In North Dakota, two estranged sisters are driven to extremes when their mother dies, leaving them with one week to pay back her mortgage.
I've watched this film twice already because I really don't know what to make of it. Little Woods is the directorial debut from Nia DaCosta, starring Lily James and Tessa Thompson, and yet it is one of the most understated films I've watched this year.
Understated seems to the direction chosen for the film though. Little Woods provides social commentary on the effects of the US healthcare system. The system that is well known to focus not on making its people healthy, but to make as much money as possible at whatever the cost to society. The often unseen consequences of a workforce that has to work every day or they lose their jobs and their houses. A class of people that can afford neither health insurance nor the full cost of medical procedures. A people that are pushed towards drug dealers, back-alley deals, and illegal border crossings to get the healthcare they need.
That is what is on display here; two sisters who have had a bad decision or bad luck put them in a position that they have no legal way out of. The cinematography and direction lack glamour, but it fits the theme of the film, with its protagonists struggling with poverty and battling their demons. The camera chooses to spend time lingers on their faces as they struggle to wrap their head around every new obstacle thrown in front of them.
Lily James and Tessa Thompson do a great job and really drive home that intensity that siblings have. That yearning for independence, that love for each other conflicting with the irritation and frustration that they also feel at each other's actions.
The set design is well done giving that feeling of squalor as we slum it with the lower classes, and in the end, it all comes together to help humanize a subset of the US population that are invisible to the middle and upper classes.
Despite all this, when the movie ended, I didn't feel satisfied. It progressively built itself up to a climax that didn't pay off. It certainly subverts your expectations, but there is very little to smile at, as the struggle continues on. The film felt almost in denial of its own ending, and will no doubt leave the audience feeling dubious about its downplayed conclusion.