look to the supporting cast as a hopeful saving grace. But unfortunately there is no such luck with Little Woods. Outside of Ollie, everyone else is a clichéd character we’ve seen time and again. I recognize some of these may have been hard to avoid given the story DaCosta is trying to tell. Deb’s son’s father has to be a deadbeat. If she has a supportive husband, partner, or co-parent, she doesn’t have many of the problems she’s having. But the supporting characters only serve to help create the same small town we always get. It’s an original story with almost no sense of true originality.
But even with all that, we can at least be thankful Tessa Thompson is there to provide some feeling of balance. She is one the best actresses working today, and that’s on fully display in this role. Just as Ollie carries the burden of keeping her family going, Thompson shoulders that same burden in carrying the movie. And Lily James is good as Deb, maybe even great; it’s too bad, then, that her character just doesn’t have a lot to do. That leaves it all on Thompson to bring the movie home. And God bless her, she puts everything she has into this part. The result is one compelling character in what should have been a compelling setting. But the unclear focus and clichéd characters pull Little Woods down far below its potential.
THE VERDICT: 5.5/10
Little Woods is now available on VOD.