‘The Forest’ is a pristine sunrise, dense mist, deep dark woods, and wild creatures captured giving rare expressions. The movie is meticulously designed and carefully crafted. Unfortunately, the same cannot be said about the film’s writing and direction for these key elements lack the bite and focus the film of this nature demands. The movie begins on a promising note. But as the story unfolds, it never quite gives a concrete idea as to why exactly the director is interlinking some unnecessary subplots which neither propel the story forward nor make the film thrilling. You often find yourself untangling the complex strings of relationship binding the three main characters amidst the fear of the man-eating leopard lurking around. The emotional interplay and the fear quotient fail to run smoothly on parallel tracks. All in all, there are so many loose ends to this puzzling drama that you struggle to tie them up to form a coherent picture. A clear miss!