“Wildlife”– Movie Review

On the close of the first weekend of The 56th New York Film Festival, I attended a screening of the new drama, “Wildlife”, starring Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal; it’s directed by Paul Dano, who co-wrote the screenplay with Zoe Kazan. 

Synopsis

When a teenage boy witnesses the destruction of his parents’ marriage, how will this impact his life?

Story

In the early 1960’s, 14 year old Joe (Ed Oxenbould) is the only child of his parents Jeanette and Jerry (Mulligan and Gyllenhaal).  He’s trying to adapt to growing up in a new town – Cascade County, Montana. Over the past few years, his family has moved from Washington to Idaho and now Montana; it’s been hard on Joe making and losing friends with each move.  The only constant has been the stability of his family – but that’s about to change. When Jerry loses his job as a golf pro at an area country club, he turns disconsolate; Jeanette responds by taking a part-time job teaching swimming at the local gym while Joe takes an after-school job as a photographer’s assistant. 

Jerry finally finds an opportunity:  with extensive fires in the surrounding mountainous region, he learns that the fire department is seeking volunteers to help put out the blaze.  When he informs his family that he’s been selected to join the team of firefighters, Jeanette is less than enthusiastic. For one thing, she’s concerned that Jerry might be injured – or worse.  Also, she fears being alone – which may be her greater misgiving. Although Jerry will not be paid well, he argues that it is at least some money that he can contribute to the family; using this as a justification, he sets off into the mountains, where he will be living either until the fires are extinguished or until the first snowfall, which will serve to put out the fire naturally. 

In Jerry’s absence, Jeanette begins to unravel.  She alternates between depression and anger, convinced that Jerry has actually left her for another woman – despite the fact that she has no evidence with which to back up her theory.  While Joe now tries to take over duties as man of the house, he is unprepared for his newest discovery: his mother is having an affair with one of the students from her swimming class. When Jerry finally returns, Jeanette immediately admits to her adultery; informed that she will be moving out, he becomes understandably enraged and wants to take out revenge on her lover.  But with his parents’ impending separation, what will be the ramifications for Joe?

Review

Simply put, “Wildlife” is as close to perfect as a movie can ever hope to get.  Its touching sensitivity and humanity are heartbreakingly beautiful; Dano and Kazan exquisitely capture the delicate fragility of family life.  Whether you were a child of divorced parents or simply part of a deeply dysfunctional family, you’ll relate to this film; it’s one of those stories that profoundly resonates with anyone who grew up around their parents.  This motion picture is an adaptation of the book by Richard Ford; the team of Dano and Kazan have done an outstanding job on this and one can only hope that Ford is proud.

If you are unfamiliar with the Dano-Kazan team’s work, checking out “Ruby Sparks” may be a good place to start prior to seeing “Wildlife”.  As a couple, they appear to be mutually inspirational and we can only hope they do more movies together. Dano, who is making his directorial debut with “Wildlife”, shows incredible promise here given not only his choice of shots but also the fact that he knowingly lingers on them – whether they be landscapes or actor close-ups – which illustrates how much he trusts his own decisions.  Any review of “Wildlife” would be remiss if it wasn’t mentioned that Carey Mulligan may have delivered an award-worthy performance; she’s nothing short of brilliant here displaying the character’s raw emotion.

Following the screening was a panel discussion with Director Paul Dano, Co-Writer Zoe Kazan and stars Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal.  Dano said that he originally read the book back in 2011 and appreciated it for its clear, simple prose. After purchasing the rights, he contacted author Richard Ford about the film adaptation, who told Dano, “It’s my words, but your images”.  Kazan said that she rewrote much of Dano’s original script over the course of three years – basically working as Dano’s “translator” for the script because he wrote it with a visual sense containing minimal dialog.