“A TREE FELL IN THE WOODS” // 2025TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL
BY MATEO MORENO
A TREE FELL IN THE WOODS, a chamber piece cabin in the woods entry in this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, is an intense and often humorous look, into the consequences of adultery and the fallout that occurs after. Set entirely in a cabin in the woods getaway, the film follows two couples: Debs (Alexandra Daddario) / Josh (Daveed Diggs) and Mitch (Josh Gad) / Melanie (Ashley Park). The foursome are close friends going to spend New Years at a cozy cabin, so they don’t have to spend it with their families. Debs is a writer whose suffering from writer’s block and Mitch is her longtime friend, a businessman who has a great job and is even up for a promotion but wants more. Josh is a wildlife photographer who may not exactly like his wife’s writing and Melanie is an author of culinary books but seems to be lacking something in her own life. During a morning stroll in the woods, Debs and Mitch are nearly hit by a suddenly falling tree. After escaping unharmed, they rush back to their cabin, eager to tell their respective spouses about this crazy experience. Yet when they arrive just outside, they witness through the window each of their spouses cheating on them - with each other. Debs is furious and wants to charge in and rip her husband a new one. Mitch on the other hand, still in shock, begs Debs to not say anything. So, they can go inside and figure out what to do next. To give them a moment to think. She’s not happy about it, but she agrees, and they head inside as if they saw nothing.
Both couples begin their weekend away in a strange fashion, with Debs and Mitch knowing what they saw and Josh and Melanie pretending nothing is different at all, though Melanie soon begins to show cracks in her behavior. On top of that, all four are snowed in, so there’s no escaping what is to come, or not come, out of this weekend. The secrets do eventually drop and thanks to a very strong and hallucinogenic bottle of moonshine, some wild conversations begin to happen. The strongest thing in Nora Kirkpatrick’s film is her four main stars. Their chemistry is great, especially between Daddario and Gad. It’s also quite refreshing to see their relatinship as a strong and lasting one that’s strictly platonic. It’s rare that a man and woman’s relationship is portrayed like that. As they all drink an hallucinate, there are some very fun moments, moments that lead to some of the best work Daddario has done to date. Gad is very enjoyable as well, though Diggs and Park don’t have nearly as much to chew on. Still, their performances are all very good and even if the film doesn’t soar to the heights that the beginning moments feel their heading to, it does weave into some interesting turns along the way, ending with a catharsis that’s both satisfying and a bit underwhelming. Still, A TREE FELL IN THE WOODS is an enjoyable trip into some uncomfortable territory, with some appealing actors and laughs along the way.
GRADE: B
WRITTEN AND DIRECTED BY Nora Kirkpatrick STARRING Alexandra Daddario, Daveed Diggs, Josh Gad, Ashley Park, Kevin Pollak SELECTED AS PART OF THE 2025 TRIBECA FILM FESTIVAL FOR MORE INFO: https://www.tribecafilm.com/films/tree-fell-in-the-woods-2025