A Tree Fell in the Woods [Tribeca Festival Review]
We’ve all had the experience of being betrayed by someone we thought we could trust. Nora Kirkpatrick’s debut feature A Tree Fell in the Woods, which had its world premiere at the 2025 Tribeca Festival, asks if and how forgiveness can be possible in those situations. With a terrific all-star cast and a screenplay that mixes comedy, drama, and a hint of surrealism, the movie entertains at the same time that it gets the wheels in your brain turning.
Longtime best friends Mitch (Josh Gad) and Debs (Alexandra Daddario) arrive at a luxurious cabin in the woods for a Christmas/New Year’s vacation with their spouses, Melaine (Ashley Park) and Josh (Daveed Diggs). They collectively make a vow to avoid politics, current events, and any other topic that might ruin a get-together. After a morning hike is cut short by having a tree nearly fall on them, Mitch and Debs return home to find Melanie and Josh getting it on. She wants to tear the cheaters apart, but the insecure Mitch, feeling he “won the lotto” by wedding Melanie, wants to see how things play out.
The fling gets revealed anyway, causing massive tension – until everyone consumes a mysterious old bottle of alcohol that Mitch finds, at which time the dynamic changes (and the movie dips its toe into magical realism).
A Tree Fell in the Woods establishes its characters’ personalities nicely in the early scenes. We get glimpses of their personal struggles, so that later on, when the fighting starts, we firmly understand where everybody is coming from. Kirkpatrick often uses witty dialogue to convey her ideas; then, at carefully chosen moments, she goes deeper and more emotional, allowing us to sense that these people use humor as a defense mechanism. The writing here is very sharp.
So are the performances. The four main actors give their characters real personality, then gradually show different sides of those personalities. Daddario and Gad, in particular, are hilarious, clearly implying that Debs and Mitch bonded over a shared sarcasm. They totally feel like besties. The stars additionally sell the harder material, convincingly suggesting how it feels both to be betrayed and to be a betrayer. This ensemble cast works together beautifully.
The last act is where A Tree Fell in the Woods gets down to the nitty gritty, as the two couples attempt to figure out whether their marriages can survive. Kirkpatrick digs into the theme of forgiveness, specifically the way it ties into love. The movie has more than a few funny parts, but where it takes you in the end is unexpectedly touching.
© 2025 Mike McGranaghan