Robin Wright delivers her first big screen directorial debut about a self-exiled city slicker who moves to Wyoming with no electricity, no car and no other humans. The journey that this character takes is cold and solitary as the seasons shift and she must adapt to the environment or face not surviving.

The focus on the film is a journey of fight to survive or die and it is delivered with a sense of realness that every icy blast of wind bounces off the screen making the audience really feel for this character. Wright has managed to find a sense of what works in helping the character develop slowly enough that you believe that this Edee is a real person with no training montage to take the character to a different place. It is this focus on her backstory, her character and pain that fuels her to keep going and this is the ultimate heart of the movie.

Swedish cinematographer Linus Sandgren has captured Wyoming unlike anything we have ever seen before. The vast wilds of the never ending forest are green and lush in one season and blanketed in snow and ice the next. The many shots of Edee sitting out on the front porch with sweeping landscapes immerse audiences in this world.

It’s not all about Edee though, she does make a connection with another local Miguel (Demian Bichir) who attemps to show her how to live on the land and survive through winter. As they reveal their pasts to each other, Edee attempts to restore her faith in human beings and restore her connection to the world of the living. The chemistry between Bichir and Wright is perfect. The blend of isolating curmudgeon while they both comes to term with their past and find a way to move forward into the future and reconnect with the human race.

Wright should be commended for what she brings to both sides of the film, her commanding performance is one of the highlights of her career so far. Her power and journey as Edee us incredibly moving and shows the power of the human spirit.

Land is now showing in cinemas now