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Hollywood is all about people making journeys- only this time it's a real honest to God journey, made on foot. and- which freshens things up considerably- it's a woman who's making it.
Cheryl Strayed's mother dies and Cheryl goes to pieces with the scuzzy men and the drugs. She picks up a book- not that book- but a guide to The Pacific Crest Trail and from then on it's The Pilgrim's Progress. In the past you aimed for a shrine; these days, it's the journey itself that matters. Things happen- encounters- most of which- if your'e a single woman in the wilderness- wear a menacing aspect. Cheryl cheats on the task by dodging some snow and extends her journey to make up for it and the new end point is a place called Bridge of the Gods- and it's just a bridge over a river and the name is a happy accident- only once you're in the pilgrimage frame of mind nothing is an accident any more.
Reece Witherspoon is hardly ever off screen and gives a hell of a performance. Gawky Laura Dern is wonderful as the mother we might all have wished to have. Mostly I sit back and watch films from a distance, admiring the parade as it passes by, but this one really drew me in.
Cheryl Strayed's mother dies and Cheryl goes to pieces with the scuzzy men and the drugs. She picks up a book- not that book- but a guide to The Pacific Crest Trail and from then on it's The Pilgrim's Progress. In the past you aimed for a shrine; these days, it's the journey itself that matters. Things happen- encounters- most of which- if your'e a single woman in the wilderness- wear a menacing aspect. Cheryl cheats on the task by dodging some snow and extends her journey to make up for it and the new end point is a place called Bridge of the Gods- and it's just a bridge over a river and the name is a happy accident- only once you're in the pilgrimage frame of mind nothing is an accident any more.
Reece Witherspoon is hardly ever off screen and gives a hell of a performance. Gawky Laura Dern is wonderful as the mother we might all have wished to have. Mostly I sit back and watch films from a distance, admiring the parade as it passes by, but this one really drew me in.
