The World is Ending! Head Into the Forest

Wednesday, Oct. 26

Apocalyptic movies tend to be loud. Zombies. Vampires. Half-crazed survivalists. Marauding biker gangs. Not exactly introspective stuff.

Patricia Rozema's 2015 film Into the Forest seems to fit the mold at first. Two young women get stranded in a spooky-but-picturesque home in the Pacific Northwest during a worldwide power outage. Tensions escalate and danger mounts.

But I wouldn't expect this one to erupt into a Walking Dead-style bloodbath. Forest is as much a character study as a genre entry. In fact, its primary focus is often on the intimacy between two sisters, played with great range by Juno's Ellen Page and Westworld's Evan Rachel Wood. The film's director, who has tried her hands at everything from Jane Austen to Kit Kittredge, takes a decidedly non-macho approach to worldwide destruction. This breathes needed energy into a potentially played-out premise.

If you're looking for Fury Road Part Two, you might want to sit this one out. But if you're game for something thoughtful, freaky, and unexpected, this forest might be worthy of a visit. – Dan Schank

7 p.m. // Erie Art Museum, 20 E. Fifth St. // erieartmuseum.org/events/film.html