Best when dramatizing how the land itself comes alive and serves as a character in its own right, resurrecting the buried history of the US Anti-Rent Resistance Movement of the 19th century. And perhaps a lesson well taught to an endangered rebel child.

Blink and you'll miss a terrific performance from Lili Taylor.

The Cold Lands [...] sustains a lovely mood, but keeps the audience at a perpetual distance. It keeps threatening to turn into a movie, but never entirely does.