Walk In The Woods, A

Synopsis: Celebrated travel writer, Bill Bryson (Robert Redford), has recently moved back to the US after decades living in Britain. Instead of retiring and spending his days with his loving wife (Emma Thompson), and their happy family, he challenges himself to hike the Appalachian Trail - 2,200 miles of America's most unspoiled, spectacular and rugged countryside stretching  from Georgia to Maine. The tranquillity he hopes to find proves elusive, though, once he agrees to the company of the only person he can find willing to join him - his estranged college buddy, Stephen Katz (Nick Nolte), who sees the trip as a way to avoid paying some debts by having one last adventure. As they confront the wilderness, they encounter an assortment of eccentric characters, wild animals and perilous weather in an epic journey that tests the limits of their friendship.

Taking a long walk of self discovery is not something new to the big screen. Last year, Reece Witherspoon tackled the Pacific West Trail in Wild.   The year before that, Mia Wasikowska headed into the Australian desert in Tracks and even David Lynch sent Richard Farnsworth on a trek from Iowa to Wisconsin (albeit on a ride-on mower) in Straight Story (1999).  This walk in the woods takes place along the Appalachian Trail which, according to the film, is more or less passes by the Bryson family home. It is not a walk for the faint-hearted. It takes the average hiker between five and six months to complete and of the thousands of hikers that attempt it each year, only one in four complete the journey.

Casting Redford as Bryson may seem more like the answer to one of those parlour game questions – who would you want to see playing you in a film of your life? - but, in fact although a considerable liberty as Bryson and Katx were in their mid-forties when they took their walk, it’s surprisingly successful . The two men share a warmth, intelligence and geniality and Redford brings a lovely thoughtfully distracted quality to the role which resonates with the sensibility of the writer and is sometimes evident in Bryson interviews. The revelation, though, is Nolte’s performance which is unexpectedly coherent and touchingly layered. For the most part he dominates the film with his portrayal of this shambolic, out-of-shape alcoholic. Not that much of a stretch, I hear you say – but bringing these qualities to a character on film is a real acting task and demands a lot more than just ‘being yourself ’. The toll of years and lifestyle on the two men is accentuated in a scene where an old photo album is produced. Redford, of course, was always a doll and his good looks still radiate through the cragginess of his older face. Nolte’s photo is from the time he first took our breath away in that outstanding performance in the TV mini-series Rich Man, Poor Man. His beauty has not fared so well.

A Walk In The Woods is an amiable film, easy on the eye and entertaining enough but it never really seems to get out of second gear. It is helped by encounters with interesting characters such as the know-it-all camping gear salesman (Nick Offerman), the obnoxious hiker (Kristen Schaal), and the attractive motel manager (Mary Steenburgen) but there are no real surprises except for how little of the sweeping vistas of the Appalachian we get to see. It’s as though the story is following a trail as laid out and predictable as the one they are hiking. Apart from feature film work such as Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, Beautician and the Beast and He’s Just Not That Into You  Kwapis is best known as a director of episodic TV and TV movies and this outing struggles to rise above the light weight of his previous films and the lesser demands of the small screen.

 

 

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