HIFF 2020: Freeland
HIFF
Five years after her tour-de-force performance in Trey Edwards Shults’ claustrophobic debut feature, Krisha Fairchild gets her second leading role in Freeland playing Devi, an outlaw pot farmer/dealer that has worked in this business for more than 30 years. Suddenly, Devi’s world starts falling apart due to the legalisation of Marijuana, and the hippie farmer is not able to adapt to the standards of both production and selling.
Freeland is a modest yet insightful character study about a woman whose ideals have been crushed by capitalism and how she has to cope not only for herself, but also for the little community built around her activity. The debut feature from the writing-directing duo of Mario Furloni and Kate McLean is an intriguing one. Their script is rather lacking and not plot-driven; many of the secondary characters are way too limited and it doesn’t explore Devi’s potentially interesting backstory as this is only hinted at by Fairchild’s terrific work.
On the other hand, the duo have crafted a fascinating piece. Freeland is gorgeously shot by Furloni himself and makes the most out of its natural locations. The overall use of sound is brilliant, creating juxtaposition between the minimalist soundscape of the forests and the delicate original score by William Ryan Fritch. Those aspects are essential to create a hypnotic and enclosed atmosphere where the audience will get inside Devi’s doubts and problematics as the movie goes on.
Krisha Fairchild delivers another terrific performance here. The actress is very effective in showing different sides of her character and shares good chemistry with the whole cast, particularly with the slightly underused Lily Gladstone who plays Mara, a college student working for Devi. The relationship between the two characters isn’t overly developed, but the few scenes they share are really tender and give the audience the sense of their association. There are a lot of individual acting moments from Fairchild that are worth checking out, such as the scene where Devi goes to a marijuana convention and has a nervous breakdown since the farmer feels out of place in this ‘new’ environment, or the enigmatic ending itself where Devi is at her lowest point.
All in all, Freeland is quite an effective experience. Nevertheless, the thin plot, the slow pace and the final section of the movie will not get everyone behind it. Fairchild’s committed work, however, should as she was able to transmit pure empathy towards her character.