Jacob, a man who believes he is a wolf trapped in a human body, is sent to a clinic by his family where he is forced to undergo increasingly extreme forms of "curative" therapies at the hands of The Zookeeper. Jacob’s only solace is the enigmatic wildcat with whom he roams the hospital in the dead of night. The two form an improbable friendship that develops into infatuation.
- Released: 2021-12-03
- Runtime: 98 minutes
- Genre: Drama, Mystery, Thrillers
- Stars: George MacKay, Lily-Rose Depp, Paddy Considine, Fionn O'Shea, Lola Petticrew, Senan Jennings, Darragh Shannon, Elisa Fionuir, Amy Macken, Helen Behan, Shelley Atkinson
- Director: Nathalie Biancheri
Comments
- phil-shimmin-116-835853 - 23 October 2023
Beautiful, haunting and hard to watch
This film isn't going to be for everyone, but it was for me. It is a slow, thoughtful study of a very unusual form of mental illness along with the reactions and occasional outright cruelty of those around them.
It is well acted, and in particular you can tell how much study George MacKay has put into his movement, mannerisms and character, but honestly all the acting worked for me. I found it moving overall and the desire of some of the kids to withdraw was heartbreaking. There was also a tension in interactions that slipped into violence, particularly during one to one sessions with the lead psychiatrist (Paddy Considine), and these scenes were the ones that were difficult to watch. But cinema should challenge!
All in all, a difficult one to recommend, but I felt like I needed to post given some of the negative reviews and comments. It felt like some people were expecting a very different move, so I wanted to give a spoiler free impression from someone that really enjoyed it. - rosemaryloftis - 14 October 2022
Finally... something really provocative
Thought provoking and provocative!
As others have said in review don't go in with expectations just embrace it. For the budget, this was done really well. A little bit of cliché with mental institutions taking extreme measures on the patients. Script could have worked a little bit more on characterization and building underlying reasons the characters chose the identities.
Absolutely love the script and the courage to push the envelope. I have seen this throughout my life with others, not to the extremes as these characters present, but we all take on personas to deal with tough issues. I didn't think this was too far-fetched and I think there's a lot more reality to this than people think. If societal norms for more excepting I believe people would show more of their primal side, and listen to their instincts. We have been so domesticated, and live in boxes, and so far from our instinctual primal selves, that we have become our own worst enemies in a world full of depression.
