What I Watched -- Wildlike

After a couple more movie failures on our flight to Florida, we struck it rich with Wildlike.

There is some extremely difficult subject matter in the form of sexual abuse perpetrated by a family member, and that makes it quite difficult to watch especially the early parts of the film.

Mackenzie is played by Ella Purnell, with whom I am not familiar, but whose face reminds me of the big-eyed, Gothic-emo poutiness of Aubrey Plaza.  There was a definite make-up choice, though, that ties the amount of heavy black eyeliner worn by Mackenzie to the level of distrust she feels in her surroundings.

Eventually things go to a good place, when Mackenzie latches onto Rene Bartlett, a recently-widowed hiker off for some alone time hiking around Denali.  "Bart" is played by Bruce Greenwood, whose face I certainly recognize but can't quite place, even after reviewing his filmography, except for possibly his role as JFK in Thirteen Days.  During Bart and Mackenzie's time in the wilderness, we are treated to some stunningly beautiful scenery.  If I were to speculate about what the filmmakers were thinking, it would be about the healing powers of the the great outdoors.

Plus, I won't tell you what it is in the interest of not spoiling things too badly, but there's something at the end of this movie that I like a lot.