Fest Track On Sirk TV Film Review: HOLLOW TREE [New Orleans Film Festival 2022 - New Orleans, Louisiana]

The idea of perspective especially in a changing view of the South and what it means to be an individual takes center stage in "Hollow Tree" which follows 3 distinctly different woman on their own journey to understand their land and their lives.MacKenzie, Annabelle and Tanielma all have certain expectations and aspects of identity that are moving through their lives, some more than others. But it is interesting seeing them open up in a way only the current global community can, even though certain prejudices and lack of acceptance still dog their existence. This is reflected in the idea of what climate change is and the ideal of what can be denied and what in other contexts is very obvious.

The girls are sensitive but also practical despite one of them being shunned by her family for simply being herself. It is also interesting to see some officials try to tow the line to both satisfy certain jobs but also try to run the PR game when the on-camera transparency shows some eggregious errors (granted most of it is just talk). The film paints a bigger picture of the changing South personality-wise, even though many of the ideas are based in the idea of climate change. The new generation is trying to figure out how to fix their wordl (with what they're given) but the tools to rectify the crisis might be ill-equipped to address it. "Hollow Tree" doesn't try to solve the problem...it simply tries to give a pervasive window that doesn't try to overburden the audience while still understanding that the line it walks still needs to be towed. B+

By Tim Wassberg