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Chris Eberle
Sisters Nell and Eva live in a remote town, many miles from civilization. Nell is studying hard to get into college and Eva is a dancer preparing for an important audition. When an extended power outage hits their region, they find themselves facing new and dangerous challenges. With only a few gallons of gas left for their generator, they begin rationing food and learning how to survive on their own. Nell’s boyfriend shows up one day and suggests they all walk to Boston where it’s rumored they have power. Nell leaves but changes her mind after a day and returns. As the outage drags on for months, the house begins to decay and the sisters must decide how to keep going.
2015, Color, Rated R, 1 Hr 41 mins
DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1, 1.85:1 Aspect Ratio
Starring: Ellen Page, Evan Rachel Wood, Callum Keith Rennie
Directed by Patricia Rozema
Rating
Violence: Yes
Sex: Yes
Language: Mild
Everyone loves a good end-of-the-world story but this one falls flat for me. The power outage angle is certainly relevant it today’s day and age where so much of our lives depend on the 24/7 availability of electricity. The sisters certainly find clever and interesting ways to feed themselves and take care of problems that arise. Unfortunately, that’s about all that happens. Once the apocalypse hits, there is no plot or story progression, only a series of challenges for the characters to overcome. The different scenarios are very cliché and will surprise no one. And the film has no real ending, it simply stops without anything even resembling a satisfying conclusion.
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Ellen Page and Evan Rachel Wood do an admirable job with the material they’ve been given. Both are experienced actors and along with Callum Keith Rennie, who I always enjoy, bring far more talent to Into The Forest than it deserves. I also liked the scenery which is lushly portrayed and set to a good musical score that relies heavily on massed and solo string instruments. Unfortunately there isn’t much else good happening here. This Blu-ray is worth a rental at best.
The image is reasonably sharp and detailed but often displays a pale color palette. The greens of the forest are nicely saturated and interior scenes are rendered with decent contrast if not the deepest blacks.
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The DTS-HD Master Audio encode is loaded with beautifully-done Foley effects that surround the viewer throughout. Scenes in the forest, which are frequent, literally had me looking around the room to find their source. I know Dolby Atmos is awesome but Blu-rays like this demonstrate that 5.1 channels and clean, detailed sound can still provide an incredible aural experience.
Bonus features consist of a single making-of featurette and audio commentary from writer/director Patricia Rozema.