Backwoods

 

Backwoods 2006

• Director: Koldo Serra
• Based on book: no
• Cast: Gary Oldman, Virginie Ledoyen, Paddy Considine, Aitana Sánchez-Gijón, Lluís Homar
• Personal “oh yeah him/her” reaction, i.e. have seen this actor in:
• Gary Oldman – Crisis, Darkest Hour, The Space Between Us, The Batman Trilogy, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy, Harry Potter, The Book of Eli, Rainfall, Dead Fish, Friends, Lost in Space, The Fifth Element, Immortal Beloved, Léon, Romeo Is Bleeding, True Romance, Dracula, JFK, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Prick Up Your Ears, Sid and Nancy
• Paddy Considine – Journeyman, The Girl with All the Gifts, Macbeth, Pride, The World’s End, Red Riding, Hot Fuzz, My Summer of Love, In America, 24 Hour Party People, Born Romantic
• Why?  Gary Oldman
• Seen:  3 July 2023 

Two unhappily English married couples – Paul (Oldman) and Isabel (Sanchéz-Gijón), Norman (Considine) and Lucy (Ledoyen) – are heading for Paul’s late grandmother’s old stone house in Northern Spain. They stop at an isolated taverna. The locals – all men – are hostile. The two couples continue and arrive at the house. Paul loves it. Norman is doubtful. The women hate it.

While hunting, Paul and Norman find a little girl imprisoned in a run-down shack. They free her and take her back to the house.

It gets scary.

Some viewers hate the film. A few love it. I’m in the middle. Strong performances by Oldman and Considine carry it. 

3* of 5

 

 

 

 

Shakespeare connection: Gary Oldman is in Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead. Paddy Considine is in Macbeth.