Holiday Movie Preview 2004

The Woodsman

Released from jail after serving a 12-year sentence for raping a young girl, Walter (Kevin Bacon) sets up in a run-down apartment a few yards from a schoolyard and attempts to live a quiet, hard-working life ‑- not cured, but controlled. There's a long list of people who don't think he can do it, including Walter himself, but one person has confidence in him: a tough-talking lumberyard worker, played by Bacon's real-life wife, Kyra Sedgwick.

Telling a traumatic tale of child abuse from the pedophile's point of view is a risky way to make a movie, but it's also great filmmaking in the hands of first-time director Nicole Kassell. Through Bacon's nuanced portrayal of this monsterish man who's trying to control his urges, Kassell is able to offer some searing insight into what is an emotional disaster for all involved.

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