The Wolfpack

The subjects of the new documentary "The Wolfpack" have to be some of the most odd people I've seen put to film all year. The individuals I'm talking about are a group of brothers who, throughout their childhood, were shut off from society and forced to stay in their New York City apartment. Being home-schooled and in a unique state of seclusion - in which they only got outside nine or ten times a year - they formed a religious love of movies. Without internet and with plenty of time on their hands, they compiled homemade scripts of their most treasured films (which range from "The Dark Knight" to "Gone With the Wind"). This, of course, all for the purpose of remaking them to their own delight. Cinema helps them pass the time and gain access to a bit of the world that they can't actually see themselves.

The opening sequence is most telling, in which they lovingly act out their favorite moments from Quentin Tarantino's "Reservoir Dogs". It's at once extremely funny, with their cardboard guns and baggy suits, yet haunting in the same sense. It's the definition of a fly-on-the-wall documentary, in which we're not really sure how the filmmakers found these kids, much less were allowed into their lives. The fact that some of this footage even exists is a testament to the superb direction by Crystal Moselle.

I found it captivating from beginning to end. The mystery of why these boys have been treated this way is handled excellently. Nothing is revealed too quickly, partly because the answers aren't all that simple. It's definitely a slow-build, but completely absorbing. You won't be able to take your eyes off this family. The story of their lives is incredibly gripping, and absolutely worthy of this skillfully-made film.

The documentary that leaves you with many different feelings. The failure of the father with the outside world, the psychological problems, the desperation of his mother, the silence of his mother maybe the cowardly, the communication of the boys with the father was given in a beautiful flow. More lively documentary with video recordings used in the past. Throughout the film you are watching with a lot of questions and emptiness. There is a lot of information, especially about his brothers, but his sister's world is not mentioned. 84 minutes is less, you think "but then" when the movie is over

I thought this documentary was a mess. Sketches of information were given to us and left up to the viewer to fill in the blanks. First and foremost, what is going on with the parents? We know that the father is abusive toward the mother and has kept her virtually locked away from her family and society. Okay, we get that. But then it shows a scene of her out jogging. Hello! Would you care to elaborate on why this woman who has been abused for 20 years is out exercising? Why did she decide to call her mother after all these years? If she is going outdoors now, too then does she plan on leaving him? Does she realize how sick her husband is? Well, we don't know what she thinks because it appears the film maker never asked her.

The father, who is the central character here, is shown as a lazy drunk who either is paranoid or uses his distrust of society as a reason to sit at home all day and drink. Why doesn't the filmmaker get him to talk so we can figure out if he's a leach or mentally ill? Does he abuse his kids, too? If he kept his kids inside all those years, he doesn't seem too upset that they're going out. And wait.....is that him and his wife walking hand and hand through a park together? If you find the 20/20 story somewhere then I recommend watching that instead of this. You'll come away with twice the understanding in half the time.

Greetings again from the darkness - from the Dallas International Film Festival. In what is one of the oddest real life stories I have ever seen, director Crystal Moselle takes her camera inside the Lower East Side apartment of the Angulo family – 6 brothers, one sister, and their parents. In their spare time, the kids re-enact movies within the apartment using elaborate costumes, sets and props. And no, that's not the odd part.

Despite being mostly teenagers, these siblings have only left their apartment a few times in their life – a very few times … maybe once or twice a year, and not at all one year. They have been home schooled by their mother and are quite charming and articulate, despite the quasi-prison environment. The kids are not abused in the physical sense, but an argument can be made that mental anguish is in play here.

Their movie scenes are fun to watch, especially given their Tarantino leanings with Reservoir Dogs and Pulp Fiction. Ms. Moselle manages to capture a significant amount within the confines of the apartment. Her interviews with the boys are enlightening, but it's the mother that provides the most context. Her regrets and dashed dreams for her kids cause her much pain, and it's quite clear that the dad has some type of psychological vice grip on the family. The dad raises some eyebrows when he states "My power is influencing people". As viewers, we don't see this, but there is physical proof to his claim.

With no shortage of powerful moments, there are still two that jump off the screen. The first occurs as the boys head out on their own to watch their first movie in a real theatre, and then have such a fan boy moment after watching The Fighter. The second involves the mom having a conversation with her mother after not speaking for more than two decades. It's an emotional moment.

We can't help but like the boys and pull for them to find some normalcy outside the walls of the apartment. Their final film project needs no additional commentary as the lead character watches various emotions travel past his window … fitting since a NYC apartment window provided this family its only glances at the real world for so many years.

In Wolfpack, winner of the Sundance Grand Jury Award (2015), the Angulo family is indeed alone and secluded from its environment. Secluded in their Lower Eastside of Manhattan apartment, the 6 children have rarely gone outside because father deems New York too dangerous. That's not the exceptional part of this odd-ball documentary.

The WOW factor is that the kids have grown up relatively unscathed by their isolation. Their saving grace has been their movie addiction, wherein they re-enact scenes from famous films such as Reservoir Dogs and The Dark Knight. Although we don't actually see them filming, we do watch them create ingenious costumes and devise tableaux to emphasize the drama, albeit fictional, found outside their cramped world. As in the recent Me and Earl and the Dying Girl, young people are turning to movies for their societal awareness and outlet for their creative impulses. It could be much worse.

That's all there is, Folks. First-time helmer Crystal Moselle doesn't allow much more depth, for instance on what makes their strong but not particularly articulate father, who gave his children Sanskrit names, do the things he does like imprisoning his kids to avoid their ruin from the streets of New York. Or why mom has been mostly withdrawn yet loving. However as in Grey Gardens, we are privileged observers without restraint, a virtue in documentary film making.

It's just that beyond the cardboard box Batman costumes and impressive toy guns, not much else happens. Perhaps it's the Seinfeld "about nothing" motif but only without Jerry's wit.