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The Woodsman (2004)

 -  Drama  -  2005 (Peru)
7.2
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Ratings: 7.2/10 from 21,603 users   Metascore: 72/100
Reviews: 207 user | 143 critic | 34 from Metacritic.com

A child molester returns to his hometown after 12 years in prison and attempts to start a new life.

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(play), (screenplay), 1 more credit »
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Title: The Woodsman (2004)

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Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
...
Bob
...
Mary-Kay
...
...
...
Pedro
...
Rosen
...
Candy
...
...
Robin
Jessica Nagle ...
Annette
Liam Daniels ...
Boy at Playground
Joey Hazinsky ...
Cherub
Clara Hopkins Daniels ...
Little Girl on Bus (as Clara Infinity Daniels)
Ashley C. Coombs ...
Girl on Bus
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Storyline

After twelve years in prison, Walter arrives in an unnamed city, moves into a small apartment across the street from an elementary school, gets a job at a lumberyard, and mostly keeps to himself. A quiet, guarded man, Walter finds unexpected solace from Vickie, a tough-talking woman who promises not to judge him for his history. But Walter cannot escape his past. A convicted sex offender, Walter is warily eyed by his brother-in-law, shunned by his sister, lives in fear of being discovered at work, and is hounded by a suspicious local police officer, Detective Lucas. After befriending a young girl in a neighborhood park, Walter must also grapple with the terrible prospect of his own reawakened demons. Written by Sujit R. Varma

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Taglines:

What's the worst thing you ever did? See more »

Genres:

Drama

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for sexuality, disturbing behavior and language | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
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Details

Official Sites:

Country:

Language:

Release Date:

2005 (Peru)  »

Also Known As:

Der Dämon in mir  »

Box Office

Opening Weekend:

$53,985 (USA) (24 December 2004)

Gross:

$42,069 (USA) (18 November 2011)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

Color:

| (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
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Did You Know?

Trivia

The movie was released in the US just nine days after the state of California put its sex offender register online. The law, called "Megan's Law" after Megan Kanka, a 7-year-old abducted and killed by a sex offender who was her neighbor. According to it, parents must be able to check whether there are any convicted sex offenders in their neighborhood. See more »

Goofs

The length of Vicki's cigarette changes from almost smoked, to part-smoked to just lit when Walter first tells her about his past. See more »

Quotes

Walter: [Repeated line] When will I be normal?
See more »

Connections

Referenced in Entourage: The Boys Are Back in Town (2005) See more »

Soundtracks

"His Eye is on the Sparrow"
(1905)
Music by Charles H. Gabriel (as C. Gabriel)
Lyrics by Civilla Martin (as C. Martin)
Performed by Patti LaBelle
Courtesy of Def Soul Records
See more »

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User Reviews

 
Sympathy For The Devil: Bacon's best performance to date
27 December 2004 | by (fairview, nj) – See all my reviews

THE WOODSMAN (2004) ***1/2 Kevin Bacon, Kyra Sedgwick, David Alan Grier, Eve, Benjamin Bratt, Mos Def, Hannah Pilkes.

Sympathy For The Devil: Bacon's best performance to date

Kevin Bacon has always been one of my favorite actors and constantly proves to be such a truly exceptional one at that. In his latest as a recently paroled convicted pedophile he gives the performance of his career that should entitle him to his first Academy Award nomination (long overdue).

Walter (Bacon) is an ex-con attempting to begin a normal life after being incarcerated for molesting several young girls. What seems to be a large task at hand only proves to be increasingly difficult for a variety of reasons including the fact his apartment is just out of reach of the mandated length he cannot be within the distance of a school which rests – tauntingly like a diabetic a candy factory – directly across the street where he now lives. This is a test he rationalizes and reports this discovery and others to his appointed therapy sessions with a psychiatrist which only makes Walter increasingly uncomfortable as the good doctor suggests he keep a journal and reflect on what he has done (or worse what he may do).

Getting a job as a factory worker in his run-down Philly suburb Walter keeps to himself especially from the slyly sexy Mary-Kay (rapper Eve) who has other plans for the newcomer and instead is befriended by the tomboyish yet open-minded Vickie (Bacon's real-life wife Sedgwick also giving a career high performance with just the right amount of fronting toughness and vulnerable empathy when she beds and eventually discovers Walter's burning secrets.

All of the proceedings lead to a keg of explosive ramifications as Walter tries desperately to walk the straight and narrow but it isn't helping matters as the deck is stacked against him in the form of police Sgt. Lucas (rap star Mos Def in the Walter Matthau role) dogging Walter as a likely suspect in rash of recent child molestings. Sooner or later Walter is going to return to his old form. Or so it seems.

Bacon is truly amazing in his implosive turn as a man so at odds with being in his own skin it threatens to suffocate him in his vein gestures at becoming 'normal' and his body language suggests a crumbling man of sand about to blow away in the winds of society. His pained, grimace of accepting his sickness only curdles his well intended desire to shirk his monstrous past but will not embrace the touchy-feely psycho-babble that he must endure to delve into his childhood as perhaps the key to his perversities.

Smartly directed by newcomer Nicole Kassel – who co-scripted the usually on-target screenplay with Steven Fechter (they bungle it when Walter's play-by-play inner monologue of a perceived local molester makes a mark outside his window is a tad uneasy) – wisely allows her character just enough rope to hang himself before reeling himself back to square one. There is a nice interplay of just the right amount of nervous tension between Bacon's Walter and a little girl named Robin (perfectly played by Pilkes) he espies one day and follows into a local park .

Bacon is a journeyman character actor trapped in a leading man's body but has what so few of his contemporaries do : moxy, talent and the chops to tackle a taboo subject without being exploitative. That is the true skill of a marksman and that is truly what Bacon is.


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I dont get it ryan-1218
The Cop, Candy and Robin.. segbatti
This movie is anti-white???? AKenjiB
What did he do? sunshinejava44
Did Kevin Bacon deserve an oscar nod for this ? JedBartlett14
Hypocritical nature of society doublebodyguy
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