Wildlife

Name: Wildlife
Genre: Drama
Released: October 19, 2018
Duration: 105 min
Rating: 80
Cast: Bill Camp, Blaine Maye, Carey Mulligan, Cate Jones, Darryl Cox

2018

METASCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 41 Critic Reviews

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USER SCORE

Generally favorable reviews based on 87 Ratings

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7.4

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7.4	User Score Generally favorable reviews based on 87 Ratings

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Wildlife (60 Second Trailer)

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Movie Details & Credits

IFC Films | Release Date: October 19, 2018 | Not Rated

Starring: Bill Camp, Blaine Maye, Carey Mulligan, Cate Jones, Darryl Cox, Ed Oxenbould, Jake Gyllenhaal, JR Hatchett, Kami King, Kaye Brownlee-France, Lexi Anastasia, Mollie Milligan, Sara Moore, Travis W Bruyer, Zoe Margaret Colletti

Summary: 14-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry—a housewife and a golf pro—in a small town in 1960s Montana. Nearby, an uncontrolled forest fire rages close to the Canadian border, and when Jerry loses his job—and his sense of purpose—he decides to join the cause of fighting the fire, leaving his wife and son to fend for themselves.14-year-old Joe is the only child of Jeanette and Jerry—a housewife and a golf pro—in a small town in 1960s Montana. Nearby, an uncontrolled forest fire rages close to the Canadian border, and when Jerry loses his job—and his sense of purpose—he decides to join the cause of fighting the fire, leaving his wife and son to fend for themselves. Suddenly forced into the role of an adult, Joe witnesses his mother’s struggle as she tries to keep her head above water.… Expand

Director: Paul Dano

Genre(s): Drama

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 105 min

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Metascore

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Critic Reviews

100

Lindsey Bahr

Oct 18, 2018

Wildlife isn’t just a great first film, it’s a great film. Read full review

The Film Stage Jordan Raup

In capturing the crumbling of a family and the scars left behind, Paul Dano has made a fascinatingly complex portrait of the fracturing of American ideals. Read full review

Moira Macdonald

Oct 31, 2018

Diego Garcia’s cinematography plays a key role, showing us lavender sunsets, endless plains and fire spreading down a hill like melting butter. Amid this beauty, Dano’s direction is restrained, letting us focus on the pain in Mulligan’s darting eyes. Read full review

Owen Gleiberman

Dano, it’s immediately clear, is a natural-born filmmaker, with an eye for elegant spare compositions that refrain from being too showy; they rarely get in the way of the story he’s telling. The tale itself is resonant and absorbing, though in a highly deliberate way. Read full review

The Telegraph Tim Robey

Oct 17, 2018

It’s Dano’s handling of the actors, unsurprisingly, which shows the most confidence. Read full review

Joe Morgenstern

Oct 18, 2018

An affecting coming-of-age drama based on a superb book and directed by an exceptional actor in his directorial debut. Read full review

Johnny Oleksinski

Oct 18, 2018

Gyllenhaal and Mulligan are in fine form here, but too much of the screenplay, written by Dano and Zoe Kazan, doesn’t ring true. Read full review

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User Reviews

Belous

Nov 12, 2018

Uncertain. It is the only word that comes to my mind as I try to describe this movie using one word. But it is uncertain not in a bad way, it is uncertain in a very positive way. This flick makes you think deeply about things during its runtime. After moving to the other city not everythingUncertain. It is the only word that comes to my mind as I try to describe this movie using one word. But it is uncertain not in a bad way, it is uncertain in a very positive way. This flick makes you think deeply about things during its runtime. After moving to the other city not everything for the Brinsons goes smoothly as they would want it. They face the job loss of the head of the family, Jerry, and at the same time his wife, Jannet, finds a new love interest. But the one who suffers most of all is their fourteen year old son Joe. The future of the heroes is very uncertain and this feeling transcends beyond the screen. There is no “black” or “white”, only “grey”. No winners, no losers, only the hurt ones. No wrong, no right, only raw wild humanity.
From a technical point of view I can point out to three things: the acting, the camera work and the soundtrack. Acting of the main actors makes you believe in what you see and feel the emotions of the characters. And here the acting meets the camera work. The movie is full of close ups of characters’ faces, even in the scenes with two or more of them. That gives you a closer look at their eyes and facial expressions which creates tension and depressing atmosphere in some moments. It is one of the camera work methods, another one is the movement of the camera. At first, it doesn’t move at all, there are mainly still shots, but closer to the end the camera starts to shake, letting us know about the unstable situation in the family. I don’t want to say much about the music, it is simply there, creating a very beautiful and sometimes very eloquent background.
It is very difficult to make conclusions about the “uncertainty” of this film. Everything is good about it, you don’t want to nitpick about it, but also you don’t want to talk much about it. It is one of those movies that you recommend to your friends and close ones, and will surely re-watch it yourself one day, but you don’t have any desire to speak up about it. On the other hand, it is the film that you would definitely want to discuss with someone, as the movie doesn’t sort things out by itself, it is left up to the viewer.… Expand

5 of 5 users found this helpful50

Djakeir

Jan 30, 2019

A very human story with unhumanly skilled actors. The book by Richard Ford was breathtaking and the way Paul Dano was able to take that book and put it on screen as honest and accurate as he did is even more breath taking. This movie isn't for the high energy, superheore obsessed as it takesA very human story with unhumanly skilled actors. The book by Richard Ford was breathtaking and the way Paul Dano was able to take that book and put it on screen as honest and accurate as he did is even more breath taking. This movie isn't for the high energy, superheore obsessed as it takes a more heartfelt approach to adult emotion in the framework of a family and a traditonal society. It feels more like an insight into lives you want to study, emotions you want to elaborate on, connections you wish to establish.… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

OdinMovieBlog

Mar 5, 2019

As Paul Dano's directorial debut Wildlife is the story of a middle-class family as it falls apart due to a difficult job environment and family tension. Though the movie is a slow burn there is no denying that the writing and cinematography are able to coincide with the deliberate pacingAs Paul Dano's directorial debut Wildlife is the story of a middle-class family as it falls apart due to a difficult job environment and family tension. Though the movie is a slow burn there is no denying that the writing and cinematography are able to coincide with the deliberate pacing very well. Though this is a movie I would not likely see again, it is exceptionally made. Solid B… Expand

1 of 1 users found this helpful10

amheretojudge

Jan 1, 2019

More Pepper. Less Spicy.

Wildlife Dano's marital advice that keeps poking us until we nod in disbelief or belief, against all odds, works with good score. Without any quirkiness- as the films with such genre usually does- Dano has his vision sharp enough to cut through all the boredom orMore Pepper. Less Spicy.

Wildlife

Dano's marital advice that keeps poking us until we nod in disbelief or belief, against all odds, works with good score. Without any quirkiness- as the films with such genre usually does- Dano has his vision sharp enough to cut through all the boredom or complaints there ever might be. And the credit has to and does go to Kazan and Dano himself, whose absorbing adaptation offers enough argument to relate to this flawed yet illuminating family.

More to it, the conversations no matter how pragmatic and cinematic, the awkward silence and the stillness pitched for a jarring effect, leaves the audience in awe of it. For obvious reasons, performance factors majorly especially a script written that speaks more from character's perspective. And to be honest, Gyllenhaal seems to feel short handed on filling these empty voids compared to Mulligan. Mulligan, the real deal of the film, the breadwinner of the family, has done a marvelous work on pulling off such a repellant character.

In Gyllenhaal's defense, he too has managed to stay on ground in his eerily not-so-likeable character. But this has always been Mulligan's game, since the first touch. From her make believe attitude to a self obsessed persona, she is offered an immense amount of room to flaunt in her skills which she delivers with a broad scary smile on the face. And stretching her muscles like never before, she can easily be the friendly guardian and the bitter taunting figure that never sees past herself. On the other hand, Gyllenhaal feels more comfortable in his initial stages where the gullible nature of his is cloaked aptly, but when it comes to scratch-to-hurt on screen, he fumbles in front of Mulligan's behemoth scary stature.

Oxenbould bodes well as the audience of this melodramatic act staged by his parents, figuring out the trajectory like us, he is convincingly good on his role of the bridge between this opposite natured stations. The film comes alive after the first act passes by, when Mulligan takes charge on the world with shady seducing intentions of attracting the glossier and flashier city in her life. Wisely, Dano never fabricates the mistakes as a pity on screen, his job to state the figures and facts is what keeps the tale perfectly balanced. The race to win, that our characters sprints for is certainly not against each other but the time itself.

Even though the tale is narrated through their kid, their nature to live once more without any strings is a brilliant idea to leave our host hanging in the mid-air along with our jaws dropped. The detour that the film takes by imputing a love interest from Mulligan could have easily gone wrong as an overstretched routine, but with a crisp tensed environment offered to it with a sense of uncertainty, leaves us wanting for more of the thrill. Dano's world is mundane but lopping off the manners, his arrogance is more than welcome in this Wildlife where the mania of fire is the least of our concerns.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

fredericwood

Oct 31, 2018

It's a good debut movie. But it's also boring...rather mundane about the extramarital affair. The excellent acting of the young actor who played the son really saved this movie

2 of 4 users found this helpful22

LegendaryLass

Jan 6, 2019

The events of the film leave the viewers in the dark much as the parents' actions leave the son in the dark. A fairly well-told tale of a family falling apart but by the time you leave the theater you wonder why you bothered to watch at all.

0 of 1 users found this helpful01

Mauro_Lanari

Sep 22, 2019

(Mauro Lanari)
"Don't believe the hype", the correct mantra of our time
Paul Dano assembles any flaw of an indie work: the pauperism, the fresco of Yankee existence reduced to a serial copy of "American Gothic", the subjection to the French cinema (like the first Spike Lee or the(Mauro Lanari)
"Don't believe the hype", the correct mantra of our time
Paul Dano assembles any flaw of an indie work: the pauperism, the fresco of Yankee existence reduced to a serial copy of "American Gothic", the subjection to the French cinema (like the first Spike Lee or the mumblecore), especially towards the poetics of Truffaut's debut (with a camera-car that follows the escape of the young protagonist harassed by his family) and the fixed and empty shots of Bresson. Again, better the originals.… Expand

0 of 0 users found this helpful00

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