Wildlife

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source: Wildlife

This is an outstanding film, with impressive, deliberate directing from Paul Dano, a superb script, and phenomenal acting.

Firstly: I'm shocked how many of the poor reviews for this say things like it's "boring" because I don't think they're picking up on the silent destruction of the marriage and the son's realisation that his perfect family is anything but. If you don't like this kind of character-driven story, just don't watch this movie. You won't enjoy it. That being said, this movie is to others such as Hugo, by which adult dynamics are processed through the eyes of an adolescent character. Subtle and well done, Jake Gyllenhaal in particular is phenomenal in this film. A wonderfully complex exploration of the impacts of mental illness with as much hope as disappointment. Just know: If you go in expecting explosions and gunfights, you may be disappointed. For myself, this made me excited to see what Paul Dano does next.

I don't know why this movie was made. The story is terrible and disjointed. I don't get why somebody thought it was kind of cool to show the parents showing such weakness towards their kid. It was like the kid was the less weak out of this weak trio. Don't get me wrong, the kid was pretty pathetic too. The whole movie made me want to gag with all this touchy feely weak at the knees characters. Jake is just kind of a strange actor to me. The dude just seems weird. This whole movie was just weird and a downer. I don't know how many times I wanted to slap both the mom and the dad for being such weenies. I guess these days, Hollywood thinks this is the fashionable American household. I don't know how many times after watching a movie, I throw my hands up, shake my head and go, "and this movie was made because"? The only thing I got after watching this movie was this burning desire to line all 3 of these characters up and do a three stooges slap.

Great cast. Terribly written and so slow it actually made 2 people fall asleep. I get what they were going for but they really missed the mark. It was a pretty annoying movie. A lot of hype for this film so I was happy to see it. When you see people leave mid way its a terrible sign This is an easy skip..

There are stories that need to be told and enjoyable and have something about them. This I found trite, over long and utterly pointless. I had very little sympathy for the character apart from their desire to survive at all costs. The inexplicable desertion of Jake Gyllenhaal's character, seemed to be incidental though central and the movie ambled along from the child / teenagers point of view without really fully exploring his emotions. His characters meeting with a fellow student and their friendship again was incidental and never really explored. You could sum the movie up by simply saying.. Down on their luck parents + teenage son. Dad loses Job and buggers off, Mum becomes a prostitute to make ends meet. The end. The best part of 2 hours of my life I'll never get back.

I'm generally not drawn to subjects portrayed in this movie but after a full year of sheltering in place I decided to give it a go. It is a good movie particularly in the context of being Dano's screenwriting and directorial debut. It's much more sophisticated than one might expect for a young director's first outing. I grew up in the 50's and 60's and my parents actually split up in 1962 when my mother (like Jeanette) simply decided she didn't want to be a married housewife anymore. Even though the story is much more complex than the childhood memories I have of my personal experiences at the time, I still enjoyed it; perhaps because it gave me a more sophisticated and nuanced view of what my parents, siblings, and myself went through at the time. Kudos to Mr. Dano.

It's 1960 small town Montana. Jeannette (Carey Mulligan) and Jerry Brinson (Jake Gyllenhaal) seem to be a loving couple with their teenage son Joe. Jerry loses his groundskeeper job at a golf course. Instead of accepting an offer to return to his old job, he surprises his family and takes off to fight wildfires burning nearby. The couple fights. Jeannette goes out with the older successful Warren Miller who owns a car dealership. Paul Dano is trying his hand in directing and adapting this novel with his partner Zoe Kazan. It's a slow and quiet start. Dano does leave a sense of foreboding with his style and an unnerving Gyllenhaal. With his departure, Mulligan takes over with a devastating performance. I do wish for the boy to do more with the girl. He's the audience substitute as he sits quietly while the firestorm rages all around. This is a movie of quiet explosions. These are two great actors doing some powerful acting.