How someone deals with grief can vary wildly person to person. While one person might be inconsolable, unable to handle even the most basic tasks, another could be motivated to make changes in his or her life that were previously unreachable. And there are innumerable ways in between those two extremes, as can be seen in the new film Land.
It follows Edee (Robin Wright), who, after an unspecified tragedy involving her husband and son, buys a remote cabin in the mountains of Wyoming. As seen in brief glimpses with her sister (Kim Dickens), she’s purposefully trying to remove herself from any vestige of her former life. She’s so deep in her despair that she barely cares if her isolation results in harm to herself.
At one of her lowest points, she meets Miguel (Demián Bichir), a hunter who stumbles upon her cabin. The two slowly but surely develop a friendship, as Miguel teaches her how to hunt, among other survival skills. Through their bond, Edee learns that not only is life still worth living, but that she still has much to offer others if she can find a way to give again.
Directed by Wright, who’s making her feature directorial debut, and written by Jesse Chatham and Erin Dignam, the film has a steady and consuming pulse to it. The motivations of both Edee and Miguel are strongly hinted at throughout, but enough remains a mystery for most of the film to keep the plot moving forward.
Although she seems far from naïve, Edee is unprepared for what exactly living life off the grid will entail, and this self-imposed punishment can be hard to take. While the film lets the character off the hook a bit too easily at certain points, the sparseness of the landscape and Wright’s intimate filmmaking, both as an actor and director, keep the intensity of Edee’s situation high.
What makes the film work best is the relationship between Edee and Miguel. The depths to which they infiltrate each other’s lives feels as strong as possible without the two becoming romantic. The film has very good reasons for not pushing the characters in that direction, and it’s all the better for not going down that road.
Owing to her extended run on Netflix’s House of Cards, it’s been a long time since audiences have been treated to a lead movie role from Wright, and she does not disappoint. There are few other actors her age who have both the vulnerability and the strength this role requires, and she owns every part of it. Bichir is a perfect complement for her, bringing a graceful masculinity to his part.
For whatever reason, Land has not garnered the attention that other films have during the extended awards season, but don’t let that fool you. It is as worthy of your moviegoing dollar as anything else thanks to two great performances and insightful directing by Wright.
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Land is showing exclusively in theaters. It will debut on premium video on demand on March 5.
Only in Austin does recording in a tin can create excellent sound. Specifically, this "tin can" is a 1955 Spartan Imperial Mansion trailer, a spacious mobile home converted into a relatively cramped studio. But the unconventional setup is no match for producer and engineer James Westley Essary.
Essary and his videographer brother, Brantley, have been using the space to build up their inner circle of musicians, capturing intimate performances in professional recordings available on YouTube. Live From The Tin Can premiered its second season on April 15, 2024, and is looking forward to a long string of diverse performances to come. Right now listeners can enjoy Ron Gallo, David Ramirez, Vondré, John Calvin Abney, Angel White, and more on the YouTube channel.
First up this season was Worn-Tin (an amazing coincidence of a name), performing "Hard Ease," "Bitter," and "Kid Changed," a pleasantly lackadaisical series of alt-rock romps, somehow squeezing in two drum sets. Worn-Tin, like many other artists this season on the YouTube series, performed live at South by Southwest in March. The festival, along with the concurrent Luck Reunion, brought a wealth of artists to the Live Music Capital, so the Tin Can crew took advantage of the easy scheduling.
"South By's website is actually a great way to find out who was coming into town," says Brantley. "So we started thinking about things like, what is what is their sound like? What is their performance like, and will that translate into our space? ... [We] just started contacting managers: 'Hey, do you have a free morning, free afternoon? Want to come by?' The sessions only take about a couple of hours."
Although the Essarys are hoping to get more national acts into the Tin Can to boost views, their hope is that over time they can narrow their focus back to local artists. (The series premiere featured Austin band Kelly Doyle.) Beyond the view counts, these recordings are mutually beneficial; Artists don't just get exposure, but lasting high-quality recordings for free, and the brothers get to build a portfolio. Westley, who just goes by his second name in conversation, appreciates the stylistic challenge.
Producer and engineer James Westley Essary does the auditory impossible.Photo courtesy of Live From The Tin Can
"I get to create a little calling card, [and] they get a way to push their new record when they're rolling through town and on tour," says Westley. "As you put out records you get pigeonholed ... I want to make a punk record, and I want to make a metal record. I want to make a country record. So it allows me to be able to dabble in whatever I want — whatever we book in the studio."
Making these connections was Westley's main goal in creating the series during the pandemic. It'd been a loose idea at the producer's prior studio, with occasional shoots for social media. As we all remember, 2019 was not famous for its sense of urgency. But when the studio was "sold out from under" Westley in October, he got tired of hopping from one rental to another.
He bought the trailer in December 2019 and spent the following year working on it. The end of his work coincided with Brantley's desire to move back to Austin from Seattle, so the returning brother provided the property to park the trailer on. The rest was good, old-fashioned pandemic restlessness.
The Tin Can in all its metallic glory.Photo courtesy of Live From The Tin Can
"When you're on the road all the time, you're meeting new bands every day, because you have a different opener or something," says Westley. "And I was like, 'How can I bring that to me?' It's a lot of fun when there's not really any money involved. You're not dedicating a ton of time, necessarily, to it. Bands come here, they have a really great time, [and] it's really nice to be able to host them."
Of course, recording in such a small space has its challenges. Most of the solution was in arranging; not the music, but the musicians. Placing everyone just right minimizes the bleed of certain instruments into other microphones, and as long as the singer stays relatively still, the drums — the biggest culprit — mostly keep their sound to themselves.
Some issues are also fixed with slightly quieter playing, unintentionally creating a sort of sonic brand for the series. It's not all bedroom pop, but the combination of a cozy recording environment and slightly restrained volume makes for some homey performances. This also works nicely for Westley — isn't that happening a lot? — who says he usually prefers listening at home to watching in a crowd.
Still, live recordings add a certain spice to the music. Many music fans will attribute it to the organic mystery of musicians clicking together, but Westley thinks there's something else at play. There's no substitute for practice, and by the time musicians are making live recordings, they've probably played the song live dozens or even hundreds of times. That allows for improvements on the original ideas — sometimes ones that originated in the studio at the time of the first recording.
Ron Gallo squeezes into the Tin Can.Still from Live From The Tin Can
It's also an easy way to make additional income without writing more, he says. Brantley points out that live music has always been at the core of the business.
"Live music has been at the top for forever," says Brantley. "Now we've got artists selling out huge arenas. They're competing with the NFL; They're not competing with movies or TV as much anymore. ... So I love the opportunity to not just record live music, but also film it. You're getting a full experience of both the really compelling live recording [and] even more compelling video to watch them in their element — really playing it live rather than just in a box in the studio."
The next frontier for the Tin Can crew will be hosting live shows onsite. Westley will be in the trailer recording while the band plays outside, and eventually Brantley might start capturing video, too. Also down the pipeline are audio-only live recordings, so listeners can enjoy the tunes without relying on YouTube.
One episode featuring NOBRO from Montreal, Quebec, is out now, with more to come. Next up is Evangeline from Los Angeles. Follow along with Live From The Tin Can ("Like and subscribe," says Brantley with a smile) on YouTube.