*My capsule review of Wildlife was originally published on Film Inquiry as part of my final report from Film Fest 919. Click here to read the original post and check out more great reviews from this awesome site!*
On first glance, Paul Dano's Wildlife seems like it's heading in a somewhat obvious direction. For this portrait of a family's inner struggle, Dano and co-screenwriter Zoe Kazan employ a few metaphors that feel a little too on the nose for such a quiet, internal drama. I mean, the central concept involves a raging wildfire standing as the backdrop for domestic disturbances, which feels like a prime example of blunt storytelling in action. At one point, Jake Gyllenhaal even says, "Well, it's a wild life, son!"
I note these missteps not to criticize Dano, but to shed light on how Wildlife remarkably overcomes its more clear-cut elements. This is a thoughtful reinvention of the family melodrama, a film that simmers for long stretches before boiling over into anger and violence in an instant. Dano directs this story with a careful touch, beautifully blending evocative flourishes, a muted aesthetic, and a trio of strong performances. In doing so, he captures a relationship destined to burn, shedding light on the young man stuck in the middle of it all.
The young man in question is Joe Brinson (Ed Oxenbould), a fairly typical student in early 1960s Montana. For the Brinson family, this is just the latest in a string of major moves over the last several years. Joe's father, Jerry (Gyllenhaal), is working at a local golf club, but gambling with the customers ends up costing him his job. When she hears the news, the perpetually positive Jeanette Brinson (Carey Mulligan) views this as a chance for her husband to find a new job and for her to return to work.
Jerry doesn't quite see it that way. He's lost, in the middle of a crisis he can't explain or rationalize. One morning, he gets up and decides to fight the raging fire in the nearby mountains. This causes a spiral within the Brinson family; Jerry leaves, Jeanette's sunny attitude evaporates entirely, and Joe is forced to stand between the two and watch it all unfold. In the process, Joe becomes the sole confidant and witness for his mother's affair with Warren Miller (Bill Camp), a sophisticated and somewhat crass man who takes a liking to Mrs. Brinson.
So essentially, you have two flawed human beings crumbling simultaneously, nearly taking their only son down in the process. The key to the film lies in a scene near the midpoint, which finds Jeanette taking Joe on a trip to the fire in the mountains, so he can see what his dad left them for. As they drive back, the disillusioned housewife talks about the "standing dead," a nickname for dead trees that still hang around after the fire is put out. They're empty and rotten inside, but they can't fall down. They still stand. Sound like any characters we know?
It also doesn't hurt to have Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan as your leads. Gyllenhaal's character is gone for large sections of the film, but he still makes an impression as a seemingly good-natured man with a fearsome darkness growing inside him. While it's a smaller role for the actor, Dano knows how to use both the Oscar nominee's warm likability and his knack for outbursts of frightening anger. As good as Gyllenhaal is in Wildlife, this is pretty much the Carey Mulligan show. In a remarkable balancing act of a performance, Mulligan manages to empathize with Jeanette and question her actions in the wake of a profound shock.
In regards to both characters, it's perhaps most interesting to see how these broken souls interact with young Joe, played to wide-eyed perfection by Ed Oxenbould. For his parents, Joe is less a child and more of a trusted adviser. They disclose secrets, encourage him to take sides, and share information that probably shouldn't be shared. It feels like Jerry and Jeanette never grew up, forced to confide in their helpless son because there's nowhere else they can go. Joe stays in the middle, caught between two lives that existed well before he was here.
Dano captures the drama in all of its uncomfortable poignancy, rarely shying away from a chance to show the truth of the family's collapse. It's a methodical, emotional, and consistently engaging directorial debut.
THE FINAL GRADE: A- (8.2/10)
On first glance, Paul Dano's Wildlife seems like it's heading in a somewhat obvious direction. For this portrait of a family's inner struggle, Dano and co-screenwriter Zoe Kazan employ a few metaphors that feel a little too on the nose for such a quiet, internal drama. I mean, the central concept involves a raging wildfire standing as the backdrop for domestic disturbances, which feels like a prime example of blunt storytelling in action. At one point, Jake Gyllenhaal even says, "Well, it's a wild life, son!"
I note these missteps not to criticize Dano, but to shed light on how Wildlife remarkably overcomes its more clear-cut elements. This is a thoughtful reinvention of the family melodrama, a film that simmers for long stretches before boiling over into anger and violence in an instant. Dano directs this story with a careful touch, beautifully blending evocative flourishes, a muted aesthetic, and a trio of strong performances. In doing so, he captures a relationship destined to burn, shedding light on the young man stuck in the middle of it all.
The young man in question is Joe Brinson (Ed Oxenbould), a fairly typical student in early 1960s Montana. For the Brinson family, this is just the latest in a string of major moves over the last several years. Joe's father, Jerry (Gyllenhaal), is working at a local golf club, but gambling with the customers ends up costing him his job. When she hears the news, the perpetually positive Jeanette Brinson (Carey Mulligan) views this as a chance for her husband to find a new job and for her to return to work.
Jerry doesn't quite see it that way. He's lost, in the middle of a crisis he can't explain or rationalize. One morning, he gets up and decides to fight the raging fire in the nearby mountains. This causes a spiral within the Brinson family; Jerry leaves, Jeanette's sunny attitude evaporates entirely, and Joe is forced to stand between the two and watch it all unfold. In the process, Joe becomes the sole confidant and witness for his mother's affair with Warren Miller (Bill Camp), a sophisticated and somewhat crass man who takes a liking to Mrs. Brinson.
So essentially, you have two flawed human beings crumbling simultaneously, nearly taking their only son down in the process. The key to the film lies in a scene near the midpoint, which finds Jeanette taking Joe on a trip to the fire in the mountains, so he can see what his dad left them for. As they drive back, the disillusioned housewife talks about the "standing dead," a nickname for dead trees that still hang around after the fire is put out. They're empty and rotten inside, but they can't fall down. They still stand. Sound like any characters we know?
It also doesn't hurt to have Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan as your leads. Gyllenhaal's character is gone for large sections of the film, but he still makes an impression as a seemingly good-natured man with a fearsome darkness growing inside him. While it's a smaller role for the actor, Dano knows how to use both the Oscar nominee's warm likability and his knack for outbursts of frightening anger. As good as Gyllenhaal is in Wildlife, this is pretty much the Carey Mulligan show. In a remarkable balancing act of a performance, Mulligan manages to empathize with Jeanette and question her actions in the wake of a profound shock.
In regards to both characters, it's perhaps most interesting to see how these broken souls interact with young Joe, played to wide-eyed perfection by Ed Oxenbould. For his parents, Joe is less a child and more of a trusted adviser. They disclose secrets, encourage him to take sides, and share information that probably shouldn't be shared. It feels like Jerry and Jeanette never grew up, forced to confide in their helpless son because there's nowhere else they can go. Joe stays in the middle, caught between two lives that existed well before he was here.
Dano captures the drama in all of its uncomfortable poignancy, rarely shying away from a chance to show the truth of the family's collapse. It's a methodical, emotional, and consistently engaging directorial debut.
THE FINAL GRADE: A- (8.2/10)
Images: IFC Films/IMDb
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