Elijah Wood returns to the New Zealand wilderness in Bookworm, the latest from Ant Timpson. Here he plays Strawn Wise, an American magician who returns to look after his estranged daughter, Mildred (Nell Fisher, Evil Dead Rise), after her mother winds up in a coma. Mildred begs Strawn to take her camping in search of the Canterbury Panther in hopes that it will help get her Mum out of debt. For Strawn, the adventure is an opportunity to reconcile with the daughter that he’s never known.

Though, Strawn does not know the way. He’s a chronic bungler, one who runs from every hardship. Mildred, meanwhile, is the eponymous bookworm, a callous pre-teen whose cutting wit is enough to make any grown Dad cry. Clearly, the panther is a mcguffin of the tallest order; the real treasure is the father-daughter relationships we repaired along the way. It’s tough to pin down a genre that Bookworm would fit under: adventure, horror, western, you name it, it probably fits. Personally, I’d dub the film a road movie, the journey itself having healing properties.

Between this and his previous feature – Come to Daddy – Timpson seems to be hell bent on exploring the nature of fatherhood. Bookworm really works, if only because the film has such a cogent emotional core to it. Wood and Fisher are excellent together, their chemistry allowing them to riff off of each other seemingly at will. Cinematographer Daniel Katz beautifully augments the duo with copious landscape shots. It’s not difficult to make New Zealand look good; Katz does so to an extent it is important to mention. I damn near cried at the end of this thing, an incredible illusion if there ever was one.

Fantasia fans can watch Bookworm (2024) on July 18th, the year of our Lord (Beyoncé) 2024.