Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s doc spends time with a Norwegian family after the death of their blogging matriarch, when they leave their life of rural isolation but try to hold on to her ideals.

Silje Evensmo Jacobsen’s A New Kind of Wilderness is one of the “littlest” documentaries I’ve ever seen.

At the same time, it’s a reminder that you don’t need sensationalism to deliver something that’s honest and emotionally resonant. I spent 40 minutes watching A New Kind of Wilderness and wondering what the documentary was supposed to be, and the last 44 minutes being simply and persuasively moved by this story of a family facing tragedy and trying to hang together while seeking a new normal.

Then Maria, who chronicled the family’s life project for a blog and whose photography was the family’s only source of income, gets cancer and dies. Suddenly the Paynes can’t afford to remain on the farm, Ronja goes to live with her father, and the rest of the family moves to a more populated area. This forces them to reevaluate how they can hold on to some of the values that Maria cherished, while adapting and grieving and loving in their new reality.

Sounds a bit like an unscripted version of Captain Fantastic, which earned Viggo Mortensen an Oscar nomination. Or maybe like a Norwegian The Wolfpack?

It’s not.

And it isn’t like, in the aftermath of Maria’s death, the Paynes pack up their wagon and take up residence in downtown Oslo. They hop in the car and, somewhat reluctantly, head into a town. The kids have to go to school, but it’s a school that’s so chill that the teachers are perfectly fine with the little Paynes continuing to be home-schooled a few days a week.

It’s not really a fish-out-of-water story, just the tale of fish who move from one body of water to another.

For a while, I waited for an edgier “Sundance documentary” to break out. Would Nik be wrongfully accused of murder, or would we discover he had another family somewhere? Was there a dark secret to explain why Ronja was apparently estranged from the other Paynes?