(rated R)
Kevin Bacon and real life wife Kyra Sedgwick take on roles that raise an eyebrow or two. Walter (Bacon) plays an ex con arriving in a new town where he works as a lumberjack, keeping pretty much to himself, unlike his new girlfriend, a tough-talking fork lift driver who promises not to judge him. Not such an easy thing to do when she soon discovers a Detective (Mos Def) keeping a close watch on Walter because of a history as a juvenile sexual offender. Even Walter’s sister will have nothing to do with him, though her husband (Benjamin Bratt) befriends Walter. While it’s hard to sympathize with a character portraying a child molester, Walter’s desire to be normal, forces us to have an unexpected and guilt-ridden sadness for him. Mos Def plays a great supporting role and Sedgewick takes a career risk, escaping her usual goodie-two-shoes to deliver a dark and complex performance. The story feels like a cross between last year’s surprise year end cage-rattler “Monster” meets Halle Berry’s “Monster’s Ball” a couple years back. And this shouldn’t come as a surprise considering the producer Lee Daniels is responsible for both. The Woodsman takes its name from the character in Little Red Riding Hood, and while we sit and ponder how a con is rejected in society, we can’t help wonder whether people have the right to know when a molester settles into the neighborhood. The question remains, can they be trusted or ever truly reformed?
