The Wolf and the Ewe

I was fortunate enough to catch this film at the Final Cut Film Festival at BYU Provo. Like most of the films there, I had no expectations or references to base my opinion of the film on so I had a clear mind to judge it. Reading the synopsis in the pamphlet, my curiosity began to be aroused. Mythical creatures? Characters speaking Romanian? Father and daughter bonding? It screamed Grimm fairy tale. Sure enough, what we got was very much like that.

As I mentioned in the title, the film that this made me think of the most was Pan's Labyrinth. We follow a young girl who is too curious for her own good. We have lavish visuals creating a surreal yet balanced tone to the story. We have a mystical monster who inspires just as much fear as he does awe. The film structures itself like Pan's Labyrinth to be some form of haunting tale about the dangers of the world and how we deal with them. For the most part, I would say that it works very well.

The technical work manages to overcome its small budget to create a sense of location and tone. There are no buildings or sets used in the film, but well used location shots create scope and a sense of movement as we go from one place to another. The camera-work utilizes lighting and shot composition effectively to capture the contrast between the protection of the day and the haunting presence of the night. Other details like costume manage to give the impression of a foreign film without needing to be overly lavish or detailed. On a whole, the look of the film is well made.

There is a very poetic style to the way the film is written and acted. The dialogue is simple yet substantial to allow audience to feel the emotional resonance of what is being said. The plot is not very complicated either, but manages to establish its own unique lore particularly in the third act. The lead actors playing the father and daughter are finely underplayed to give a grounded tone to the surrealism surrounding them.

However, it is the haunting presence of the wolf-like Pricolici that is the film's highlight. Drenched in shadow (to hide the budget limitations of course) and voiced with menace by Jeff Dickamore, there is no doubt that this creature is not of an Earthly nature. Its taunting dialogue will unnerve plenty of viewers as it spins the creepy tale of its creation and purpose. The fact that the scene is so memorable despite being so short shows its power.

Unfortunately, I did have some issues with the production. As great as the story is, I did feel that the actual ending was a bit...confusing. Not that it was a bad ending, but it felt like I did not understand the point they were trying to make by the event that happened. Call me dumb, but I think it could have been portrayed a slightly different way to make the point more clearly while retaining its artistic value.

The biggest offender, however, is the sound design. As good as the music is, it rarely ever peaks or intensifies even in the most tense scenes. We are often just hearing the same measures on repeat, which can only sustain a film for so long. The sound effects were worst however. Most of them were just fine, but key moments of sound design like the climax lack intensity or emphasis. It makes it hard for me to care if someone gets tackled if it sounds like the man hit a pillow! With a few more powerful effects, those scenes would have played strong in my opinion.

While certainly lacking in a few qualities, this was still the second best film I saw at the festival just behind Mr. Bellpond. Haunting, smartly produced, well written and visually striking, the director should be proud of the production and we can only hope he comes up with even better work in the future.