As a paroled pedophile, Kevin Bacon is a disquieting presence

Kevin Bacon is all knotted up in The Woodsman, lips tight, eyes sunken, his shoulders hunched as if lugging a heavy, invisible shield on his back.

He may as well be: Walter, the just-paroled pedophile Bacon portrays with unsettling matter-of-factness in this quietly observed drama, doesn't want anyone to come near him.

Walter has found an apartment, found a job, and wants to get lost in the routine of eating, sleeping, working, surviving. The fact that his window looks onto a schoolyard does not bode well, but Walter seems determined not to go that course again.

A compelling character study about a man who has done repellent things, this feature debut from director (and cowriter) Nicole Kassell is full of sad, clear-eyed compassion - which is a different thing than sympathy. Like Christian Bale's work in the title role of The Machinist (a more surreal turn on similar themes) and Sean Penn's troubled soul in the soon-to-be-released The Assassination of Richard Nixon, Bacon burrows deep beneath the skin of a psychically damaged man.

But while Bacon, who is a study of economy and nuance, anchors the movie in the real world, characters on the periphery aren't always as plausible. A secretary at the lumberyard where Walter finds employment, Mary-Kay (recording artist Eve), is determined to dig up info on the company's new worker, and determined to undo him. But Mary-Kay's motives are fuzzy and feeble; the role seems necessitated mostly by where the story has to go, and how the filmmakers plan to get there.

Kyra Sedgwick, the real-life wife of the film's star, plays Vickie, a coworker who offers Walter a ride home in her beat-up little truck. Walter isn't about to open up to this friendly, chain-smoking woman, but he isn't about to send her away, either. Vickie represents - in addition to the promise of friendship and physical intimacy - his redemption, his chance to exorcise those predatory urges, to have a relationship with a grown woman instead of a child.

The good things in The Woodsman - its spareness, the barren cityscapes of its Philadelphia locales, and Bacon, Sedgwick and Mos Def (as a cop who drops in on the sex offender, waiting for him to make a wrong move) - make the awkward things feel more so by contrast. The use of jump cuts and time shifts feels very film school-y (Kassell had her NYU thesis film shown at Sundance in 2001); and the script, cowritten with Steven Fechter (adapted from his play), lapses into sermonizing monologues that pose daunting challenges for the cast.

But The Woodsman - which takes its title from both Walter's place of work and the fairy tale about Little Red Riding Hood and her wolf-slaying savior - comes down to Bacon's performance. As Walter strikes up a relationship with a little girl (Hannah Pilkes) who is bird-watching in a park, and connects with her on a level that is both incredibly empathic and incredibly creepy, the actor's every small gesture evokes seismic disquietude.

Bacon's portrait chills to the bone.

Contact movie critic Steven Rea at 215-854-5629 or srea@phillynews.com.

The Woodsman *** (out of four stars)

Produced by Lee Daniels, directed by Nicole Kassell, written by Steven Fechter and Kassell, photography by Xavier Perez Grobet, music by Nathan Larson, distributed by Newmarket Films.

Running time: 1 hour, 27 mins.

Walter. . . Kevin Bacon

Vickie. . . Kyra Sedgwick

Sgt. Lucas. . . Mos Def

Mary-Kay. . . Eve

Carlos. . . Benjamin Bratt

Parent's guide: R (profanity, adult themes, sexual situations)

Playing at: Ritz at the Bourse and Ritz Sixteen/NJ