Tribeca Review & Interviews: LITTLE WOODS: A Confident Debut

Little Woods, the debut film by Nia DaCosta, had its premiere at this years Tribeca Film Festival. It has the freshness of a new voice, but simmers with the intensity of a pro. In other words: it’s an impressive first for this writer/director, that saddles her with a promising cinematic future. It’s no surprise she won the Nora Ephron award at this years festival.

Sisterhood And The Path Of Resistance

The film centers around two sisters struggling in a small North Dakota town (the fictional Little Woods). Tessa Thompson plays Ollie, scraping by with odd jobs (delivering coffee and food in the back of her truck, doing laundry for local workers) waiting until her probation finishes. She’s almost there too, arrested prior for transporting drugs over the border. Ollie seems hard, but there is a vulnerability that peaks through, specifically with her probation officer/mentor Carter (the always great Lance Reddick). She is strapped though, especially when her ill mother dies, and she’s responsible for the mortgage on their home.

Lily James plays Deb, a single mother who barely makes ends meet working as a waitress, and who can’t seem to shake her deadbeat ex, whose always suggesting change, Ian (James Badge Dale). When she finds out she’s pregnant, she asks Ollie for help. Despite Ollie’s instincts to leave her criminal past behind, and to pursue a promising employment opportunity outside of the dismal town, she reluctantly returns. These two might have all the workings of a dysfunctional family, becoming adversarial at times, but their bond is unbreakable.

What makes DaCosta’s debut stunning, and allows it to transcend any genre clichés and defy societal norms, is the two women at the forefront of this bleak drama. Even though the story touches on important issues plaguing our society now, specifically opioid abuse, poverty and access to sufficient healthcare, it’s the heart that makes this film beat on. They’re relatable, authentic, and compelling. It’s familial resourcefulness and resilience. Our pair isn’t weak, they are simply put in situations they’re forced to get out of – by any means necessary. Little Woods is grim, but it is achingly familiar.

Endearing Characters And A Sharp Script

Tessa Thompson steals the show with a powerhouse performance. Ollie is written with such precision, and paired with Thompson’s nearly effortless portrayal, it’s breathless. Her chemistry with Lily James is also crucial, and Deb is unlike any character you’ve seen her as before. Together, they’re strong women, leaning on one another to survive their setbacks, lured to desperate measures, but handling it themselves nonetheless. This isn’t a story of men coming to rescue the damsels, no, quite the opposite.

In fact, there is a great villain in Luke Kirby’s Bill, pushing himself past anything he’s done before, to be (at times) completely deplorable. He’s a local drug dealer, and he’s threatened by Ollie, but even his character has layers. Tensions build, urgency arrives and never really leaves, making even the dips in the dramatics feel like biding time.

The representation of this corner of America endures, and is executed with lingering shots of the barren small town. These invites into desolation make the scenery for this drama come alive, showing DaCosta’s skill behind the camera.

Conclusion: Little Woods

At times Little Woods is haunting, and I think that’s the point. You’ll have a hard time shaking these wonderfully flawed sisters, and the tangible premise that sets the basis for this story. These are variations on real stories that are happening, right now, and DaCosta is willing you to pay attention. Her vehicle for delivering this message just happens to be through a pair of compelling sisters.

Interview with Nia DaCosta

Kristy Strouse  for Film Inquiry: As writer and director, this is truly your film. Can you tell us about your process, did you start with a basic idea and expand it from there? Any particular inspirations?

Nia DaCosta:  So, my process generally, is that I start with the characters. With this particular film I knew I wanted to tell a story about two women who lived in a rural part of America. And from there it was doing a lot of research about where it America they would live, what kind of people they would be. I knew I wanted them to be living in poverty, because I feel like that is so specific for women. Also living in a rural part of America is much different and much harder in ways, than living in a city.

Living there was something I wanted to explore. Then for me it’s really outlining and having an exact description complete. It’s doing a bunch of research, making sure everything is as tight as possible, making sure the characters are done. And after my outline is done, which could take my anywhere from a couple weeks to a year [laughs], then I write the first draft of the script. That was sort of the process for this.

The rich characters and the dialogue you’ve developed are really some of the best parts of the film. Which is brought to life by the great cast! Can you talk a bit about the casting for the film?

Nia DaCosta: The first person casted in the movie was Tessa Thompson and we had actually met at the Sundance Directors lab in 2015, where you go up to the Sundance resort and you get to stay for five weeks and workshop on your script. And you get to cast three actors from LA and NY and Tessa Thompson was one of the actors that I was able to bring up the mountain. So, she got to come out and workshop.

On the mountain there’s no expectation that the actors actually have to be in your movie, but when we met and started working together, we really connected. Not just as friends, but as collaborators. She’s whip-smart, and she’s an amazing actress. And she just opened up the character for me, she became Ollie. So, there was really no other option at that point for me, than Tessa. And I asked her there on the mountain if she would do it and she said she would. And that was hugely important to me, because with Tessa as Ollie, I mean… she’s a committed actor.  She tracked the character, tracked the script. She challenged me if something didn’t quite make sense. She was a really important creative part of the film, especially when it came to her character.

And with Lily – on the mountain the character of Deb actually changed a little bit. So, the person I was expecting to play that role changed. When it came down to casting all the parts we had almost everyone except for Deb, because it was really hard. I didn’t get lucky the way that I did with Tessa. Lily was an actor I was familiar with from seeing her on stage, and I knew she had this incredible power in her, this incredible talent. So, I asked her agency if they would let her read the script and they sent it to her, and we talked on Skype for like an hour, and it was wonderful.

That’s amazing, and what about the other roles, like Luke Kirby?

Nia DaCosta: Oh Luke, I love Luke! So, he was someone else that I had met at the directors lab along with Tessa. It’s kind of funny because at the directors lab he was playing a character that’s actually no longer in the script. Actually, Ollie’s boyfriend who lived in Canada, and it was this whole other aspect of the film that didn’t make it to shooting. He was amazing, and he’s such a special actor. He can do anything, I think.

He went from being this like really sympathetic boyfriend character at the directors lab to be this terrifying bad guy in the final film. He brought a lot to that character too, he made it feel real and human. So, he was amazing, and with James Badge Dale I basically wrote him a love letter, because I didn’t know him at all, and I was a huge fan of his work. Every movie he’s in he fits into the environment so well, and I knew I needed someone like him for this script to make the world feel real through the character. He was just a great get as well.

And Lance Reddick, to round it out. One of our EP’s has a company and he knew Lance from there, and they were like “What about Lance?” And I was like “Oh my gosh, of course!” [Laughs] Again, I sent him the script and really hoped he’d want to do it, which he did.  I feel like I got really lucky with all of my actors.

Well, everybody is perfectly cast! It’s been described as a “Modern Western” do you agree with that? Or how you would you categorize or describe the film?

Nia DaCosta: I think I would say that the film is a suspenseful drama. I definitely had westerns in mind when I was writing the film, shooting the film. I knew a western about women could be different and a modern western would be different. I didn’t want it to be stereotypical western imagery, but I wanted part of it to be about people living on the frontier, and what living on the frontier makes you do, and the choices it forces you to make.

So, for me, that was where the western aspect of the film comes in. I wouldn’t necessarily call it a western anymore, but when I’m watching it, personally for me, it feels like one. So, when other people pick that up it’s amazing because it’s definitely a genre I love and I thought about it a lot while making the film.

Can you tell us a bit about your film inspirations, or filmmakers that inspired you?

Nia DaCosta: There are a bunch of filmmakers that inspired me to get into the business. I was always a writer, and then when I was about sixteen I fell in love with movies from the 70’s and the early 80’s. I really loved Apocalypse Now, Dog Day Afternoon, and Jaws. Coppola, Lumet, Spielberg were filmmakers who I was deeply, deeply inspired by at the beginning when realized I wanted to be a director. A writer/director in particular.

And part of what inspired me about those films was that each of those movies did something that had never really been done before, and there was the sheer audacity of their vision that they were able to follow through on. And that for me was really inspiring, it told me that you can do anything. Film is as expansive as you want it to be. So that was super inspiring.

And then more modern… Debra Granik’s films are just so special and amazing. Winter’s Bone was a huge inspiration for me. Because it was about women in a particular part of America that I hadn’t had glimpsed before. As was Frozen River, which has amazing performances, tense drama, but is also about real issues in America. So, those, to me, are the places that I turn to for inspiration.

I’m sure everything’s kind of crazy for you right now with your first feature, and the festival, but do you have any ideas/goals for the future that you’d like to do? Or anything in the works?

Nia DaCosta: Yeah, absolutely. Right now, I’m actually in active development on two films. One is a 1920’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Persuasion which will be for BBC Films. I’m also working on a sci-fi thriller. So, those are two things that I’m actively looking forward to doing next. And I also really love TV, so television is something I’d love to do eventually. I think those are the main things I’m doing right now.

Great! If there was one thing about the movie you were hoping people would get out of it, or something it would inspire, such as change, what would it be?

Nia DaCosta: I think I would want people to come away with a more human point of view on the issues that the film touches on. At the core it’s a story about two sisters, but it obviously also touches on addiction, healthcare, and I would really want people to have an open mind and empathy for people living in those situations. That’s a really important thing for me.

How did you get started?

Nia DaCosta: I went to NYU and majored in television which is wonderful, and then I went to London and got my masters for writing stage and broadcast media. Which was also fantastic because I got to do a bunch of theater which is really important to me as a director. It taught me a lot about drama, and about writing good dialogue. I had really, really great experiences.

Red Carpet Interview with Luke Kirby

I also spoke with Luke Kirby very briefly on the red carpet at the premiere.

Can you tell us about the character that you play?

Luke Kirby: Yeah, I play Tessa’s Thompson’s competition in the drug trade. I deal pharmaceuticals. I’m a bit antagonistic, but I think there is sort of a sympathetic core to him. We see a side of him, over the course of the film, that shows he has certain needs too, that are very human. Which shows just how complicated things really are, the idea of good and bad.

And this is a pretty different character for you to play, was there anything challenging about the role?

Luke Kirby:  Yeah, I just hope it’s okay!

I’m sure you did great!

Luke Kirby: Well it was a great time, it was a lot of fun!

Film Inquiry thanks Nia DaCosta and Luke Kirby for taking the time to speak with us.