WILDLIFE — A REVIEW
At first glance, it seems like the title does not fit the movie and its subjects. 1960 Montana, idyllic town, happy nuclear family. The couple and their son have landed here from shores unknown and are trying their best to make it here. Together. But there’s a forest fire raging in the background. And while it does not directly affect the town, the movie unfolds with slow and terrifying precision, showing us the family breaking down, their behavior erratic and desperate in the face of danger. Much like the wildlife that would be trapped in the fire itself.
Paul Dano’s directorial debut is a deliberately paced adaptation of the 1990 Richard Ford novel of the same name. The plot is not very complicated. The father, played admirably by Jake Gyllenhaal in a limited role, loses his job and mopes around the house while his wife and son pick up jobs to help support the family. Dissatisfied with lying around all day, he signs up to fight the forest fire, leaving them to fend for themselves. The son suddenly has to bear the burden of being the man of the house, mute and powerless witness to his mother’s struggle to find happiness, love and self acceptance in the wake of the father’s disappearance.
Wildlife is challenging to watch, and that’s not an indictment of the editing, pacing, cinematography or acting. Not in the least. It is precisely because it is so well done and well acted that makes the family’s slip into dissolution so hard to watch. A big reason for this is the revelatory performance by Ed Oxenbould as the son caught in the maelstrom of his parents’ disintegrating marriage, a reluctant bystander to his mother’s affair. He brings a level of helpless pathos and a heartbreaking desire for things to go back to normal that makes you ache for him.
The centerpiece, and the highlight of this film is, however, Carey Mulligan’s tour de force rendition of Jeanette, the mother. Playing inarguably the most complex role, she emotes her way through the guilt, confusion, love, and doubt that plagues her character with admirable panache. Her scenes towards the middle of the film demand a change in temperament and disposition which would have been too much to ask from a less talented actress. But Carey Mulligan forces you to look at her with empathy, rendering a three dimensional person where it would have been so very easy to slip into cliche.
Paul Dano’s acting background shows in his direction. He knows that he has a supremely talented cast and lets the film breathe through their performances instead of relying on the exposition and dialogue laden film language that has become increasingly prevalent in Hollywood. We almost never see the characters tell us what they feel. It’s abundantly clear in the way they avert their eyes, in the way they stand, in the way they sigh when faced with yet another challenge that they have no idea what to make of.
The ending is unabashedly self confident and drives home the point that I think Dano is trying to make. Relationships are hard work and it is almost never nobody’s fault as we are wont to tell ourselves. The teenage son just has to abruptly come to the understanding that his parents aren’t perfect. It is a bittersweet coming of age story that shows human beings at their most confused, genuine, infuriating and therefore, human.
