Billed as a comedy/drama/romance, In the Land of Women, feels more like a stage play than a movie, and tells its story through the sophisticated performances of the cast members.
The subject matter deals with the fear-generating and frustrating women’s issues from all ages of life. From child/woman wanting to be taken seriously, to the elderly woman struggling to live alone, the situations are identifiable.
The in-between years issues are the frightening scenarios of breast cancer, romantic failure and learning how to be an adult and how to deal with multiple mistakes.
In the Land of Women is about Carter Webb (Adam Brody), a nice guy with a job he less than loves (he is a screenwriter of soft-core porn) taking a break from his life after being dumped by his girlfriend. He goes to Minnesota to look after his grandmother, (Olympia Dukakis) whose senile dementia is rapidly increasing.
While there he meets his grandmother’s neighbor Sarah Hardwicke (Meg Ryan) and her two daughters Lucy (Kristen Stewart) and Paige (Makenzie Vega.) All of these women face staggering changes in their lives, and through Carter we see how they deal with their problems. As he becomes their confidante, as he supports, or champions or simply offers suggestions to each one of the women in her time of need, he learns about himself and decides what he really wants in his life.
Many critics have said that poorly developed characters were the flaw in this film. It seems that this underdevelopment is intentional as the characters are seen only as the protagonist Carter perceives them. We don’t need to have a great deal of back-story, as we encounter these women and their problems through Carter’s experience and understanding.
He is a stranger, even in some respects to his own grandmother, and he is young and he is a man. All these elements allow the story to be shown in the way that Carter would receive and process the information. The scenes without him are purposely obtuse in character development, and keep this as a film of discovery, his, the women’s, and ultimately the audience’s.
In the Land of Women is presented in both standard and widescreen format, on one disc. It has audio in both English and Spanish, and subtitles are available in English, Spanish and French. The running time is 98 minutes. It is rated PG-13 for sexual content, thematic elements and language.
There are some tough scenes to watch especially if you or a loved one has gone through cancer, or if you know someone with senile dementia. In spite of the difficult moments and sensitive subject matter, the overall feeling of the movie is uplifting and positive. It is not a “how to” be or do movie, it is observational and thought provoking. It is very much an “in the moment” film, and very good.
In the Land of Women is now available at Amazon . As of yet, there is not a release date for the UK. Visit the DVD database for more information.
Your Talkback on this Story