Woodshock (2017)

Directed by: Kate Mulleavy, Laura Mulleavy | 100 minutes | drama, thriller | Actors: Kirsten Dunst, Joe Cole, Pilou Asbæk, Steph DuVall, Jack Kilmer, Susan Traylor, Joel McCoy, Michael Pavlicek, Joseph Wray Barney, Henry Pokorski, Kyler Jude Hanson

Theresa works at a medicinal weed store in a quiet California town. She lives in a big house in the middle of the woods, with her boyfriend and her sick mother. One of the products that the weed shop has under the counter is a mixture of weed and deadly poison. Perfect for euthanasia, you might say. So when Theresa’s mother doesn’t want to live anymore, Theresa gives her the deadly joint. And then…

And then the most meaningless 90 minutes of your life arrive. What happens next is that Theresa wanders through her house, puts on gloves, dreams of trees, turns on a tap, dreams of trees, smokes a joint, stares ahead, stares ahead, stares ahead, stares ahead , dreams of trees, stares into space, sleeps, visits friends, goes back home, dreams of trees, takes an action that makes no sense at all and then probably dreams of trees again, but we don’t know for sure because then thank God we will be put out of our misery by the credits.

‘Woodshock’ is a product of Kate and Laura Mulleavy, two sisters who made a name for themselves in the fashion world with their successful brand Rodarte. A move from fashion to film can turn out well (see Tom Ford), but in the case of the Mulleavys, it’s a clear case of hubris. The sisters also had to write the screenplay if necessary, and everything indicates that they did so while enjoying medicinal or non-medicinal stimulants.

A shame, because the beautiful visuals, the presence of Kirsten Dunst and the wonderful music (Wire, Feelies, Television) could have led to a nice result with a better scenario. If only the sisters, like Tom Ford, had used a novel as the source for their film. Then they would probably have produced something other than this boring experiment. An attempt that almost makes you long for such a deadly joint.