It’s the small, quieter moments that make up life, not the loud bombastic events. The dripping of the faucet, the delicate touch of the shoulder. The intimate time of brushing hair, gazing at a fire in the fireplace. It’s the small moments that make up life and are easier to slide away from memory. Harder to retain. Hard to keep the whispers of life then the yelling. Frances Fisher is playing Max. Max is losing her memory. With taking inventory of her life Max is see-sawing between being with her close friend she always had feelings for or her husband played by Bruce Davison- who is guarding a secret that can break it all up.  “Out of the Woods” is a love story- a love triangle story. The dementia-the slipping of the mind is flushing it all out or making it all more complicated. It’s not so much regret, but as Max says in the “too many options sometimes make you not want to take one.” It’s that line that summarizes Max at her stage of her life.  Options are becoming narrower and slimmer. And we get the sense that this is the first time in Max’s life she can take inventory of it, or even the first time caring too.

This is a passion project for first time director Sal Bardo, who took ten years to get made into a film.  “We had just sixteen days to shoot it and it was chaotic,” he said after the screening at Twin City Film Fest. A weird fact since much of the film is somber and still, and quiet. The plain and near barren production makes us focus more on the faces, expressions and the interactions of the people. It is an actor’s film. The close-up and the choices of angle and framing work for the time of film it is.  It is definitely an actor’s script. It leaves much arena to try things and explore.

The cast is great, the cinematography is there, sound and editing compliments the film, its the film scores that leaves a screeching to my ear. The score emits a roomy, spacy sound, as if attempting to fill a void, and musical notion of losing memory but its’ harshness is too one point and is called upon too much on the noise. The score takes me out of the world.

The element most crucial that gets glossed over is work. Life is work and it is shown most bluntly. Washing, cooking, maintenance, laundry- the work put into things is shown.  It was all three characters missed early in their life. Just to love is not enough. You got to put in the work.  Max’s friend never finished the painting for her for Max’s wedding. Max never puts in the work to her relationships, but does in her tasks. Charlie only puts in the work, and assists in the marriage after his secret is revealed.

“Out of Woods” is a familiar complicated love story telling us  just having love  won’t do, you have to be present, even if your memory is slipping and put in the work. 7.5/10