Wolf

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🎙️ EPISODE 450: 04.21.22 starts around ~58:17 I was going to stop at three. Pig, Lamb and Cow? The perfect 2021 barnyard trilogy. But no. I just couldn't help myself. Like a greedy little weasel, I had to keep going. I'm not even sure how this ended up on my radar, but it was another one-word animal title. Why not? I thought. The perfect closer, perhaps? A predator to the prey I just expertly dissected on my dumb little movie review show? Such is life on the farm, I thought. Yes, this will be a nice ending. How bad could it be? And so it brings me no pleasure to report that this is the worst film I've seen in at least the last year, garnering just the fourth score of ZERO in MovieJeff.com Herstory. C’est la vie, or rather: AWOOOOOOOOOO! And to think, there was another Wolf (2021) I could've watched instead.

The great crime of this movie is that it seems to want to be an allegory for trans rights, and fails so spectacularly at it that I was in awe. So let me just set the record straight right away: it is my support of that cause which directly impacted my feelings towards this extremely bad film. People should support trans people, especially trans kids and teenagers. I hope people also try to make art with, about and for trans individuals. Now, more than ever, making the many great and sickening injustices known is 100% important work. But holy fucking shit... THIS AIN'T IT.

First off, how do we know this is trying to be a trans allegory? WELL. I didn't do a pantone analysis, but these uniforms ¹ and this jungle gym seem to be the same shade of pink and blue as the trans flag...




Also, the made-up affliction these young people are dealing with is called SPECIES DYSPHORIA.


All of its bad — "hit you over the head with a sledgehammer" really fucking obvious and bad — but it would have been (somewhat) fine if this movie had literally anything to say about it. Maybe if the lone romantic storyline in this 'trans allegory' wasn't one between two very attractive hetero young people? Maybe if....

Look. This isn't even worth my time dissecting the 'plot' or whatever the hell this story is even about, let alone 'what it's trying to say'. I am a huge fan of Yorgos Lanthimos, but I think this film might be evidence that no one should attempt to ape his style under circumstance. Fifteen minutes in, I wrote down my hypothesis for where this was gonna go: "He's going to turn out to be an actual werewolf, unlike these other kids, and he's gonna murder all the oppressers, and it's gonna be some failed satire about authority/institutions not letting people be their true selves." This proved inaccurate (well not the part about failing, anyway). In reality, this movie has nothing to say. The film ends with the one lead escaping to an uncertain future and the other returning to confinement as that's the only life she's ever known. At best it's just some gross statement to the affect of "damn, why people gotta be like that, huh? just let us act like animals no cap." It sucks ass.

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FOOTNOTES:

1. Just a quick note on this first image (although, not sure why I'm even bothering): this seems to be a continuity error, as the color tones in this picture are different than the more muted, not nearly as 'trans flag' resembling ones that they actually wear for most of the movie. My guess is that they swapped out the new look early on during filming because the color scheme was too 'on the nose' (not that it mattered one iota, but still). [BACK]

CHRONOLOGICALLY
⫷ EPISODE 450C - (YOU ARE HERE) - EPISODE 451 ⫸

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Wolf is a 2021 psychological drama film written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri. An international co-production of Ireland and Poland, it stars George MacKay, Lily-Rose Depp, Paddy Considine, Eileen Walsh, Fionn O'Shea and Lola Petticrew. The film premiered at the Cannes Film Festival. It was released on September 17, 2021.