Wild

In 1995, a troubled young woman named Cheryl Strayed decided to hike over a 1,000 miles along the Pacific Crest Trail in order to find herself. On the way, she encountered a variety of challenges, setbacks and obstacles, many of which are re-created by film-maker Jean-Marc Vallée (Dallas Buyers Club) in this episodic wilderness drama. Punctuated by a series of flashback sequences, the film finds Strayed (Reese Witherspoon) haunted by previous events, including the death of her beloved mother (Laura Dern) and the years of self-destructive behaviour that followed. On the plus side, Vallée imbues the story with an appealing sense of authenticity, using handheld cameras and natural light to evoke what the real Strayed experienced on her travels. The problem, however, is the movie as a whole lacks emotional weight - despite a committed performance from Witherspoon - while the aforementioned naturalism is occasionally undermined by some heavy-handed moments. As a result, Wild isn't quite able to achieve the profound impact that it's evidently aiming for.