7 | / 10 |
Users | 0.0 | |
Reviewer | 4.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
At the beginning of the 20th century on the island of La Réunion, five adolescents of good family, enamored with the occult, commit a savage crime.
Starring: Pauline Lorillard, Vimala Pons, Diane RouxelForeign | 100% |
Horror | 38% |
Surreal | 16% |
Dark humor | Insignificant |
Fantasy | Insignificant |
Adventure | Insignificant |
Mystery | Insignificant |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 1.65:1
Original aspect ratio: 1.66:1
French: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 (48kHz, 24-bit)
English, Spanish
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region free
Movie | 3.0 | |
Video | 5.0 | |
Audio | 4.5 | |
Extras | 3.0 | |
Overall | 4.0 |
“The Wild Boys” is an art film, unencumbered by the rules of mainstream cinema. Even better, it’s a French art film, which is pretty much code for “all bets are off.” Working his hands through concepts of horror, gender, and fantasy, writer/director Bertrand Mandico makes his feature-length directorial debut with this odyssey into the unknown, attempting to conjure a phantasmagoria of sensorial highlights and film school itches. “The Wild Boys” lives up to its title, with a distinctly free range feel to the picture, which endeavors to be the weirdest movie in recent memory and nearly succeeds. However, issues remain, as a brief sampling of the bodily evolution presented here is far more appetizing than the full meal Mandico has prepared.
The AVC encoded image (1.65:1 aspect ratio) presentation encounters more than a few encoding challenges during the course of "The Wild Boys." Not only is the feature hazily shot to begin with, but it deals with plenty of smoke and water, which usually trips up most transfers. The viewing experience holds on the entire ride, doing well with grain, which remains filmic, and detail, capturing all the goopy, hairy details of the feature, along with strange appearances, giving facial textures some real presence. Island particulars are also dimensional. B&W cinematography handles with authority, delivering brightness and appealing shadow play, and colors, while showing up only periodically, retain lushness, contributing to the nightmarish realm.
The 5.1 DTS-HD MA sound mix does a fine job immersing viewers into the strange magic of "The Wild Boys." Surrounds aren't especially active, but they do well with atmospherics, communicating the feeling of chaotic weather and island trouble. Scoring carries circular as well, making for some heavier synth waves. Dialogue exchanges are crisp and clean, conveying mischief and panic without distortion. Low-end is softer, but some of the violence carries weight.
"The Wild Boys" grows more abstract as its unfolds and finds its greatest inspiration on the island, which home to a sexualized playground that's borderline Henson-esque, giving the prisoners phallic fountains to pleasure and foliage to mount, with fluids altering them in unexpected ways. Pace is throttled by the arrival of Severine, who's handed a larger presence in the picture than necessary, but the overall idea of transformation, or liberation from gender assignment, is compellingly communicated. However, there's nearly two hours of the feature to work through, which is entirely too long for something this unreal. Mandico doesn't know how to get out of "The Wild Boys," so he plunges deeper into a filmmaking abyss, and the whole thing starts to become self-serving (a more natural rhythm of masturbation). Still, there are pieces of this puzzle that beguile, and the whole endeavor is commendable for its audacity.
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