Wildlife (2018) User Reviews

A good start for Paul Dano's directorial debut

[mr_bickle_the_pickle · 7/10 · 11 September 2018]

This movie is being described as "A boy witnesses his parents' marriage falling apart after his mother finds another man." And while I think thats true, I think its a bit more complex than that. It also is a bit of a coming of age story where Joe has to grow up and be the adult in this family, but also it seems that mom is having a mid-life crisis (although shes not quite mid-life) and trying to discover who she is outside of being the "perfect 50s housewife" that perhaps she feels trapped in. There's a lot of symbolism in this movie. The backdrop of this movie is that there is a wildfire that has been raging and the townspeople have been desperately trying to put out. And that correlates with Joe and his own family. Hes trying to put out the fire in his own family. Also, Joe works at photography studio and Paul Dano (the director and co-writer) even said that this is supposed to be a PORTRAIT of a family life.

Speaking of Paul Dano, I think he did well with his directorial debut. I think visually there are some gorgeous shots in this movie. Like for instance where Joe is watching the wildfires (and hes perfectly centered - probably again to mimic the portrait vibe). Also where Joe is about to give up but it starts to snow and hope has regained. I liked the film for the most part. They do frame the film by following Joe's perspective. And I think its mostly effective in making you feel for this kid, my only problem is there are a couple of parts where I feel like there are gaps in the story. Without giving too much away there is a scene where Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) has decided to seek revenge and it ends up backfiring. And yet, the next time we see him everything seems to be fine. And it never really gets explained what happened. Theres a brief line that they decided it was a "misunderstanding" but you never really see what happened and he also gets hurt during this, and that never gets brought up again either. I know Paul and Zoe (the other writer) were adapting this from a book and perhaps thats the way it is in there too. But I personally found that a little frustrating. I needed a little more.

Carey Mulligan is fantastic in this. She would be deserving to have her name thrown in the hat for awards season. I also thought Ed Oxenbould was a standout too. Which is good to hear since he's onscreen for pretty much most of the movie. I definitely will be looking forward to more of his things. I also thought Jake Gyllenhaal was good but hes absent for a good chunk of the film and so he just didnt stand out as much as Carey or Ed did.

Overall I liked the film. It wasn't perfect, but I would totally check out another film that Paul Dano directs.

Wildlife (2018)

[rockman182 · 8/10 · 21 October 2018]

This happened to be one of my most hyped films of the year. I am a big fan of Carey Mulligan and Zoe Kazan so I knew I had to check this out as soon as earthly possible. Had the pleasure of attending a screening of this film at the IFC Center with directer Paul Dano and co-wwriter Zoe Kazan present for a Q & A. The film is beautiful to look at with rich cinematography, has a number of strong performances with a fantastic one from Carey Mulligan, and shows that Dano and Kazan have the talent to get behind the camera and bring a quality piece of work.

The film shows a family in 1960's Montana and how life changing events cause their family to fall apart. After the father is fired, he decides to take a job putting out wildfires which causes him to leave the home for an extended period of time. During this time his wife struggles trying to hold her family together by doing whats best for them but she also questions if she even loves her husband. All this while, their teenage son has to watch his parents drift apart silently. The film stars Carey Mulligan, Jake Gyllenhaal, Ed Oxenbould, and Bill Camp.

As mentioned earlier the cinematography and especially the scenery in this film are gorgeous. Lush, rich and a perfect description for a simpler quieter time in 60's Montana. The film gets quite uncomfortable as you start wondering about the state of mind Jeanette Brinson (Mulligan) and what she gets herself into. You are basically like the teenage son Joe (Oxenbould). You see things from his lenses, feel exactly what he is feeling, and can't look away much like him. Its a startling tale but one that depicts a perfect looking family where it is anything but.

Carey Mulligan is one of the best actresses out there today, that's not even a debate. She's had so many great performances that I don't even know which is her best. This is definitely up there though. It's such an introspective look into the lives of a family where things are just beyond repair. I'm very impressed by Dano and Kazan. Both are talented on the camera but wow they were able to engineer something so wonderful behind the camera. I'm definitely intrigued to see if the duo decide to continue with film-making an writing.

8/10

Well directed but left me wanting more

[bastos · 6/10 · 4 February 2021]

I usually like both coming of age movies and marriage implosion movies, but, for me, the secret to those kind of movies is that you have to like the characters so that you root for the relationships to work. Here I just didn't. Carey Mullgian's character is so hard to identify with, as she makes mistake after mistake, and Jake Gyllenhaal's is just not there for most of the movie that it is hard to root for the marriage to work. Really liked the direction, though, good debut for Paul Dano, but the screenplay left me a bit flat. I still think it's a worthy watch.

All too relatable

[thomasjay-2201 · 7/10 · 2 September 2019]

A bold style of film for a fresh Director in Daño, it was actually surprisingly good for what was an undoubtably slow burner. A tale of a crumbling family it's handled masterfully, allowing for everything to slowly unfold over time with exceptional performances from all involved, particularly Gyllenhaal (as you might expect from him at this point) who's also off screen for a good chunk of the film. Largely the perspective of the child in the middle its one that many a viewer could easily relate to and was for all the emotions well worth a watch

Old-fashioned filmmaking with a progressive theme

[Bertaut · 7/10 · 16 November 2018]

The directorial debut of actor Paul Dano, Wildlife is based on the 1990 novel by Richard Ford, and is written for the screen by Dano and his girlfriend Zoe Kazan. Looking at the implosion of a family from the perspective of a 14-year-old member of said family, the film is thematically similar to Revolutionary Road (2008) and Blue Valentine (2010), and aesthetically similar to the Texas scenes in The Tree of Life (2011) (the period detail drips off the screen, whilst the use of a child as the focaliser colours much of what's depicted). And although Wildlife is a piece of remarkably nostalgic filmmaking, at the same time, it tells somewhat of a progressive story, demonstrating the uncertainty with which second-wave feminism manifested itself at a grassroots level prior to really taking off in 1963. Although it's essentially a character study, the film also suggests the 1950s-style clean-cut, neatly trimmed, rigidly defined way of life, built around the perfect nuclear family wherein a wife must be subservient to her husband, is about to become a thing of the past.

Set in Great Falls, Montana in 1960, the film tells the story of the peripatetic Brinson family; father Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal), mother Jeannette (Carey Mulligan), and 14-year-old son Joe (Ed Oxenbould). When Jerry loses his job and takes off in a misguided attempt to reaffirm his masculinity by fighting a forest fire, something is awoken in Jeanette, who, for the first time, allows herself to admit she has become deeply unhappy, and overnight, her behaviour changes dramatically, as she rebels against her domesticity. Determined to forge a new identity, she is adamant she won't become one of the "standing dead" (the term used for trees that survive a forest fire).

Importantly, the film is set three years prior to Betty Friedan's ground-breaking The Feminine Mystique (1963), which redefined the parameters of all gender-based topics, depicting a society in which women were no longer content to do their husband's bidding and raise children. Initially, Jeanette is depicted as a quintessential 1950s wife and mother, almost to the point of cliché; she cooks, cleans, washes the clothes, does the dishes, sees that Joe attend to his homework, and when Jerry loses his job, it is Jeanette who goes out looking for work for both of them. She knows that her (unspoken and unacknowledged) role in this patriarchal society is to hold the family together, but it's a role that is nothing like she thought it would be when she was younger. Although she and Jerry seem to love one another, or they certainly used to, she clearly feels trapped by her domestic situation.

That her transformation happens so quickly is the key point; when she goes to bed, she's a wife and mother, trapped in her domestic environment, but when she wakes the next morning, she realises that she has an opportunity to escape, perhaps the best opportunity she will ever get. This has been building up for years, but she has gotten so used to feeling lost that when she gets a chance to change things, she doesn't even recognise it as such, at least not at first. Once she does, however, Jeanette makes a conscious decision to stop performing the role delegated by men. As much of the female population of the western hemisphere would be asking over the next ten or so years, Jeanette wants to know, "is this all there is?" She wants more than simply getting through the day. In this sense, she recalls Nora Helmer from Henrik Ibsen's A Doll's House (1879), or any number of Tennessee Williams heroines - a woman who wakes up to find she has become deeply unhappy despite attaining everything she once wanted, and who sets out to do whatever it takes to alter her course.

That all is not well in the Brinson household is hinted at in the opening scene, where Jerry and Jeanette have a couple of inconsequential but noticeable disagreements over dinner (such as whether Joe should continue pursuing football). This scene establishes an assuredness and subtlety-of-hand that lasts for the entire film, with Dano's directorial work proving unexpectedly sophisticated. For example, something he does several times is have characters walk off-screen to speak, whilst keeping the camera trained on Joe as he tries to listen, with the dialogue barely perceptible from just off the edge of the frame. As well as being an excellent use of off-screen space, something you don't see too often, this technique ties us rigidly to Joe's POV early on, inculcating us into his worldview. Another very nice piece of direction is an early montage cutting between Jeanette riding her bike, Jerry driving the car, and Joe riding the bus, in which each character is facing a different direction, each in isolation from the other two. It's basic cinematic shorthand, showing instead of telling, but it's very well done. Equally impressive is the penultimate scene, where Dano uses the windows of the Brinson house to block the characters in such a way as to suggest both their inner emotions, and the prevailing theme at this point of the film. For the most part, however, Dano's direction is invisible, relying far more on static painterly compositions than camera movement.

The acting, as you would expect, is universally superb. On paper, Jeanette and Warren Miller (a superb Bill Camp), an older man who becomes romantically interested in her, are very much the villains of the piece, but Mulligan and Camp's performances are so full of warmth and genuine emotion that you simply can't look at them as antagonists, and the film itself never judges them. Mulligan plays Jeanette as utterly weary, much older than her years, at times fragile, at times rock solid, both vulnerable and manipulative. Full of anger, she simply can't hold in her emotions any more. Unfortunately, in letting them out, she betrays Joe by forgetting he is only 14-years-old. When she starts drunkenly dancing with him at Miller's house, the scene is deeply uncomfortable, but Mulligan's performance is such that we don't condemn her, at least, not completely. She never allows the audience to lose sight of the fact that although she is behaving rather poorly, she is a prisoner, and is reacting against her restraints as best she can.

Of course, there are a few problems. Essentially a tale of marital angst, the narrative is not especially original - we've seen this story before, many times in fact, and for all the craft on display, Dano never really manages to say anything wholly new. Additionally, his measured direction is also too good in places - everything is so ordered, neat, and trim, that at times, the milieu doesn't seem lived-in, but more an abstract concept of what the period was like. Additionally, there are a few lines that sound great on paper, but which are just not the kind of things one says in real life. For example, Jeanette tells Joe, "I feel like I need to wake up, but I don't know what from, or what to". Later she says, "I wish I was dead. If you have a better plan for me, tell me. Maybe it'll be better than this". This kind of dialogue seems more interested in hitting thematic waypoints than developing character beats. Similarly, late in the film, Jerry says to Joe, "It's a wild life. Isn't it, son?" Proclaiming the film's title in this context doesn't even remotely work, and the line feels totally out of place, to the point of ripping you out of the narrative.

On the one hand, Wildlife is about how society was changing in 1960, and on the other, about how that change manifests itself within the Brinson family. Yes, it's another "death of the American dream" story in a long line of such films, but here, the focus is, for the most part, on character rather than theme, with Jeanette functioning in kind of a synecdochical manner; our specific entry point, she is the individual that facilitates an examination of the masses. And yes, Dano may take his eye off the ball a couple of times, with the odd bit of clunky dialogue, and a somewhat too picture-postcard perfection, but all in all, this is an excellent directorial debut.

A confident and well-made directorial debut that's unfortunately pretty unmemorable.

[Pjtaylor-96-138044 · 6/10 · 18 November 2018]

'Wildlife (2018)' is well made in every way, with its fantastic performances combining with its restrained but assured direction and solid but somewhat unremarkable script to paint a realistic portrait of a failing family seen through the slightly immature yet more world-weary than he's given credit for young lead. The piece isn't necessarily all that powerful, though, and is, sadly, pretty unmemorable, to boot. It's a bit of a strange case because I was invested in the story, characters and overall world right from the off, always involved in its twists and turns and feeling as though I was participating in its narrative (in the sense that I wasn't spoon-fed everything), but I literally forgot I had even seen the feature not two hours after getting home from the cinema, only remembering after being reminded what it was I'd just watched, which doesn't bode well for its overall lasting impact. It also marks it, perhaps, as an experience more adept at setting up a confident new directorial talent than anything else, one rife with opportunity for its actors to impressively stretch their 'acting muscles' and for its plot to portray a more nuanced view of its core players than we usually see in typical 'Hollywood' fare. Of course, your mileage will vary depending on how much it connects with you, and I'd easily recommended giving it a watch at least once. 6/10.

Restrained yet heartfelt.

[collin-sandoe · 9/10 · 5 November 2018]

I have so much respect for restrained filmmaking for which this movie is an example. Its steady pace and tasteful design gives it authenticity, allowing you to feel like you are living the life of the main character Joe. The acting is superb and the characters are living, breathing individuals filled with hopes dreams and independence. Though Jeanette falters at times, she is doing what is she sees is necessary for her and her son's survival. The emotion on her face, flickering like a shorted lightbulb, portrays her fragility with great depth. The score of the film is great. The story, though maybe too subdued for some, stays with you long after this earnest movie reaches its resolution.

Neither good nor bad

[elliest_5 · 6/10 · 5 August 2019]

It's a decent film, nothing memorable or amazing, but it does have a personality.

Set in the 60s, we follow this family of 3 as the parents' relationship and lives fall appart and the son stands in the middle like a deer caught in the headlights. It's a four-person, five-act story that could easily be a stage play.

Carrey Mulligan plays the mother as a mixture of Blanche DuBois / Madame Bovary, someone who imagined a better life than what she got and reaches a breaking point.

Jake Gyllenhaal plays the dad who is similarly disappointed by his lack of progress in life and has his hopes pinned on his son becoming something better than he could ever become, embarking on a desperate attempt to salvage his dignity.

Then there's the son (Ed Oxenbould), who most of the time is just at a loss. He is presented as the only mature/responsible person in the family, who is confused and frustrated by his parents' behaviours but simultaneously too reserved/repressed to do anything about it.

Bill Camp plays the catalyst in the family's implosion - not so much a separate character, as an embodiment of the family's desperation.

It's not unpleasant to watch and it has a nice stage-play feel to it, what with the addition of the poetic backdrop of the neverending forest fires that burn throughout the summer and until the arrival of the first snow. However, it also doesn't manage to be captivating and all the characters feel underdeveloped. The mum and dad are practically the same person: the frustrated adult who - at one point - tried too hard to achieve a better life and got punished for it. The son's character is equally underwhelming: he was probably meant to be this stoic, introverted, keeping his feelings to himself and hurting in silence, but he just comes across as bland and boring.

American Beauty and Revolutionary Road did it better.

Slice of Life

[Moviegoer19 · 9/10 · 12 January 2019]

I very much enjoyed watching Wildlife. Whether it was a Directorial Debut or a director's tenth film, I found it to be superb, which I suppose speaks of the talent of Paul Dano. (Did anyone else feel there is some resemblance between the actor who played Joe and Paul? Just an aside...) The film, as other reviewers have mentioned, has a restraint to it which works well and stops it from descending into overdone pathos. In its strong quiet way it brought up emotions in me which made it a compelling film to watch. I was very involved with the experience of each character. They each were realistic with very realistic concerns. I would say that perhaps the overriding emotion I felt was anger at the parents because they each gave in to their selfish needs and wants, while leaving their 14 year old son to be the mature one. What does "mature" mean here? It means doing what's right, as in the Buddhist "right action." Jeanette, the mother, did things that made her feel good; she gave in to her own egotistic wounds and tried to fix them, at her son's expense. Likewise, Jerry, the father, did too. He drank, he gave up a job out of pride, and he ultimately pursued an adventure, also rather than do what would have been more responsible, and also, more dull. Joe, the son, was the one who was focused on the three of them as a family, as captured in the final shot of the film, symbolic as it was. One could say the theme of Wildlife was Family vs. the Individual, i.e., how much can adults sacrifice of their own desires and ambitions in the name of the family unit and/or the children? By extension, it can also be asked how is it possible, assuming it is, to satisfy both. Ironically, the teenage Joe enabled his parents to respectively pursue their own desires while he maintained the family unit. I'd wholeheartedly recommend this multi-faceted film to anyone who prefers depth to flash.

Paul Dano's impressive directorial debut

[harry_tk_yung · 13 June 2020]

I was attracted to this film by several things, particularly the two leads.

Jake Gyllenhaal, who keeps turning in excellent work one after another since "Brokeback Mountain" (2005), is unfairly under-recognised. Of his three collaborators, Heath Ledger is dead but honoured with his hall-of-fame calibre performance in "The Dark Knight" for which he received posthumous honours aplenty, including Oscar. Ann Hathaway has become a most demanded first line female lead in the commercial cinema, and got her own Oscar. Michelle Williams's success is more along the line of a character actor, with an eye-opening portrayal of Marilyn Monroe as well as a recent award-winning portrayal of Gwen Verdon in a TV mini-series, taking both Golden Globe and Emmy. Gyllenhaal, sadly, has only one Oscar nomination, going right back to "Brokeback Mountain". Most unfair.

Similarly, Carey Mulligan had her only Oscar nomination in her major debut "An education" (2010). Since then, she has demonstrated the breadth and depth of her acting talent in a wide spectrum of work. Again, under-recognized. "Wildlife" is in fact her show, with Gyllenhaal gracefully taking a supporting role.

The newcomer, teenager Ed Oxenbould, is acknowledged by critics as a major find. In watching his performance, I can't help but think that two decades ago, this would have been a perfect role for Paul Dano. Interestingly, this movie is Dano's directing debut which won nominations and awards in numerous artsy film festivals (Cannes, Independent Spirit, Sundance), as well as became a top favourite of the TIFF which still hasn't join the rest in giving awards.

Set in Great Falls, Montana in the 1960s, this everyday family story could have happened any time, anywhere. A young family Jerry (Gyllenhaal), Jeanette (Mulligan) and 14-year-old Joe (Oxenbould) has just moved, not the first time and not a happy event. This much is suggested but the audience has not been given the details. Not necessary, I may add.

While the family does not appear to have any difficulty adjusting to the new environment, Jerry soon losses his job as a pro in the local golf club which apparently does not really treat him like a pro. When they call and want him back, Jerry tells Janette "Tell them I won't want to work for people like that. If they call again, I am not interested. It's a teenager's job". He soon takes up a dollar-an-hour fire-fighter job that takes him away from the family, into the mountains, where he is stuck until the fire is put out by fire-fighting effort, or by the coming of snow, whichever comes first. It is usually the latter. Joe, a responsible and level-headed young man, takes up a part-time job at a photo shop and eventually (towards the end of the film) gets promoted. Jeanette, a teacher by profession, experiences difficulties in finding something suitable in the small town. She ends up as a swimming instructor, just because she can swim.

From the above capsule storyline, it can be surmised that Gyllenhaal has somewhat limited screen time. Still, he has a good number of scenes and is excellent as always.

This film is all Mulligan's show. With her husband away, Jeanette gradually develops a relationship with one of her swimming students Warren (a very good Bill Camp), a down-to-earth middle-aged owner of a car dealership. It is easy for her character to be condemned but Mulligan, with her impeccable, nuanced performance, makes the audience understand Jeanette. Understanding, not complete absolution. The marital problem has probably been simmering way before the time frame of the film. And as a mother, she does not hide anything from Joe, evening taking him to Warren's place for dinner. She also keeps a healthy dialogue with her son. In one scene what mother and son are having a bite in a restaurant, she tells him she and Jerry met. "It's probably nice to know that your parents were once not your parents".

As mentioned, Oxenbould is generally considered a great find. From his angle, "Wildlife" can be viewed as a coming-of-age film. This point particularly strikes home at the very last scene. You will know what I mean if you watch the film.

The old school of dramatic storytelling is quite refreshing, especially if you have recently seen too much superheroes, gravity-defying car stunts and hair-raising horror. "Wildlife" is about real, and very ordinary people, three-dimensional and relatable. There is no melodrama, just real life. It could easily be the best film of the year.

The cinematography is also top-notch. One particular scene that stands out is at the mountain fire. The camera starts by showing the forest in the near ground, with only a glimpse of the fire as a small patch at the top of the frame. It then slowly develops into a crane shot, eventually devouring the fire into the entire frame, with its full fury.

Unconvincing

[mcgomes · 6/10 · 12 January 2019]

This is the sort of movie subject I enjoy, too bad beeing so unconvincing. The parents are impulsive, childish, and imature. The boy is calm, thoughful though hesitant, and unbelievably mature for his age. As if in a parallel universe where parents and children change roles.

Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal as haunted parents, and what a debut by Paul

[hariharshankar · 10/10 · 21 January 2018]

As an actor, Paul Dano, with his long-faced gaze of inquiring gloom, has always radiated a sense of unease. That's far from the only thing he communicates (he was spectacular as Brian Wilson in "Love & Mercy," a performance that beautifully merged Wilson's disturbance and his joy). But a kind of hushed foreboding remains the vintage Dano mood, and "Wildlife," his directorial debut, is suffused with it.

All Of The Pieces Present, But None Of The Depth

[zkonedog · 4/10 · 25 January 2019]

When creating a family drama film, it's one thing to have all the correct pieces to make the emotion work. "Wildlife" does that. It's another thing, however, to make all those pieces really mean something the move the emotions of the audience. "Wildlife" fails in this key task, rendering it an ultimately poor experience.

For a basic plot summary, this film tells the story centers on a family in 1960s Montana. Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) struggles to find work around town and volunteers to fight fires instead. While he is away, wife Jeanette (Carey Mulligan) has something of a mid-life crisis of her own, conducting an affair with town car salesman Warren (Bill Camp). Caught in the middle of this is son Joe (Ed Oxenbould), who at 14 is just trying to figure out whether or not he likes football and navigating a female friendship.

One major positive I can say about "Wildlife" is that it contains some solid acting performances, paramount being that of young Oxenbould. Though his character isn't given much room to emote (a sad fault of the script), he seems to be "in the middle" of nearly every key scene. Gyllenhaal is never a letdown, as per the usual, and Mulligan (like Oxenbould) does the best with the material given her.

The main problem here, however, is that the viewer never really gets a sense of what the film is supposed to be about. At the outset, it looks to center on Jerry but then he leaves for quite some time. The focus then shifts to Jeanette, whose personality change as soon as her husband leaves is almost too jarring to be believable (or at very least needed some more reasoning behind it). Finally, there are times when the film really seems like it might just be all about Joe, yet none of his life outside his relationship to his parents is given any shrift or importance at all besides nominally establishing his age and adolescence.

So, while watching "Wildlife", I never really felt like I knew what was trying to be conveyed. This made the emotion it tries to inflict more of a glance blow than an arrow to the heart. The sparseness of the rest of the production (stable camera shots, very little music presence) does not help the cause. I was never outrightly bored while watching, but never even close to "fully invested" either.

Joe has a wild life growing up.

[TxMike · 29 July 2020]

This is based on a book of the same name, the script was written by Paul Dano and Zoe Kazan, Dano also directed.

It is set in Montana and filmed partly there, particularly the mountain scenes. The site used for the family home was actually in Oklahoma, we find out from the extras on the DVD.

While Gyllenhaal and Mulligan are the 30-something grown up parents, the core of the movie is really how their behaviors affect their 14-yr-old son, played by Ed Oxenbould, as Joe Brinson. It is 1960 and dad has moved the family to Montana where he has a job as golf pro (the book tells us) and greenskeeper (we observe) at a lower scale golf course, and mom (as was the usual case in 1960) accepted her role as homemaker.

Dad loses his $40-a-week job, when they then say they made a mistake and try to hire him back, he instead decides to go away to fight forest fires until snowfalls begin, for the fine sum of $1.00 per hour. Mom, who got pregnant and married as a teenager, goes a bit off course as soon as she experiences the freedom of not having a husband around.

All this is happening as Joe, a good and quiet kid, serious about his existence, loving both parents, is also searching for his life's trajectory. The unexpected behaviors of his mom and dad serve to confuse him. So most of the movie is about family discord developing but the core of the issue is how it impacts Joe and how it affects his coming of age.

Good movie, my wife and I watched it at home on DVD from our public library.

The collapse of a marriage.

[phd_travel · 7/10 · 5 April 2019]

The disintegration of a marriage seen by a 14 year old boy is quite involving. Acting is above average. Both parents are at fault in how they handled things. Carey is good at playing the mom who is initially supportive then freaks out and has an affair and leaves. Jake is alright as the stubborn Father who brings his family to rural Montana then leaves to fight fires. Good acting by the boy too who is the most level headed of the three.

The faults are a lack of resolution at the end and some unlikely dialog.

Heart..

[sjenkins88 · 6/10 · 19 April 2020]

..Breaking. I felt almost guilty watching what this poor child had to endure from his so-called parents. They were two of the most narcissistic people I've ever seen. It breaks my heart to think of the pain this young man would take with him on his journey through life.

Ordinary Life or Wildlife

[senaoz · 7/10 · 29 January 2019]

Wildlife is a story of a broken marriage from the perspective of 14 year-old introvert boy. The boy was like a camera, he was only capturing the happening incidents and he didn't prefer to be involved in them.

The story was not so interesting and unusual but the plot was emotionally directed. The story line gave us the difficulties of the era and the psychological deficiencies of usual people. This film was slow and not fast-moving but I can not say it was boring.

A powerful film

[sylvia120 · 9/10 · 10 November 2018]

I thoroughly responded to this film and felt like I'd been pulled through a knothole when it was over. Everything seemed so authentic, the settings, the furniture, the streets. All the actors were perfect....my only complaint was that Mulligan was very hard to hear....I felt that I missed about 60% of her dialog, but it didn't seem to matter. You knew what she was going through anyhow.

A promising debut even if not perfect

[tmpsvita · 6/10 · 9 December 2020]

Throughout the movie you deeply get the uncomfortability of the kid that feel harmless, powerless in front of the chaos with which the events happens and the unpredictability of his parents' behavior. At the same time this over-the-top behavior feels also unnatural and the characters less real, less authentic and therefore it's difficult to sympathize or at least emphasize with them. So at the end the movie kinda works, technically it's beautiful, but it's clear that it could have been better, more evolving and that's a bit underwhelming. It's still a promising debut for Paul Dano.

Beautiful directorial debut for Paul Dano

[UniqueParticle · 8/10 · 23 November 2019]

Carey Mulligan and Ed Oxenbould are great in this lovely drama. The music is riveting and so is the sound editing; both ambient. I am quite intrigued by so many scenes very captivating! So glad Wildlife is available on showtime, I would highly recommend it.

What a load of...

[jacobmounter · 6/10 · 11 June 2019]

ACTING: The casting of the son was so wrong. He looked nothing like his parents and it was super off putting. He's a great actor but he was not right for the role at all. Jake was the bomb as always, and Carey was ok, if not meh. She almost cracks a smile at one point when she's supposed to be serious. STORY: I was disappointed at the ending, where Jake's character essentially finds out his wife's been seeing another man, WITH HIS SON AROUND. I was looking forward for something super dark, since my blood had been boiling throughout the film at the wife's infidelity and disgusting character. And what happens? He pours a bit of gasoline on the porch and sets it on fire. A small fire at that. All is forgiven, and we get this wishy washy ending where everyone is affraid to confront what actually happened... really unsatisfying. DANO: The director / writer did very well for his first movie, he has had extensive life experience of what a great film looks like so this makes perfect sense. My only gripe is that some of the shots are really badly framed. Like when the phone rings and the boy sits up on the couch. Half his head is going off frame. These sort of mistakes take you out of the movie, make you realise, oh yeah I'm staring at a screen. Anyway, decent movie, but extremely forgettable with nothing really to take away except that you should do what's right for your kids and not marry stupid untrustworthy gold digging women.

a product of that era

[ferguson-6 · 8/10 · 23 October 2018]

Greetings again from the darkness. Actors becoming directors is a Hollywood tradition going back many years, although it seems to be quite the trend these days. Just within the past 3 weeks, there have been feature film directorial debuts from Bradley Cooper, Jonah Hill, and now Paul Dano. You surely know Mr. Dano from his work as the uber-quiet brother from LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE, his dual role in THERE WILL BE BLOOD, and his turn as the early years' Brian Wilson in LOVE & MERCY. He's a talented actor who now flaunts a near-master's grasp of filmmaking.

It's Montana in 1960 when we meet the Brinsons, a typical family of dad Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal), mom Jeanette (Carey Mulligan), and 14 year old son Joe (Ed Oxenbould). Jerry is a gregarious golf course employee, Jeanette is a former substitute teacher - now stay at home mom, and Joe is a mostly normal teenager who only attempts to play football in order to make his dad proud, and needs his mom's help on his math homework. Jerry drinks a few beers each night and Jeanette cooks a nice family dinner. Nothing to see here.

This idyllic world is shaken to its core when Jerry gets fired from his job for not respecting the boundaries with club members (not what you're thinking), and his manly pride won't allow him to return to the job when the club reconsiders. Jeanette does what moms do - she takes a job as a swim teacher at the local YMCA to tide them over until Jerry can find a new job. It's at this point when we realize son Joe has extraordinary observation skills for a teenage boy, and he has a front row seat to a disintegrating marriage. Bearing the shame and frustration of a man in this era who can't provide for his family, Jerry abruptly leaves to go fight an out of control forest fire in the mountains. Joe longs for normalcy - the only life he had known to this point.

Joe watches in quiet confusion as his mother evolves from doting housewife and caring mother to something and someone he doesn't recognize. She changes how she talks, how she dresses and how she acts. Jeanette is experiencing the contradiction of knowing she needs a man, and not liking that feeling one bit. She latches on to a local car dealer named Warren Miller (Bill Camp). Miller is basically a master-predator seizing on his injured prey through the power of money and promise of stability, and this makes for some uncomfortable situations both for us as viewers and for Joe watching his mom. This is a family drama that doubles as insight into the changing times - what defines happiness, what role to women play, how involved are kids in household. Based on a book by Richard Ford, the screenplay is co-written by director Dano and his long-time girlfriend Zoe Kazan (RUBY SPARKS, 2012). The story is one part feminist, one part coming-of-age, and one part societal shift. These are fully drawn, complex individuals that walk, talk and react like people tend to.

As Jerry, Jake Gyllenhaal is excellent in his limited scenes, and Ed Oxenbould is an intriguing young actor and captures the essence of young Joe - especially that moment when kids realize their parents are individuals, not just devices put on earth to serve kids. This is Joe's story, but it's Mulligan's film. What a terrific performance she delivers, which is not surprising, given her track record. Here she makes us feel everything Jeanette feels, and though this isn't the kind of movie to reach out and grab you, Ms. Mulligan's performance likely will. There is an expressive score, heavy on the woodwinds, from David Lang; and the cinematography from Diego Garcia is also spot on for era - as is the authentic set design. Mr. Dano has delivered an exceptional piece of filmmaking for what will likely be a very limited audience. Those that seek it out will be rewarded.

They lived happily ever after

[mbazhome · 7/10 · 9 June 2019]

They seemed happy in the beginning, a perfect little family. But then the bottom drops out and a lot of pent up emotions come out. Everyone is sad and desperate. I felt sorry for the kid. Quirky interesting and well made movie.

Overhyped Paul Dano Directorial Debut

[yogagalCO · 4/10 · 4 November 2018]

I saw this film last night as part of the Denver Film Festival special presentations section. "Fine performances" cannot save this slow-moving, depressing drama. If you want to spend nearly two hours watching the disintegration of a marriage in a miserable Montana town set amidst the bland 1960's setting of baseball games on the radio and mostly empty streets of the western town where they filmed this drivel, then have at it. Ed Oxenbould as the son gives an interesting performance.

Surprisingly engaging and complex

[Gordon-11 · 31 January 2019]

This film tells the story of a couple and a teenage son, whose lives are changed by the husband's decision to fight a wildfire.

The story is simple but is surprisingly engaging. Carey Mulligan does a great job yet again, in portraying her varied and complex emotions. In fact, the husband, wife and son all portray what they are going through beautifully and convincingly, and I really feel for every character in the household.