THE STORY – A teacher in an abusive relationship takes a job at a maximum security prison, where she falls for a charismatic inmate.
THE CAST – Amanda Seyfried, Scoot McNairy, Wunmi Mosaku, Devyn Tyler, Missi Pyle, Grant Harvey, William Jackson Harper, Tim Blake Nelson, & Elizabeth Marvel
THE TEAM – Tim Blake Nelson (Director/Writer)
THE RUNNING TIME – 121 Minutes
If any artist has managed to move fluidly between character actor, filmmaker, and peculiar Americana auteur, it’s Tim Blake Nelson. He’s delivered astonishing performances, bringing unmistakable humanity to films like “O Brother, Where Art Thou” and “The Ballad of Buster Scruggs”. The filmmaker gravitates toward projects and stories full of outsiders, ne’er-do-wells, and misunderstood folk, and the characters he usually chooses to inhabit are no different. Nelson’s latest undertaking, “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd,” stands as perhaps his most severe and intense attempt at reckoning with the darker corners of that very fascination.
The Nelson-helmed film is a true-story-inspired drama that deals with crime, trauma, punishment, and violence, and hones in on the improbable connection between two deeply lonely people. “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” follows Karen (Amanda Seyfried), an Oklahoma teacher trapped in an abusive marriage who begins teaching at a maximum-security prison. It’s there that she forms a profound connection with inmate Wilson Shedd (Scoot McNairy), whose literacy and intelligence draw in the teacher, even despite Shedd sitting on death row for a double murder charge. They begin by exchanging writing assignments, but it doesn’t take long for their relationship to turn dangerous, especially when Karen starts to see this broken man as an intriguing distraction from her miserable life.
Despite its utter bleakness, “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” offers fascinating thought exercises, though some never fully escape the fractured narrative. Underneath the disjointed story runs a flickering examination of the death penalty and the morality of extending compassion to someone who has done something unforgivable. Karen’s relationship and extreme infatuation with Wilson spurs these ideas into uncomfortable territory and challenges the very idea of forgiveness, and whether compassion for an individual ever comes at the expense of compassion for others. Her extreme fascination with the convicted killer also mirrors today’s obsession with true crime, and how the general public’s curiosity and lust for mystery have propelled the genre to the top while capitalizing on real-life tragedy and the suffering and pain of others.
Nelson breaks Karen and Wilson’s timeline into three fragments: the beginnings of their relationship, Shedd’s savage escape, and the very final days leading to his execution. This nonlinear storytelling is an interesting premise, but the structure is ultimately more frustrating than powerful, and you can’t escape the feeling that Nelson is manipulating perspective and trying to encourage empathy through the erratic timeline. “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” is also a deeply brutal film featuring miserable characters, a plethora of beaten women, murdered children, and a drawn-out capital execution, which makes for a bleak two-hour watch, especially when the violence and unending cruelty don’t feel particularly earned.
The grim drama is elevated (and partially redeemed) by excellent performances from two of Hollywood’s absolute greats. Seyfried plays Karen with unnerving subtlety, portraying a morally corrupt but deeply traumatized woman with convincing ease. On the other hand, McNairy expertly tackles his meaty lead role as the layered, intimidating convict Wilson in a character study any actor would be delighted to take on. These two lead performances carry “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” and pull their weight and then some in helping it coast above the disjointed narrative structure that it adopts. Nelson directs with meticulous care on a project 12 years in the making. And though not everything in the dark drama works, specifically its structure, tone, and muddled themes, Nelson’s directing, along with solid technicals and performances, saves the picture from collapsing in on itself.
Ultimately, “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd” is cohesive enough, with enough talent, drama, and intrigue to captivate viewers through its runtime. Despite its dismal bleakness, the film clearly is earnest in what it has to say about violence, compassion, punishment, and the blurred ethical boundaries surrounding empathy. The prison drama would have benefited from a less manipulative narrative structure, instead letting audiences form their own opinion of Shedd. And despite the dishearteningly relentless cruelty shown, some delicate and thoughtful questions lie beneath the surface, though the film doesn’t give them the best chance of surfacing. Although greatly uneven, Tim Blake Nelson’s latest is still an affecting film that may be a frustrating and upsetting watch, but one that undoubtedly lingers and is sure to spur conversation in its own wake of discomfort.
