Wolf

What did I just watch. MAYBE it could have been a short film...at best. I wanted to cover my ears and gouge my eyes out simultaneously, while then deleting my whole HBO Max account for allowing me to witness this fodder. The script was what you'd expect from an amateur High School theater group, desperate to prove they're edgy and avant-garde. It's one of those roles for Lily-Rose Depp that screams "I don't need nepotism, I can destroy my acting career on my own". And while I admire McKay, and love seeing his career really pick up...lately the majority of his character choices are all the same formula: awkward blank stares, moody huffing and puffing, scowling, gaunt Tim Burton-character-come-to-life energy. Was there ever really a reason for this movie? Did someone think, "You know what kind of movie we need right now?" He was a painfully awkward kid that thought he was a wolf, and that's LITERALLY the whole story.

Greetings again from the darkness. We all know that gender identity, and identity in general, are topics receiving a great deal of attention these days. Writer-director Nathalie Biancheri latches on to the discussion by bringing up Species Identity Disorder, also known as Otherkin. These are folks who identify as something other than human, typically a type of animal. It's easy enough to connect the dots to gender dysphoria, but it also walks a fine line between mental health and sadness (and if we are being honest, a bit of humor - at least as presented here).

The film opens on the bare butt of a male in the forest. That's a sentence I hope to never write again. George MacKay stars as Jacob, a young man who identifies as a wolf. It's his butt we first glimpse as he prowls the vegetation growing in nature. Next we see Jacob with his parents at an institution that specializes in Species Identity Disorder. The questionable curative therapies conducted by Dr. Mann (get it?) seem more like torture and humiliation than treatment. Dr. Mann (played straight-faced by Paddy Considine) is also known as 'The Zookeeper' as the patients include: a parrot, a duck, a squirrel, a horse, and a German shepherd.

It's unsettling to see the actions and mannerisms of these patients, but equally unsettling to witness Dr. Mann's methods. If you've ever seen THE SNAKE PIT (1948), then you have some idea of how disturbing institutional treatment can be. Of course, this movie is not at the level of that Anatole Litvak classic, but George MacKay's performance is quite something to appreciate. We saw his physical abilities as he performed yoga in CAPTAIN FANTASTIC (2016), and here he expertly creates the movements (and howls) of the wolf he believes himself to be.

Lily-Rose Depp plays Cecile, a long-term patient who has yet to fully kick her wildcat tendencies. She and Jacob manage to become friends, and the attraction goes deeper through Jacob's primal urges and tendencies. The two actors have one scene together that, by itself, elevates the film. Obviously the real mystery is whether Jacob's bonding with Cecile is enough to change his outlook. He much choose between what he sees as his true self, and life as a man. Director Biancheri has delivered a high-concept arthouse film that will likely find a niche audience, while others are likely to brush it off as cinematic absurdity.

Opens in theaters on December 3, 2021.

"Wolf" was super pretentious, and tries it's hardest to wiggle it's way to cult-classic status. Lily-Rose Depp does the most with this role however. There was potential to be something that a wider audience could accept and appreciate, but I think the director, Nathalie Biancheri, tries to outsmart her everyone who watches it.

The film is ultimately untranslatable to an everyday filmgoer, but there might be a small few who take something away from the concepts that are presented.

"It's not about surviving, it's about surviving as me."

Believing he is a wolf trapped in a human body, Jacob eats, sleeps, and lives like a wolf -- much to the shock of his family. When he's sent to a clinic, Jacob and his animal-bound peers are forced to undergo increasingly extreme forms of 'curative' therapies. However once he meets the mysterious Wildcat, and as their friendship blossoms into an undeniable infatuation, Jacob is faced with a challenge: will he renounce his true self for love. Wolf is an interesting movie. Even before it's release at festivals and theatrical, it was met with mixed reactions. A project like this would never work well with most audiences, but I'm glad they went for it. This is by no means a great movie, but with everything it covers, I think it's solid for the most part. To get one thing out of the way, it can be uncomfortable to watch. Quickly, it turns the uncomfortableness onto humanity and no these people suffering from species identity disorder. This is a real thing that needs to be taken seriously even if it's a little absurd. Writer and director Nathalie Biancheri knew how to handle this and make it serious. I do think she thought this was something greater than it is. For every festival it went to, this description was: A high-concept arthouse drama about a boy who believes he is a wolf. A bit pretentious, don't you think? And this is pretentious. But it makes do by creating something pretty interesting and you can see she cares.

George MacKay absolutely soars in this. This is a transformative role and he embodies his character with precision. His counterpart, Lily-Rose Depp also goes for it. Her character intrigued me the most and I feel we know more about her than anyone else. If the movie needed one thing, it was characterization. There is a lack of it and it's hard to find reasons to care for them. The antagonist, though played well by Paddy Considine, is just a bad guy because he's using awful methods to revert them to their normal selves though they want to be like this. I found it hard to connect with anyone. When the themes come in, and they are really strong, I could apply them to the characters but I couldn't tell you much about them. The script could've used some work at parts. And the pacing didn't flow right. The third act works really well but the first two run on highs and lows. Had it not been for some memorable moments throughout and most of the last act, this would've fell completely flat. But this is a memorable movie, mainly because the content. Wolf showcases some great acting, interesting themes, and really good cinematography. It's a shame not too many people are talking about it. It needs more work, but I found it quite interesting. When I went to see it, I was in a large auditorium on opening night and I was the only one there. Weird experience but I'm glad I had it. This is one of the movies of the year that has mixed-negative reactions that I liked.

A boring movie that tries too hard pretending to be interesting. And fails.

I suppose you could see it as a cry for help to improve the treatment of people who suffer from this type of mental disorder, but it does not occur to me that there could be interest beyond that.

It has the air of having been based on a book written by a teenager and the script adapted by another one. Basic and weird dialogs.