Summary14-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 themselv...
Summary14-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 themselv...
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Abstract español
Notable opera prima de Paul Dano, Wildlife pinta la crisis de un matrimonio desde el incómodo lugar (por más de una razón) y punto de vista del hijo adolescente de la pareja en un pueblo de Montana en 1960, en una historia para nada previsible.
La película demuestra cómo con sobriedad, diálogos escasos y precisos y elocuencia en las imágenes se puede pintar con sensibilidad la disolución de un matrimonio, ubicándose en las antípodas de la estridente y sobrecargada Historia de un matrimonio. Y, por supuesto, con grandes actuaciones, sobresaliendo la del joven Ed Oxenbould y sobre todo la de una increíble Carey Mulligan.
English Abstract
Remarkable opera prima of Paul Dano, Wildlife paints the crisis of a marriage from the uncomfortable place (for more than one reason) and the point of view of the couple's teenage son in a Montana town in 1960, in an unpredictable story.
The film demonstrates how with sobriety, few and precise dialogues and eloquence in the images, the dissolution of a marriage can be sensitively depicted, placing it at the opposite end of the strident and overloaded Story of a Marriage. And, of course, with great performances, standing out that of the young Ed Oxenbould and especially that of an incredible Carey Mulligan.
Reseña Español
Corre 1960. Jeanette y Jerry (Carey Mulligan y Jake Gyllenhaal) y su hijo adolescente Joe (Ed Oxenbould) viven apaciblemente desde hace poco tiempo en un pueblo de Montana. El padre trabaja en un club de golf y la madre, ex maestra, cumple el rol de ama de casa. Pero súbitamente, Jerry es despedido de su trabajo, lo que precipita un crisis matrimonial y familiar.
Así expuesta, parece una historia convencional y demasiado transitada. Pero esta ejemplar opera prima del también actor Paul Dano es cualquier cosa menos previsible, en primer lugar, por el incómodo lugar que le asigna a Joe en el desarrollo de la historia.
La fluidez de la narración es perfecta y se desenvuelve con igual solvencia en las escenas en espacios cerrados, con varios planos fijos, como en las bellas imágenes en exteriores, con escenarios que siempre tiene sentido dramático. Es notable también el uso de las elipsis.
A pesar de estar basada en la novela Incendios de Richard Ford (narrada en primera persona, la del entrañable Joe, desde cuyo punto de vista también se desarrolla la película) por suerte Wildlife (vida silvestre) nos evita al narrador en off, ya que basta con ver el expresivo rostro de Ed Oxenbould para entender sus sentimientos.
Pero es Carey Mulligan, cuya Jeanette es el verdadero motor de la historia, la que nos brinda una actuación extraordinaria que desarrolla de maravilla la evolución de su personaje.
Paul Dano y su guionista Zoe Kazan (también notable actriz que vimos en The Plot Against America) demuestran cómo con sobriedad, diálogos escasos y precisos y elocuencia en las imágenes se puede pintar con sensibilidad la disolución de un matrimonio, ubicándose en las antípodas de la estridente y sobrecargada Historia de un matrimonio.
English Review
It's 1960. Jeanette and Jerry (Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal) and their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) have recently lived peacefully in a Montana town. The father works at a golf club and the mother, a former teacher, plays the role of housewife. But suddenly, Jerry is fired from his job, precipitating a marriage and family crisis.
Thus put, it seems like a conventional and over-traveled story. But this exemplary opera prima by fellow actor Paul Dano is anything but predictable, in the first place, because of the uncomfortable place it assigns to Joe in the development of the story.
The fluidity of the narration is perfect and it unfolds with equal reliability in the scenes in closed spaces, with several fixed planes, as in the beautiful outdoor images, with scenarios that always make dramatic sense. The use of ellipsis is also notable.
Despite being based on the novel Fires by Richard Ford (narrated in the first person, that of the endearing Joe, from whose point of view the film is also developed) luckily Wildlife avoids the narrator in off, since it is enough to see the Ed Oxenbould's expressive face to understand his feelings.
But it is Carey Mulligan, whose Jeanette is the true engine of the story, who gives us an extraordinary performance that beautifully develops the evolution of her character.
Paul Dano and his screenwriter Zoe Kazan (also a notable actress that we saw in The Plot Against America) demonstrate how with sobriety, few and precise dialogues and eloquence in the images, the dissolution of a marriage can be depicted, placing itself at the antipodes of the strident and overloaded Story of a Marriage.
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 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.
In the hands of its filmmakers and cast is a rivetingly good, human journey, full of sparks, flame, smoke, containment, ash, and the terrible beauty that sometimes mystifyingly colors stories of desolation.
Carey Mulligan is terrific, even when the script calls for Jeanette to make a quick, not entirely plausible transition from a repressed housewife from the Eisenhower era into a diva from an overwrought B-movie. It’s a great performance in an almost-good movie.
Paul Dano's directorial debut is downright fantastic. It's beautifully shot and tells an unremarkable, but extremely relatable, tale about a family living in the 1960s. Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan acted their butts off in this one.
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.
Paul Dano was 16 when he started his career as a film actor. This is his first directorial effort, which interestingly revolves around a 14 year old boy. Ed Oxenbould mostly maintains a poker face, while he watches his parents' marriage disintegrate. As his father, Jake Gyllenhall handles the affection and anger well, but it's Carey Mulligan's mother who gets to go off the rails in seemingly unrealistic directions. This is more a character study than an involving drama. Watching it develop (or crumble) keeps it from being boring, but the slow-going script and the son's subdued reactions never build to a fulfilling outcome. The restrained art direction nicely captures the early '60s period.
(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.