Wild (2014)

After the death of her mother (Laura Dern), a young woman (Reese Witherspoon) finds her life unraveling around her as she descends into a life of drugs and promiscuous sex which eventually costs her her marriage. Trying to find herself, she embarks on a thousand mile hike on the Pacific Crest Trail from the Mexican border to Oregon ... alone. Based on Cheryl Stray's biographical book WILD: FROM LOST TO FOUND ON THE PACIFIC CREST TRAIL, this is essentially a one woman show with Witherspoon in practically every frame of the film and very often, the only person in the film. It may be Witherspoon's finest hour on screen, yes even more impressive than her Oscar winning performance in WALK THE LINE. The director Jean Marc Vallee (DALLAS BUYERS CLUB) keeps a tight rein on the film and a focus on Whiterspoon's character though I wish we had been given more of Laura Dern, so good that we just want to see more of her. We could have used a little more back story on the mother-daughter dynamic which is important to the film's structure. Beautifully shot in wide screen by Yves Belanger who makes great use of the stunning locations. With Gaby Hoffman, Thomas Sadoski, Keene McRae and Cliff De Young.