The age-old question around if a tree falling in the forest makes a sound is asked in quite a compelling, pressure-cooker type of way in A Tree Fell in the Woods, Nora Kirkpatrick‘s debut dramedy about the implosion of relationships between two couples across a New Year’s Eve getaway in the snowy forests of Utah.
Avoiding their family obligations, long time besties Debbie (Alexandra Daddario) and Mitch (Josh Gad), and their respective partners, Josh (Daveed Diggs) and Melanie (Ashley Park), look to a cabin getaway together as a way to enjoy the impending holiday season and reconnect with one another.
The dynamics of the relationships appear happy and loved-up in the opening minutes of the film, so it no doubt comes as something of a shock when Debbie and Mitch – following a hike in the wintery forest surrounding their rented cabin, where they avoid near-death when a tree literally falls in their path – witness Josh and Melanie hooking up. As Debbie spots them from outside and immediately rages, Mitch is a little more forward-thinking, stopping Debbie from any impulsive decisions in confronting them. He wants them to formulate a plan. Debbie reluctantly agrees, but the internal anger simmers across the day as they all act as if nothing has happened. The tension is palpable.
Whilst Kirkpatrick’s script easily paints Debbie and Mitch as the “good guys” of the set-up, so much of the film’s intrigue and engagement comes from the fact that once the secret is out in the open for the couples to decode, it’s the individual revelations that come to light and just why Josh and Melanie had sex – despite both pleading to Debbie and Mitch – that proves less black and white than what might be expected. The conversations, which are intercut together, feel like genuine interactions, and Daddario, Gad, Park and Diggs are all effortlessly organic in how they sell their plights.
Debbie, a novelist, has become withdrawn from Josh in the wake of poor sales. Melanie hides behind her overt perkiness to mask her own insecurities. Mitch is also facing his own diffidence in how he views himself, as he constantly states how he “won the lottery” in marrying someone like Melanie. And Josh’s surface-level attractiveness can’t hide certain character flaws that he hasn’t been able to admit to…until now.
Beyond the cheating, Melanie and Josh have their reasonings as to why they gave in to the type of temptation that seems out of character, and Debbie and Mitch soon follow suit with their own revelations, all of which come from the drinking of a mysterious bootleg moonshine-like booze in the basement of their dwelling that Kirkpatrick keeps from being overly specific. Truth serum or not, the quartet soon start to enjoy each other’s company again as they sit around and tell all about their pasts and present, and what it will hopefully mean for their future. Whether or not their futures will all include one another remains to be seen.
To say Kirkpatrick’s characters are messy is an understatement, and what makes A Tree Fell in the Woods as relatable as it is is that Debbie, Mitch, Josh and Melanie feel like wholly rounded individuals. We may not like them or agree with their actions, but their imperfections are what make them feel lived-in, and whether we want to admit it or not, but we are more likely to see ourselves in these characters because of their flaws and not in spite of them.
The everyone-gets-drunk-and-tells-all framing of the narrative may not be the most original, but Kirkpatrick takes such and fuses it in her own way to create something that creates both a real sense of tension and an eventual catharsis that comes from her well-constructed proceedings around its own questioning as to how far a sound a tree falling can ultimately make.
THREE AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
A Tree Fell in the Woods screened as part of this year’s Tribeca Film Festival, which ran between June 4th and 15th, 2025. For more information, head to the official site here.
