Review: "The True Adventures of Wolfboy"

"The True Adventures of Wolfboy" is a sweet, whimsical modern fairy tale, though also a little bit sad. But the sadness feels right.  

If it seems premised on a gimmick -- a boy born with hirsutism, aka copious facial and body hair that makes him resemble the titular nickname, goes on a road trip to discover himself -- that's because it is, though the filmmakers are quick to acknowledge it. Screenwriter Olivia Dufault and director Martin Krejcí position the tone somewhere between literary fantasy and sobering verisimilitude. 

We may find the characters a little constructed or even weird, but their emotions and exploits land with surprising weight.

Jaeden Martell ("Knives Out") is Paul, a 13-year-old kid from Ohio. It's just him and his dad (Chris Messina), a decent if not particularly sensitive sanitation worker who loves his son and wants him to fit in and be happy. He doesn't seem to realize that can't happen when people stare at you wherever you go, and many boys are keyed up to bullying mode at first encounter. 

Paul wears a ski mask most everywhere he goes, which isn't very far. His dad is pitching him on a private school for kids with varying sorts of physical disabilities, and even buys him the coat-tie-and-shorts uniform to try out. But Paul has received a surprise birthday gift from the mother he has never met, inviting him to come visit her in Pennsylvania and find out the truth of why she left.

So off Paul goes, to have the aforementioned adventures. The filmmakers cleverly divide these up into chapters based on the new people he will meet, presented as illustrated pages of a storybook. So for example when he meets a vaguely punk girl with pink hair and an eye patch with a penchant for robbing stores, she becomes the Pirate Queen.

I just love, love, love this cast. Martell is sensitive and soulful as Paul, but also not afraid to show us a young man with some bite in him. He's been kicked around and devalued by everyone in his life, most especially himself, and as he enters the cusp of manhood a part of him is eager to stiffen his spine and fight back. This could lead him to self-confidence but also potentially to becoming that which he beheld.

Eve Hewson is charismatic and cagey as Rose, the aforementioned pirate girl, who seems like she's holding onto all sorts of secrets that don't come through in her dialogue. She lives in her van and actually looks forward to the possibility of prison as a welcome break in her routine.

John Turturro plays Mr. Silk, the extravagantly ostentatious owner of a third-rate carnival near Paul's home. He wanders in there and is offered a job as a circus freak, though Silk is careful to couch it in more positive -- though certainly manipulative -- terms. We'll see more of him later.

The always-wonderful Stephen Henderson shows up as an older man who has some special insight for Paul. There's just something about Henderson's voice and poise that instantly makes you feel safe and welcome. Chloë Sevigny plays his mom, whose meeting with Paul is everything and nothing we'll expect.

And then there's Sophie Giannamore as Aristiana, the "mermaid" Paul meets in the course of his journeys. She's about the same age as him, but at night when her mom is working she wanders over to drag bars where she performs onstage, favoring colorful costumes. Aristiana is hopeful but realistic, making her way through a world that devalues her and may even shorten her life, but with a sense of willful self-awareness most people don't possess at 64, let alone 14.

It's rare that you see a child actor and immediately think, "I can't wait to see what they do next." Natalie Portman, Haley Joel Osment, Jodie Foster and Jacob Tremblay were on that very short list. Now, so is Giannamore.

"The True Adventures of Wolfboy" is a marvel, a movie that feels quite old but also very much part of the here and now. All of us have our flaws and freakishness, some closer to the surface than others. Sometimes you have to go a long way to find out where home is.

 

Video review: "Queen & Slim"

Angela and Earnest only had one date together, but it lasted six days and left an enduring legacy.

That's the story of "Queen & Slim," a powerful drama starring Jodie Turner-Smith and Daniel Kaluuya in a modern-day Bonnie and Clyde tale with overtones of race, power and regret. It's not based on a true story, but has the weight of authenticity as they flee the authorities as virtual strangers and become soulmates along the way.

The movie begins with an all-too-familiar anecdote: a young black couple are driving at night when they are stopped by police on flimsy grounds. The officer (Sturgill Simpson), twitchy and white, orders them around and overreacts to Earnest's complaint that it's cold standing outside while the cop fruitless searches his trunk. Things escalate, shots are fired, and soon they're on the run, labeled as cop-killers.

The movie, directed by Melina Matsoukas from a script by Lena Waithe, diverges from a typical crime potboiler. Angela and Earnest, or Queen and Slim as they come to be known, are not in a relationship. They just finished their first date after meeting on Tinder, and frankly it didn't go very well. He was condescending, she was abrasive, and without intervention they likely never would've seen each other again.

Angela is also a criminal defense attorney, which you'd think would compel her to stop, surrender and let the system of law in which she operates take over. But no -- she knows all too well how the courts are rigged against African-Americans, and it's she who insist they flee.

Eventually they become a media sensation, dubbed Queen and Slim, carrying authorities on a chase from Ohio to Louisiana and Florida. Initially traumatized by their situation, they gradually embrace the experience and their roles as outlaw icons.

At one point Slim asks a young boy to take their photograph in front of their getaway car. They have traded in their looks of benign young professionals for street clothes from her uncle (Bokeem Woodbine), a hostile New Orleans pimp, and look very much the part of hardened criminals. This picture becomes a lesson in how an image can be distorted through its proliferation in pop culture.

I admired the way the filmmakers never quite join in the celebration of the duo, understanding that many of their actions are wrong, and that people have varying reactions to them according to their own beliefs. A black mechanic who fixes their car is indifferent, even contemptuous, while a rich middle-aged white couple (Chloe Sevigny and Flea) offer life-saving help even as they regret the uprising of anger left in their wake.

"Queen & Slim" is both angry and sorrowful, suspenseful and lyrical. We travel along with these two, feeling their sense of doom with every mile. We are hesitant to cheer or condemn them, but just wish their journey would keep going.

Bonus features are ample, starting with a feature-length audio commentary track by Matsoukas and Waithe -- two (or more) are always better than one with these. There are also four making-of documentary shorts:

• "A Deeper Meaning," looking at the film's themes and reverberations
• "Melina & Lena," about the two primary principle creatives
• "Off the Script," showing the evolution of the screenplay from first draft to final
• "On the Run with Queen & Slim," a travelogue of the settings and behind-the-scenes action

Movie:

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Reeling Backward: "Kids" (1995)

Watching "Bully" was compelling enough to make me want to investigate the film oeuvre of director Larry Clark further, and I thought going back to his controversial debut movie, "Kids," was a logical choice.

Clark has an interesting biography for a filmmaker. He made his name as a photographer, specializing in lurid portraits of young (often underage) subjects engaged in drugs and sex. He made his first attempt at filmmaking in his early 50s, recruiting a 19-year-old skateboarder named Harmony Korine to bang out a script reflecting the wastrel lives of himself and his peers floundering around New York City.

(Korine has gone on to a fitful cinematic career of his own, recently directing "Spring Breakers.")

The cast was made up entirely of unknown amateurs, with two now-famous actresses making their debuts: Rosario Dawson and Chloe Sevigny. Both are vibrant presences in the film, especially Dawson, who comes off incredibly naturalistic and at ease.

Justin Pierce is also very good as Casper, though Leo Fitzpatrick is often leaden and unconvincing as Telly, the ostensible lead character. Other characters float in and out of the action, hanging out with Casper and Telly as they wander around the city, drinking, smoking dope, getting into fights and having indiscriminate sex.

The story unfolds on two separate tracks, initially divided by gender. Ruby (Dawson) and Jennie (Sevigny) talk boisterously with their girlfriends about their sexual escapades, while Telly, Casper and a bunch of guys do the same. It's both shocking and funny, listening to kids ranging from age 12 up to maybe 16 discuss things like blow jobs and anal sex.

We suspect that at least some of them are bluffing about their experiences, but we know Telly is not. The very first scene involves him convincing a 12-year-old girl to have sex with him. With his angular, scrawny body, crooked teeth and mush-mouth speech, Telly does not seem like much of a Don Juan. But his specialty is enticing and deflowering very young virgins -- whom he then immediately disposes of.

One of his conquests was Jennie, who never had sex before or since. Ruby, though, has had enough sexual partners to fill a lifetime, and she's worried about having AIDS. A flashback scene shows her getting tested at a local clinic a week earlier, with Jennie coming along for moral support, and getting tested while she's there. The Q&As with the clinic nurses are disturbing, both for the bored tone of the questioners and the shocking answers Ruby provides.

It's soon revealed that Ruby is OK, but Jennie is HIV positive. It's important to keep in mind that in 1995, having HIV was considered a virtual death sentence. The only question was how long you had to live.

Since Jennie only every had sex with Telly, it stands to reason she got HIV from him -- which also means his roving conquest of the city is exposing who knows how many very young girls to the disease. She sets off to find Telly and warn him, and especially any girls he might be wooing, of the danger.

Beyond this narrative thread, there really isn't much story in "Kids." Much like the early half of "Bully," Clark's camera just follows the kids around in a cinema verite style as they indulge in disturbing behavior. Indeed the film, which received an NC-17 rating from the MPAA, was perceived as a documentary by many audiences.

About that NC-17 -- the depictions in the film aren't really that outrageous, other than showing underage characters having sex and doing drugs, though some of the actors were actually over 18. (Sevigny was 20 when the film was shot, but with her short blonde pixie cut, looks about 14.) Even though the actors are sometimes partially or fully undressed, Clark's camera carefully avoids showing breasts or genitals -- unlike "Bully," which practically leers at its cast's young bodies.

Clark seems to have a fixation for a certain body type: extremely lean and hairless, stuck somewhere between adolescence and adulthood. The actors always look underfed, and it's notable that although we see them smoking and drinking up a storm, they hardly seem to eat at all. It seems likely that Clark's film contributed to the "heroin chic" look of the 1990s.

"Kids" is hardly a great piece of filmmaking, but several of the performances are standouts, and there's something strangely alluring about his rambling scenes of underage children sitting around, talking trash and getting high.

Clark seems to make no judgment about their bad behavior, merely depicting things going on around us that we'd rather pretend don't exist. Despite its rough ages, there is a vitality and immediacy to "Kids" that is potent and memorable.