Wolf

A poetic film. I found myself making wordless connections to what it means to comply, to be domesticated, to choose a perverted survival when deep down you know the natural alternative. All the acting was great, and Paddy Considine delivered a truly familiar malice, but George Mackay's general intensity is what drew me in the first place, and he did not disappoint. Four stars instead of five because it was more cerebral than emotional.

Wanted to get behind this one for a whole slew of reasons, but ultimately, I kept saying "why"?

Ridiculous and mind-numbingly boring story about a boy (George MacKay) who thinks he is a wolf. He is sent to a psychiatric facility run by the sophomorically named Dr. Mann (Paddy Constadine). MacKay's character encounters Lily-Rose Depp who thinks she is a wildcat. While the actors try their best with poorly written material, they cannot save this rotten film. Direction is also sub-par. Avoid this one. 4/10

Wolf is an interesting film, the performances, especially by George Mackay are spectacular. The final outcome is an expected plot.

I was somewhat surprised when I looked up the reviews for this film after stumbling upon it on a 'i got nothing to do' Saturday. I ended up liking it very much. It's thin and simple, and refreshingly so. I feel it would have made for a very, VERY good short story (as there's so much internally going on with all the characters). But what you get is a simple premise, effectively conveyed through some wonderful performances. Anchored by George (I know I've seen him in something) MacKay's awesome Jacob... seriously his deep in thought, stare off into the distance look is A-lister good. But it all worked for me. Give it a chance.

Intriguing story with an exceptional young cast representing a mental disorder which I wondered throughout if it's actually a true-life diagnosis or made up to tell a good story. Some other holes in the plot - which seemed to have been on purpose - did leave me a bit annoyed - what is the girl's history at the institution, can the "wolf" survive in the forest?

You would think that it would be difficult to make a movie about Species Dysphoria without sliding into involuntary comedy, and yet director Nathalie Biancheri managed to treat this topic with such competence and humanity that the ending result is both thrilling and compassionate. George MacKay's perfomance is magnificent, his commitment to his character is truly worth watching.

Spoilers: George Mackay is a go-to actor, and he somehow sold this, as he always does. But what a challenge to play a species dysphoric guy who enjoys being a wolf. The ridiculousness of Paddy saying just do what I tell you to the tune of a cattle prod smacks of the stupidity and brutality of moves to deny gender dysphoria or even addictions, as Nancy Reagan's solution was "just say no," as if ignorance instead of treatment and respect would win the day on drugs. So this reminds us that we all aren't letting our lizard brains control us in this here animal kingdom, where we live, but that some of us can't resist, literally. The suggestion is that we just don't know what to do with such dysphoric people, and so some spend time telling them they aren't wolves, etc., and act like a girl or boy, and sell it as treatment. George and Lily-Rose's dilemma was the lover or the animal, and George had no real choice, as he headed for the woods, howling, after the two had seemed intent on escaping from the asylum, but she couldn't. The other disquieting thing about this is it was a parable, a cautionary tale about not just dysphoric people, but about you and me. The extreme condition of species dysphoria suggests we all feel that way to some extent from time to time. I just don't fit in with the rest of these people, they don't get me. I gotta be me even if they think I am iconoclastic re social mores. And the corollary is beware of geeks bearing gifts, like the sadistic Paddy and Eileen, who may have liked the power and control more than they liked the stricken people, though Eileen seemed kinder than Paddy and committed to the program. Kudos to Biancheri for having the guts to go out on such a cinematic limb and to somehow have found the dough to put this unusual and daring take on film. As storytelling goes, it meandered a bit, but it's hard to control animals, like herding cats, which may have been part of the point.

Okay. Entertaining enough. A bizarre story that was a bit on the hollow side. Reasonable production quality.

The acting in this is fantastic. I'm hesitant to guess what the writer was alluding to in this but the story feels so human, ironically.