'WILDLIFE' FILM REVIEW

My review of 'Wildlife' for RMITV In Review. (October 2018)

Wildlife is both a coming-of-age story and a marriage-breakdown film. Set in the 1960s, the story follows 14 year old Joe (Ed Oxenbould, Paper Planes and Puberty Blues ) and his parents, Jerry (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Jeanette (Carey Mulligan).

The family has just moved to Montana when Jerry loses his job at the local golf club. Both Jeanette and Joe find part-time jobs to help tide the poor family over until Jerry is re-employed. Pressure mounts on Jerry, as he becomes increasingly embarrassed that his wife is working and he is not. With uncontrolled fire raging at the state’s border, Jerry decides to leave his wife and son at home while he goes up to help battle the blaze over an indefinite period of time.

At first, Jeanette is upset and lonely. But the morning after Jerry leaves, she is transformed. Seeming to have determined that Jerry is never returning, Jeanette begins dressing in her fanciest clothes, drinking, smoking and spending time with the rich car-dealer, Warren. Joe is witness as their relationship develops into an affair, and the audience is privy to Joe’s helplessness and confusion as he is forced to grow up in a world where everything is happening too fast around him.

This film is lovely to watch, with beautiful costuming by Amanda Ford that fits the time-period to perfection. The set design, including the choice of house for the family, and film shots also carefully place the film in the correct era and location. It is obvious how much care has been put into the aesthetic of this film and it has paid off immensely, giving the actors the perfect foundation to build their performances on.

All three main actors are wonderful in their roles. Oxenbould is great, effortlessly creating a boy that is relatable and easy to sympathise with. His quiet and unassuming portrayal gives credit to the quality of his acting, with his emotions still conveyed in spite of a lack of dialogue or over-exaggeration. It also adds to the maturity of the character as he takes on adult responsibilities. He and Mulligan are a wonderful pair, and it is enthralling to watch as the film explores their increasingly complex mother-son relationship. Gyllenhaal is as good as is expected of him, playing all the roles of a devoted and absent father, an adoring and resentful husband, a hard-worker and an unemployed laze.

A highlight of the story is the room for character development and shifts in persona as the subjects are thrown new challenges. Each character experiences times of love and contentment, anger and sadness, and feelings of loss and vulnerability. It allows the actors to truly show-off their talent to switch between emotions naturally and convincingly.

Mulligan as Joe’s mother is the greatest example. Her performance is incredible, changing from a loving mother and housewife to an independent, irresponsible and dislikeable mistress. It is also interesting to see how she simultaneously conforms with and rebels against the expectations for women in the ‘60s.

“I want to explore feelings I have had, through Joe,” Director Paul Dano wrote in his journal in 2013 when he was planning the film. What makes this story special, is how many other people will have had these feelings. The themes of this story are unfortunately familiar and the exact experiences of the characters will resonate with a large number of people. Dano has done an exquisite job.