‘Little Woods’ Trailer: Tessa Thompson And Lily James Are Sisters Caught In A Bad-To-Worse Situation
When rising filmmakerNia DaCostawasannouncedas the director of the buzzy Jordan Peele-producedCandymanreboot, it might have been odd to some that she didn’t have one feature film under her belt. But she did, and it’s finally making its way to theaters. DaCosta’s dazzling directorial debut,Little Woods, a neo-Western starringTessa ThompsonandLily Jamesin powerful lead performances as two sisters in an economically depressed North Dakotan town who are on the verge of losing their mother’s home. See the firstLittle Woodstrailer below.
Little Woods Trailer
Thompson stars as Ollie, a former drug runner attempting to start a new life when her sister Deb (James) goes to for help with her hungry child and unplanned pregnancy. Realizing that they can’t afford a pregnancy on top of the mortgage for their recently passed mother’s home, they hatch a scheme for Ollie to return to pushing pills to get enough money to get Deb an abortion and save their house.
I sawLittle Woodsat Tribeca last year, where DaCosta won the 2018 Nora Ephron Award, and it shot to the top of the films I saw at the film festival. A haunting neo-Western that plays like a female-drivenHell or High Water, I calledLittle Woodsin myreviewa “potent slow-burning thriller that taps into the economic devastation that has wracked middle America for the past few decades.” And that may be why it took so long forLittle Woodsto come to theaters. As a film that centers around an abortion plot and is set to the backdrop of the opioid,Little Woodsis complicated, difficult, and ultimately challenging story to swallow. It’s also incrediblynow, and feels more important than ever.
Here is the official synopsis forLittle Woods:
Ollie (Tessa Thompson) is a reformed drug runner in an economically depressed small town in North Dakota, who was caught coming back from Canada with medicine for her terminally ill mother and has been toeing the line ever since. After her mother dies, Ollie’s sister Deb (Lily James) shows up on her doorstep with a hungry child and an unplanned pregnancy. Ollie can only see one viable option: quickly raise money to pay back the bank and hold onto their mother’s home, so Deb can raise her family safely away from her abusive ex. But to do that, she’ll need to return to the dangerous way of life she thought she’d left behind.
