Page 2 October 25, 2018
Entertainment
Film Review
Wildlife: A Stunning and Powerful Debut from Director Paul Dano
Wildlife, Courtesy of IFC Films.
By Morgan Rojas
for www.cinemacy.com
The last time Paul Dano was celebrated at
the Sundance Film Festival, he was riding
waves atop Daniel Radcliffe’s corpse like a
jet ski in 2016’s Swiss Army Man. The last
time Zoe Kazan was at Sundance, she was
starring opposite Kumail Nanjiani in the
beloved romantic comedy, The Big Sick. The
creative duo and real-life couple returned
to Sundance earlier this year with a movie
of their own -- an adaptation of the 1990
Richard Ford novel, Wildlife, which marks
Dano’s directorial debut.
Wildlife tells the story of a small-town
nuclear family in 1960s Montana. Jerry
(Jake Gyllenhaal) and Jeanette (Carey
Mulligan) live a simple life: he works
on a golf course and she’s a homemaker.
Their 14-year-old son Joe (Ed Oxenbould)
attends public school and struggles to
meet friends, a byproduct of the family’s
consistent moving around the country due
to Jerry’s flighty nature and always-changing
career paths. After an unexpected layoff
not only hurts his financial stability but
also his pride, Jerry makes a spur-of-themoment
decision to uproot his life and join
a nearby firefighting brigade that is battling
an uncontrollable forest fire close by, leaving
his small family behind for an unknown
period of time.
As the movie shows through the limited but
observant perspective of Joe, his mother edges
ever closer towards the brink of unforgivable
resentment and finds herself coping in ways
a married woman shouldn’t. From getting a
part-time job to exploring an extramarital
affair with a client (Bill Camp), Jeanette
slowly discovers her own independence. As
she begins to figure out what she really wants
out of life, it leaves Joe, who is still waiting
for his father’s return, as the emotional support
system for the family. Witnessing his parents’
marriage fall apart right before his eyes is
devastating, and even more so because of
how much his parents each depend on him
to be their anchor.
It’s obvious that every detail of Wildlife has
been carefully crafted from the eyes of a
passionate artist. From the 1960s costumes
to every detail of the production design, the
ambiance of the film screams warmth and
heart, even if its central characters struggle with
those same virtues. Here, Dano proves that he
has not been idle as an actor on his previous
movie sets, showcasing a strong visual style
all his own. Every frame of Wildlife looks
like it was lifted from a Norman Rockwell
painting. The sweeping cool, blue hues give
a layer of sophisticated authenticity to this
quiet yet powerful indie drama.
It will be interesting to see Dano and Kazan’s
filmmaking path post-Wildlife, which
is a confident debut in and of itself. Dano
certainly proves that he can command a
tough yet tender film both technically and
creatively and I, for one, can’t wait to see
what he does next.
104 minutes. Wildlife is rated PG-13 for
thematic material including a sexual situation,
brief strong language, and smoking.
Now playing at ArcLight Hollywood and
The Landmark. •
Morgan Rojas.
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