Family drama in a small American town, 1960
Actor Paul Dano made his debut as a director and screenwriter (coupled with his girlfriend Zoe Kazan).
Unlike Bradley Cooper’s film, Dano’s debut work was solid.
The actor resisted the temptation to play any role in the film (not that the main one). This has had a positive effect.
Moreover, the actors are well selected: Gyllenhaal got used to the role of a loser (but catastrophically little screen time), Carey Mulligan is organic, at some point the film is dragged by her alone.
Chic camera work from the little-known Diego Garcia: the camera is very static, does not adapt to the characters, long plans and slow turns create the effect of a documentary (Garcia, by the way, shot “Victory Day” Loznica). Anyway, cool.
If we are to find fault, we can say that the main characters change too quickly - even before the completion of the first act, the transformation of their characters is visible, the director was in a hurry, but in general this is not a serious drawback.
In general, a very successful idea: to show the family crisis of a husband and wife through the eyes of their child, who is also involved in it: it turned out interesting and fresh.
Strong directorial debut of a good actor.
Well known for his acting work, Paul Dano became a director.
This year he released his film called 'Wild Life' in the Russian box office. I do not know what they wanted to say with this translation and what meaning they invested, but the title did not bring any value to this picture.
': The love story of Jerry and Jeanette. It is a film about heartbreak, mistakes, stupidities and loss of illusions, but the main driving force in it is love.'
This is how this film is announced.
The plot is simple. We're in front of a family. A father who believes that all his problems are due to the fact that people like him & #39, constantly looking for new places and jobs. A mother who is already tired of it, because there is almost no faith that they will get rich. From the dissonance of reality and desire arises a destructive conflict, which is contemplated by their growing son. Well, there's nothing unusual about their family. There are millions! We can say that this is the prose of life, so divorces are already moving towards the norm.
Why does the painting have such a rating? This is the question I asked myself after watching. . .
Of course, family problems are very important. You need to pay attention to them, reveal the reasons. But family problems arise from people’s internal problems. There is almost nothing about this in the film! So he doesn't grab, he doesn't touch. The emotions of the heroes are only the outer shell, to find out what you do not want inside. Everything is rotten inside.
The only bright spot in the picture is the son, Joe. When you look at him, you will see the light of God. Ed Oxenbuld perfectly coped with his role, famous actors lost on his background. I don’t know if the reason for this is a punching talent or a professionally selected type, but this guy saves the picture!
Only for this reason
You can look endlessly at how the fire burns and talented actors become no less excellent directors. So it happened in the case of Paul Dano and his film combines both.
The most amazing thing is that the work is not perceived as the debut of a person who has not previously had experience in directing. Paul Dano, who had previously worked with such brilliant directors as Denis Villeneuve, Paul Thomas Anderson and Steve McQueen, decided to film his favorite novel, acting as a screenwriter. Together with his girlfriend Zoe Kazan, he brought to the screen a truly worthwhile story, which is so simple and deep that it simply cannot be missed.
Acting performance in 'Wild Life' is beyond praise. Jake Gyllenhaal plays one of his strongest roles. In the scenes of gatherings in a bar with his son and a quarrel with his wife, he shows such a range of emotions that there can be no doubt about his acting talent. Although he is not enough in the film itself, but in each scene with his participation, in addition to external manifestations of emotions, you can notice the inner pain that he experiences with his character. Cary Mulligan is no less brilliant and plays not worse, but even better than her partner on the set. Metamorphosis in her character is felt in every grin, smile and eye movement. Phenomenal acting and perhaps the best of her career. And finally, I want to note the main character in the performance of a well-chosen Ed Oxenbuld, who perfectly showed through his character how difficult it is to watch everything in the family ' burns ' and there is nothing you can do about it. And of course, it is worth noting Bill Camp, who perfectly entered the image of a powerful person, but did not go beyond decency, and was responsible for one of the most tense scenes of the film.
Operational work causes pleasant emotions and pleases the eye as powerfully as possible. Beautiful views of nature, the horizon in the composition (for which a separate bravo), chic blocking, clear lines of perspective and competent setting of shots allow you to get aesthetic pleasure from the film. This can be obtained only from a few films, because in films, visual narrative is rare.
The script, as you might have guessed, is as chic as anything about this movie. The film withstands the smooth pace of the narrative, the characters of all the characters are revealed, Chekhov’s gun shoots where it is needed, and every event makes sense and does not fit into the script for nothing.
I would just like to say that the color correction is very pleasant, before moving on to the final part of the review. DirectingPaul Dano is so amazing that you don't even know what this person is capable of. He knows when to make a close-up on the face of an actor (and there are a lot of them and he reveals the potential of actors to the full), when you can just show a view of the city to show how fast life flies like a train, and when to make a scene so that you can guess what is happening before the actors say even one word. And, of course, the metaphors that fill the film, allow us to fully say that this is really a movie with a capital letter. Here and the first frame, which is a complete reflection of the story about ' to grow a tree, build a house, raise a son', here and the final frame, which fully reflects one of the main ideas of the film that people are trying to capture momentary happiness, so that then remember it when everything is bad.
Thank you Paul Dano for one of the most outstanding directorial debuts in history and an incredibly strong film that should not only be nominated for an Oscar, but also pick up several awards.
10 out of 10
How could these three be one family? Looking at Joe’s face in full and in profile, you do not see the slightest resemblance to his parents, who, if you ask, do not know what connected and for what: their past flashes the light of a few fleeting phrases, their present, barely denoting love, begins, it seems, to unfoundedly crumble before our eyes, breaking the heart of a child, watching with horror the family disaster happening before his eyes, arising from the inappropriate awakening male ambitions of a father, whose behavior gives the idiocy of naive delusions, more natural for his son, from the terrible question: “What will be next?”
Much more related features Ed Oxenbuld with Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, with whom he professionally shares an acting fate, a subtle sense of moment and character, regardless of the absurdity of the state of things, determined by the fragmentary, fragmentary course of history, more reminiscent of those portrait photographs that, working part-time, in the studio makes fourteen-year-old Joe, placing and seating clients on the instructions of an elderly photographer.
Such a photographer is a wonderful and beloved actor Paul Dano, who played in another family tragedy as a teenager, which obviously influenced the choice of material for the debut picture, which fell on the novel by Richard Ford, well cut for the sake of an actor's project, maximally simplifying the task of the director, practicing in common typologies, having an iron argument in the face of recognized and rising stars, with whom he can not worry that someone will leave the hall ahead of time, even if it is clear that there is nothing to expect from the film, except another stupidity of the main character, who does not bite in time.
As a result, Dano successfully copes with his simple task, acting not as a master playwright, but as a sensitive teenager, discouraged by the relationships of adults, doing everything possible to bring the family together, lost in the breadth of what is desired and possible, using the opportunity to stop a happy and important moment for himself.
Paul Dano's directorial debut begins to the impossible simply and beautifully: two figures - a father and a son - play on the lawn of their one-story house, behind a strong old tree. The frame is static and for a short moment the characters are also motionless, and then both hide behind a wide tree trunk and after a moment appear behind it again. The first allusion to mind comes the notorious list of three important goals of a real man: ' to give birth to a son' to build a house and plant a tree.
But everything in the first frame turns out to be false: the house is not built, but rented, the son grows more by himself, and the tree here is like a symbol of fragility - if a fire starts, it will die first.
Then we get acquainted with the main characters: father - Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) - ' head of the family ' more nominal - being the only breadwinner, loses another job for his own stupidity, and there is neither strength nor desire to look for a new one. And when yesterday’s bosses call back, Jerry is more important than his hurt self-love – a dignity to which he has every right but remembers too late.
His wife, Janet (Carey Mulligan), tries to support her husband and is asked to find a job in a new unfamiliar city while the husband slowly enters his own inner hell. The most attentive and observant character in the film is their son Joe. The fourteen-year-old does not complain about anything and the next move, apparently, takes much easier for his parents. In general, the film could be a simple family drama about the difficulties of mutual understanding between parents, if not for the decision to show the story of this unhappy family through the eyes of their son - an unwitting witness to very complex and adult problems. Breaks through this dangerous dam at the moment when Jerry decides to leave indefinitely to extinguish forest fires - the indomitable element raged not only within a small house, but also the whole world around. Jerry's solution is either a sensible way out or a cowardly escape.
At this time, a very thin and even emaciated Mulligan, the whole film wears voluminous sweaters and visually creates a feeling of either a hump or an unbearable burden on her shoulders. She arranges a swimming teacher, but she swims with difficulty in the ocean of life - it seems a little bit more and will go to the bottom - internal stones filled it all from the inside, and where to escape, swim away - it is unclear.
Her Janet can not be compared with the heroine Julianne Moore in the film 'The Clock' Stephen Daldry is a quiet housewife who became a hostage of an externally adjusted and therefore unbearably boring world. She decides on a big escape, leaving her loving husband and young son without thinking, and years later she cries bitterly - everything turned out not as it was dreamed, and the truth never changes: ' wherever you run away, you will always take only yourself with you'.
In general, the characters are often shot in doorways, occupying only a small part of the frame - there is a lot of empty space around, which there is nothing to fill and in their lives they are too close.
Janet herself at some point complains to her son that in her years there is only a feeling of bitterness about missed opportunities. ' And how old are you?', the son asks. '34. What, you think it's not enough? Better say 50?'
For the modern viewer, the number '34' certainly does not seem like a sentence, but the 60s and many opportunities for women at that time were really missed. Or Dano hints to us that shows a portrait of young old people tired of life - young parents, they are all their lives rushing in search of themselves and their place in the world, and by a very small age they managed to exhale.
39 Do you know what you call a tree that burns in a fire but still stands? 'Standing Dead' This is not an accidental phrase Janet, who for the film will make a lot of mistakes, but it does not become a bad person - it just tears her from the inside in different directions - she looks like a person leading a constant internal battle, who herself loses.
'Wild Life' - a bold and undoubtedly talented directorial debut of Paul Dano, written and produced by him in co-authorship with Zoe Kazan - his faithful companion not only in cinema, but also in life. A film about a very many and very complex tells itself through a simple form, which makes the authors honor - enough of us unbearable dramas.
Fires are already burning around, millions of people are dying and millions more are adapting. Some fires we manage to extinguish, and some are about to destroy us. And it's hard to imagine what kind of traumatized person Joe could grow up into. If you fantasize quite crudely - for example, in the hero of Michael Fassbender in 'Shame' incapable of any intimacy with another living being suffering from this and burning with his own shame. And all the same Carrie Mulligan will be reborn from his mother to his sister and will hate him (in & #39; Shame & #39; by the way, the reason for their discord is not announced).
But these are only curious parallels, and in fact, Joey just wants to capture his family together in one photo, which will not remember a single quarrel, but will preserve this moment, albeit short, but happiness, which, according to the words of his mentor-photographer, every person strives for.
39 For when all was burnt, the fields were green in the ashes. . . '
Any ' horror' will fade when you get acquainted with this picture. Fear is real here, and ' there' - imaginary. Here are the hidden truths, and there is an opus for the entertainment of the crowd. Mental depths as opposed to bravura idleness. However, let me make a reservation, the audience must be adequately prepared - at least to live something similar in strength of emotional fire in their personal life, in order to evaluate the action being played. And in the video fairy-tale house everything is simpler - entertainment for raw neophytes, as the food necessary for life, which is brought by eagles-parents. Carefully plucking and scattering into the yellow-haired bodies of young men. They eat everything. Indiscriminately. As soon as they are saturated, they again require feeding. Quantity prioritizes quality. Oh, youthful. The energy of inexhaustibility. Omnivore with stomach stuffing. For satiety.
Work is the foundation of everything. The measure of success and well-being, well-being and measuredness. She's gone and life's gone. There is no family, and there is no family life. And that's what it says 'Wild Life'. The idyll is broken when Jerry is denied a place. The longer the crisis lasts, the tighter and tighter the noose around the neck. He'll take it. And those close to you are in the yoke. At least. At least. Live and survive.
Sidney Pollack’s classic comedy 'Tootsy' (1982) with Dustin Hoffman on this topic sparkled with inconceivable humor, and the tears of experience turned up only in the first part - until the main character found himself in the NEW AMPLUA. Here, more and more tragic. And every shot is a minefield. It's about to explode. He will tear his chest from crying in the sight of this unthinkable despair. The horror is aggravated by the fall of the mother in front of the child. It would seem that he is a teenager, no longer a child, but how defenseless and naive this boy is. And his look? Are those eyes? It's a conscientious attention to her. Hurry your whole body. A helpless stupor is holding him back. And her legs are tied up in a conscious torrent of monetary contentment. Expected. Desirable. Greatly tempted by exquisite sweets at the given chance. How far she's ready to go. What's in it? Desperation? Or smart practicality? Loss of a strong shoulder? Or a natural beginning without slut? Betrayal or choice? And so on ... on the list. . .
“A woman is a weak vessel,” says the Apostle Paul. But who brought her to this state? Isn't she husband? And there is such a sentence, as it is impossible to place. But understanding doesn't mean accepting. And all nature rebels and rages. How long? Damn it! Do something about it!
And the director finds a way out. Probably optimal. Pretty believable. The best.
The film catches the germination in the audience ' from and to'. Artificiality is almost negligible. Viewing leaves an indelible mark on consciousness. A good movie with a highlight of objectivity.
It's the sixties of the twentieth century. After the war, there was silence and no problems. Everyone's happy. There is no cause for concern except for a raging fire in the woods, near a small northwestern American town, Montana, to which an ordinary family like millions of others has moved. They have the same relationship problems from time to time as everyone else.
And as if in a wildfire, a little spark that turns into an angry flame begins to slowly but surely destroy something in the couple that made them what they became. Something called love. Domestic quarrels, problems with finding work, alcoholism of the mother, excessive selfishness of the father and inappropriate and obscene behavior for the parent, become for the boy Joe a real shock that changed his views on this wild life forever.
Talented and still a young actor Paul Dano, known to many for his roles in the films “Oil”, “Prisoners” and “The Swiss Knife Man”, stunningly debuts on the big screens as the director and screenwriter of the film “Wild Life”, which became the adaptation of his favorite book of the same name. Writing the script together with his girlfriend Zoe Kazan, Paul Dano carefully polished it, as if carving a beautiful piece of jewelry from the rock, striking in its simplicity and at the same time genius.
Incredibly, but the fact, Paul Dano was not only a gifted actor, but also an outstanding director, able to make an incredibly sensitive and knocking down the viewer, like a powerful blow, a movie about a slowly fading family hearth. In "Wild Life" there are no expensive scenery, incredibly complex from the technical side of the scenes, but there is an excellent ensemble of actors, a small town and simple everyday life problems - all this catches and plays with the hidden soul strings of the viewer much more effectively than any high-budget work. Everything brilliant is simple.
The father of the family, left without a job, goes to the forest to extinguish the fire for a dollar an hour. He has to risk his life to feed his family. His problem is not that he does not think about a possible lethal outcome, but that his dignity does not allow him to get a job in a supermarket, which is why the first conflict of the spouses begins, which grows into an even greater one. As a result, the father disappears from the family for almost six months, the boy Joe remains with his mother alone and begins to observe the most unpleasant things. Starting from the simple grief over the departed husband, who may never return, ending with an obvious affair with a rich man who does not miss a single skirt.
Jerry, his father’s name, has the least screen time in the film, but thanks to Jake Gyllenhaal, who played one of the strongest and most significant roles in his career, his character is remembered on the same level as others. Only a glance of the husband destroyed from the inside, full of despair and pain, eyes penetrate the viewer into consciousness and long after the end of the viewing do not get out of there.
Jeanette is a mother who first gives the impression that she is an incredibly loving and loyal wife, ready to support her husband in a difficult moment, then shows that she is able at any convenient moment to pour a bucket of dirt on her husband behind his back. The heroine Carey Mulligan, who is no less worthy of praise for her performances than her colleague Gyllenhaal, is actively trying to prove to her son that his father is an unworthy, stupid person and that she is sure that he is cheating on her. And let the husband in the family is not an ideal and not an indicator of courage, but he does not give up even in difficult times.
And that Joe is the main advantage of the picture. The fourteen-year-old son of Jerry and Jeanette, who unwittingly witnessed the crisis in the relationship between the spouses, whose eyes the director and shows the whole story, every day more and more goes into himself, moving away from society because of problems at home. Not the most pleasant feeling appears on the soul of a person, especially in a child who understands that his parents are about to cease to be together.
Ed Oxenbuld is the second opening of the tape, after the production of Paul Dano himself. Seventeen-year-old actor shows his acting skills for the first time in a serious, authorial, independent film and he does it brilliantly. Without a lot of lines, like Gyllenhaal, just a doomed look before the final credits, he shows the whole inner experience and lost state of a child experiencing the breakup of his parents.
It is about the fading family hearth and tells “Wild life”. And even if the viewer knows the plot of the picture in advance, she still cannot leave him indifferent. This is the most ordinary life story familiar to everyone who on personal experience no one would want to experience. Paul Dano wrote a universal story for any time, which became very personal for him. Probably, it was his personal experience that helped the young director create such lively, attractive and curious characters that cause sympathy and rejection.
Especially noticeable is the influence of the directors with whom Dano managed to work during his acting career. In his directorial debut, there is a bit from Denis Villeneuve (“Prisoners”) and a grain of Paul Thomas Anderson (“Oil”). And if Bradley Cooper made the mistake of standing behind the camera instead of in front of it this year, then Paul Dano can absolutely claim to be one of the best young directors this year. Such a powerful and sensitive film is not every professional film director with experience can do.
Over. Wild Life is a picture better seen once than heard of a million times. Leaving the viewer with a broken heart after watching the drama answers the question, what could happen behind a family portrait with smiling faces? The film shows a slow and horribly real story through the eyes of that very thread of love that binds two people together, trying to hold their bond to the very end despite the fact that it itself will soon break.
The phrase "talented man, talented in everything" - perfectly characterizes the career of Paul Dano at the moment, who gave the world one of the best films of this year.
10 out of 10
This film is a boy watching his parents' marriage fall apart. But I think the movie isn't just about that. This film is about how Joe grows up and tries to be an adult in this family, this film is about how his mother tries to survive the crisis of middle (or almost) age, doing everything possible to get out of the trap & #39; female housewives & #39; There is a lot of symbolism in the film. The background is accompanied by a situation with a raging forest fire, which is trying to extinguish the residents, and then the father of the boy. There is also a parallel with Joe and his family. He is trying to set off a fire that broke out inside his family. In addition, Joe works in a photography studio, and Paul Dano (director and co-author) even said that it should be a portrait of family life.
Paul Dano himself brilliantly coped with his directorial debut. This film has an amazing visual work. For example, Joe and Janet’s trip against the backdrop of magnificent mountains and fields, as well as Joe’s observation of the fire. Very sympathetic to the manner of shooting, we are watching the situation with Joe, from his side. It looks spectacular and effective at the same time, allowing you to understand the condition of the boy. There are some minor shortcomings in the form of some script gaps or a certain monotony of the narrative at the beginning of the film, but the second part of the film more than compensates for this monotony. It keeps you in absolute tension, because you wonder how this or that situation will end.
Ed Oxenbuld played brilliantly. I’ll definitely be watching him in the future like Lucas Hedges or Timothy Chalamet or Barry Keogan. Carey Mulligan also played Joe's mother. I think she might be on the nominee list. Gyllenhaal as always was on top, although against the background of the first two heroes, received, of course, less screen time.
Overall, I liked the film. Of course, it is not perfect, but it is a debut, and very good, so I will be waiting for Dano’s next works with interest.
Family is the most important thing in a person’s life: at least that’s what many people say. And therefore, it seems to me, no matter how many films were shot on the topic of family values, such a movie will always find a response from the viewer. In my head again pop up beaten, but absolutely accurate lines Tolstoy from the novel ' Anna Karenina' about an unhappy family. Dano, Mulligan, Gyllenhaal - a trio of underrated cinema diamonds, in the filmography of which it is difficult to find frankly failed works - presented their vision of the situation, removing a seemingly simple, quiet canvas, but to the devil shrill and heartbreaking.
Father. I would not say that we have a deep character, rather, very proud. This quality prevents him from dealing with his work, putting his mind above his feelings when it is really necessary, and most importantly, keeping his family together. Remarkable scene of the departure of the head of the family Brinson: on the one hand, here we see the uncertainty of the hero in the correctness of the decision, on the other - the trigger is lowered. Most of the blame for the destabilization of the family hearth I would lay on the father, and the subsequent behavior of the wife is dictated by his mistakes, his stupidity. By the way, intentionally or not, Dano successfully falls into the trends of modern feminist Hollywood. Finally, Jake Gyllenhaal's brilliant play stretches the image as much as possible.
Mother. The most complex character of the presented: a significant proportion of timekeeping the viewer has to watch her actions. She is simply surrounded by suffocating despair, from which she tries to find a way out by any means. And it seems all for the sake of his son, but, I think, for the sake of himself, his salvation. Reflection and cigarettes become her companions. The heroine’s state of mind is perfectly described in the episode in the cafe, where the peak of dissatisfaction with life is dissatisfaction with her name. It seems to be the best role of the wonderful Cary Mulligan to date.
Joe. Although we should focus our attention on the conflict of the parents, the son of the family has a key role to play. The director’s find is brilliant: almost the entire narrative is presented to us from his gaze, from his close-up face on the screen. Joe is an ordinary boy who had to grow up faster than his peers. The brightest thing about all this is that the boy wants only one thing: that his parents be together again. That makes it even sadder to watch these adults hurt a child by their behavior. The role of the boy is exemplary played by Ed Oxenbuld, facial features even similar to Paul Dano.
So it turns out that the unfolding events are other than wild. The content analogue of the film I find 'Arrhythmia'Khlebnikov, where in a similar way the characters try to pacify the inner demons and live a normal life. And there is always hope for a happy ending, and the capture on camera of a smiling father, mother and son can move beyond one photo. It all depends on us.
In terms of the technical component, I was very impressed by the minimalism of the entourage: there is no bombast, extra grace, everything is modest, but with taste. Paul is often asked why he put such a universal story in the frame of 1960: I would have relied on additional points to the atmosphere, the beauty of that era, and it only emphasizes the lack of time and the eternal relevance of the topic.
'Wildlife' is like a small man with a big heart: it does not impress with size, effects, but tells something personal, close to each of us. An amazing debut, amazing actors, amazing realization: this is the case when they say it is better to see once than to hear a hundred times. Good to see you!
The breakdown of a family is a tragedy for any member of the family, but the worst is borne out by children forced to watch once happy parents turn into complete strangers. Few directors are able to convey the depth of the psychological state of a person in a similar situation. However, this was successfully succeeded in Paul Dano’s debut work “Wild Life”.
Synopsis Joe Brynson's life is turned upside down when right before his eyes begins to destroy the marriage of his once happy parents. While the father in search of work leaves for a few weeks to extinguish a forest fire, the mother starts an affair with an elderly wealthy man.
First of all, it should be noted the play of actors. In fact, all major performers have a good chance of getting at least an Academy Award nomination. Carey Mulligan played the role of Jeanette, a determined woman who was tired of her role as a housewife and mother, and therefore decided to radically change her life not without consequences for the family and its members. Jake Gyllenhaal played the role of Jerry, a middle-aged man who is still in search of himself, which could not but leave an imprint on the relationship with his wife. Finally, we should note the key character Joe played by Ed Oxenbuld, who embodied the image of a decent young man forced to watch as under the guise of an ideal family revealed serious problems.
If Paul Dano sticks to a similar style in his future works, then he has a good potential to become a cult director, because Wild Life was a really successful debut. First of all, we should note the depth of psychology with which the director approached his work. He did not just show the disintegration of the Brinson family, but showed it through the eyes of a younger member of Joe, clearly conveying the experiences and emotions that the main character experienced, watching the former family structure gradually collapse. First the father sleeps on the sofa in the living room, then Mr. Miller's appearance. The hero wants to help parents cope with difficulties, but just does not know how. Of course, here is also the merit of the operator Diego Garcia, who attached a lot of importance to the expressions of the faces of the main characters.
The script is based on the novel of the same name by Richard Ford. To be honest, I am not familiar with the American prose of the twentieth century, so I cannot judge the degree of adaptation. However, I note the plot of the film, which looks not like a banal family melodrama with a happy ending, but a worthy film about ordinary life. The action takes place in Montana in 1960. The Brinson family recently moved from another state and is trying to get used to life in a new place. They may seem like an ordinary American family. Jerry’s father works in a golf club, his mother Jeanette is a housewife, his son Joe is a schoolboy and an aspiring football player. But the mask of idyllic hides serious problems that are first exposed when Jerry is fired from his job, but he doesn’t try to find a new one because he just doesn’t know what he wants. Jeanette, tired of Jerry’s impermanence and dreaming of stability, after leaving her husband, gets closer to an elderly wealthy man, Mr. Miller. The old familiar world is crumbling in front of Joe’s eyes, as if the earth is disappearing from under his feet. But still, like his parents, he finds the strength to live on, although with the realization that it will never be the same again.
Result In general, I have always appreciated films about life as such, in which we can see ourselves, those life situations that we have gone through. Therefore, the merit of Paul Dano lies precisely in the naturalness and non-playfulness of what is happening on the screen. This movie should definitely be watched.
There are movies that cause pain because they are very bad; and there are movies that cause pain because they are very, very good. “Wild life” director-debutant (as well as a great actor) Paul Dano belongs to the latter type.
One family: son, mother, father. How many of these we see in the movies... How many stories are told about such families by different directors from different countries. But Dano tells this tired story in his own way, unbanal and touching.
His father, Jerry, played by the inimitable Jake Gyllenhaal, has problems with work, money and, most importantly, self-awareness. The hero’s drama is clearly visible, built on a sense of unrealized ambition and humiliated pride, although Gyllenhaal’s character is given only the background. Mother Jeanette (Carey Milligan) also has a complex content. The woman, who at the beginning of the film appears before the viewer simple-minded quietness and goodness, in a new way reveals herself after the outbreak of the conflict. She is old enough (I don’t want to write “old”) to not let life take its course, but still quite young and attractive to believe in a possible “second chance” for her personal life.
Both characters have something to scold, despise and hate, but they want to feel sorry, they want to sympathize. Like people in real life, the characters of the film commit detrimental acts for themselves and others, based on good intentions. They're bad people at first sight. However, if you look at it, it becomes clear that people are good, but they just at some point were unlucky.
The story of the parents is told through the eyes of their son Joe (Ed Oxenbuld). There is an analogy between him and Paul Dano himself. Maybe it is not really there, but there is a strong sense of the relationship between the main character and the director. I venture to say that it is Joe’s presence in the script that makes the film so touching and dramatic. If it were a familiar story of the relationship between a husband and his wife, she would have faded from memory within a couple of hours after watching. But the presence in all the key scenes of the figure of a teenage son, loving both parents, trying to understand their actions and believing in the strength of family ties, allows the viewer to perceive what is happening on a completely new level.
In each frame, you can see the diligent efforts of both the entire production team (thank you for the wonderful views and landscapes), and the actors. Gyllenhaal and Milligan brilliantly play not the simplest roles, giving out sometimes unimaginable range of emotions on their faces, which is sometimes especially emphasized by competent directing. Ed Oxenbuld is a talent! He plays incredibly hard for his years. I also remember Bill Camp, who embodied the colorful image of a typical bourgeois reaping the fruits of his wealth.
He tells his story in a remarkable way. He with rare skill carefully preserves life in the shell of cinema, creating not just an ordinary film, but a genuine work of art that delights and attracts attention from the first to the last second.
P.S. For those who experienced the separation of parents in childhood, the tape can cause very painful memories and even bring to tears; but after watching, the soul will have a bright feeling that your innermost feelings, finally, someone was able to understand and share.
9 out of 10
Paul Dano is an amazing person. Having not the most attractive appearance, he periodically gets into very interesting projects. If McQueen sees the light, Villeneuve will. And now he made his debut in directing so that he could not be called otherwise as a handsome person.
Wildlife is the story of a family on the brink of collapse. Father and mother live together, but each in his own world. The 14-year-old is the only link that ties them together. They would continue to pretend to be happy if the newly fired father did not volunteer to extinguish the forest fire.
Based on the novel of the same name by Richard Ford, the tape does not provide any answers or instructions. It only plunges into the lost life of a married couple. As if thinking that nothing new on this topic will not offer, Paul presents everything without unnecessary sophistication. And in this simplicity lies the power of the picture: simple locations and the same simple work of the operator do not distract from the characters, and there is someone to look at here. Carey Mulligan, who clearly lacked the role of a strong and independent Batsheba from ' Far from the distraught crowd', is playing out in full. Gyllenhaal does not lag behind his partner in the short time allotted to him. Together they form a union of people lost to each other, in the center of which is a teenager Joe played by Ed Oxenbuld.
Joe, by the way, is present in almost every scene and, in fact, is the main character. The conflict of adults is alien and incomprehensible to him, and from here follows the main question of the film, which hardly anyone will answer: why people diverge even after decades of living together.
Showing the family discord with children’s eyes, Dano refuses long quarrels behind a closed door. Instead, there are rare debates about a child’s future. Each spouse considers only his own opinion, not always asking his son. “He knows nothing about life,” Gylenhall’s hero once throws. Perhaps so, but one thing the boy is sure - parents should be together not only in the photo.
Obviously, the saddest stories do not need to come up with. It is enough to look at life often. In this strange and, with the permission of Paul Dano, a wild thing is intertwined a lot, turning out not always a happy ending. The sad truth of life is a very frightening thing, but one that is familiar. Ordinary people, complex and voluminous, connected to each other, try to get along together when their lives are intertwined. It will be good if such an interweaving develops into a peaceful and beautiful idyll full of love and joy, but often, unfortunately, the interweaving breaks, sometimes it is not even clear why. And often the victims of this gap are those who do not deserve it at all. The thread of the family is torn - all who held on to it together suffer. And we can only hope that after the rupture, the world under our feet will not collapse, and deep down, there will be enough strength and respect to move on. The wild thing is your life, but we have no other.
Paul Dano removed the tape, which could remove, probably, it was he: a quiet and modest guy creates a modest and quiet ribbon, giving the famous dictum of Tolstoy: ' Each unhappy family is unhappy in its own way'. Paul Dano With all his inherent sincerity and soulfulness paints a sad beauty story where a huge mental tragedy of the collapse of one family seems to be close to him. The reason for this is easy to determine. In Given in the picture in the foreground of life as it is: the most ordinary people living the most ordinary life. Janet's mom, Jerry's dad and Joe's son. Joe goes to school, gets a part-time job and communicates nicely with a classmate. The boy enjoys his parents, loves them and enjoys family gatherings. But at one point, the familiar family comfort begins to collapse when Joe's parents begin to lose common language. Suddenly for the boy, the quiet idyll of life falls apart, sending his father away and leaving his mother in a gravitating position. Now the boy is left indifferent to look at the slow melting of their former feelings in mom and dad, gradually replaced by scandals and apparent coldness. Already quite an adult Joe is forced to grow up quickly beyond his years, facing the terrible truth of life. Family happiness does not promise to be eternal, no matter how much you want it. As if Joe did not dream of sitting at the dinner table again as a threesome and as if he did not want to play again with his father in the yard, while his mother takes care of the hearth. Now everything is different: the house feels empty, mom seems a complete stranger, a stranger goes to her more often, and dad somewhere in the distance calls only sometimes. At such moments you will not think about homework or walks with a cute girl who shows sympathy, at such moments, despite the cutting light in the hallway, you want to fall asleep as soon as possible to distract yourself from the slow collapse of the dearest.
It is important to show this destruction of the family hearth to the viewer as close and clear as possible. Therefore, the camera is focused on Joe himself in the performance of the wonderful Ed Oxenbuld, on his emotions and experiences. On that fire that gradually consumes the guy and his whole universe. The fire itself - the flame that destroys everything that is familiar and blooming - is of paramount importance to Joe's life. A father who distances himself from his family to fight the fire, a mother who gradually fades with her feelings, and one great bright flame in which joy disappears. The fire of anger and the fire of resentment burns stronger than the fire of a very real one. And it seems that all this will end with the first snow, under which the flame can no longer burn. I want everything back to normal with the snow. But the ashes continue to smolder, and the pieces from the fire are no longer connected.
The main thing in history, of course, is a child whose world is instantly collapsing. But skillful strokes with the help of no less skillful actors Dano outlines the pain of parents, who are clearly affected by the incident is not weaker. The strange behavior of the mother is nothing but an attempt to find herself, to rise and forget, changing the past and the present, and the anger and despair of the father is nothing but an attempt to give the last battle to the crumbling feelings and the realization of the lost. Miraculous Malligan and Gillenhaal in the most subtle way convey the storm of complex emotions raging inside, which swept each of the participants in the tragedy. This past fire will not leave everything as before, no matter how not only Joe, but also the viewer in front of the screen, which sadly wipes away a stingy tear for lost happiness.
With touching sensitivity Data manages to hook the viewer with the simplicity of his story about the complex relationships of people. The growing melancholy of the audience, aware of all the pain, is mixed with the impending feeling of anger at these people and the life around them, which is so unfairly and so ugly collapse. But Given, putting his hand on his shoulder, comfortingly pats the upset viewer, urging not to be angry at what happened. Life is like this: strange and incomprehensible, complex and simple, hurtful and joyful. There she is. Yes, it can sometimes be unhappy, but who says that this misfortune cannot be overcome? Who says that this modest tragedy will destroy the future? It's not exactly Paul Dano. Gradually everything becomes clear, gradually comes peace. This wild thing goes on. A joint weekend, awkward, but soothing conversations and a beautiful photo, which should not at all reconnect the past, but only intended to leave a memory of the past.
The sensual history of ordinary life of recognizable and similar people will always have a special meaning for the viewer. If it's in the right hands, it's over. Paul Dano has the goldenest hands, and the story of his debut is so impressive. I really do not want the viewer to find in 'Wild life' a recognizable family tragedy, but I want him to feel it and realize it.Dano surprisingly managed to demonstrate a sad story so that after watching it sadness on the soul was some calm and easy. The local story with its mundaneness will only once again remind you that life is a continuous flow forward, where there are many different turns and stages. And 'Wildlife' is just one of them, albeit terribly sad, in that very forward movement. Do not be sad, even if you want, it is better to take a photo. And if it does not work out, then cry on the shoulder Paul, believe me, he will certainly set him up.
It is a habit to see the lives of happy and wealthy Americans with 21st century problems. How about living from paycheck to paycheck. Are they happy and consider themselves in their place?
A simple family is looking for happiness when moving to a new city. The father gets a job in a golf club, the wife is a housewife - takes care of her husband and son. A teenage son who is praised at school and a high school football player. All three gather every night for dinner at the house. Perhaps this is the American dream, but life decides to dot it when the family loses its only source of income.
The director shows families living and working in the same city from the same angle. We do not notice this when we follow the expressive and memorable play of Jake Gyllenhaal and Carey Mulligan, but in the end all three fall into the sights of the same angle - the viewer remains to compare and draw conclusions.
In the film, most of the attention is paid to the character of Ed Oxenbuld, who is familiar to us from the film Rare Butterfly (Priscilla Cameron), where he played a similar role of a teenager caught in the middle age crisis of adults. Comparatively, the temperament does not change with the new film, but is revealed with new force through close-ups and static scenes. This transfers the emotions and feelings of a teenager to the viewer.
The theme of the film will be close to many – how to realize yourself and how much money you need. Is it possible to be beautiful, strong and work as a salesman in a store while remaining happy?