Paul Dano (the actor who played Daniel Day Lewis' son in There Will Be Blood (2007), Steve Carell's nephew in Little Miss Sunshine (2006), and Hugh Jackman's daughter's kidnapper in Prisoners (2013)) makes his directorial debut with Wildlife, a family drama set in the '50s and based on Richard Ford's novel.
Wildlife is the story of a family that is going through a life-changing crisis but it is all told through a teenager's point of view. The tale is simple: Jake Gyllenhaal (Nightcrawler (2014), Brokeback Mountain (2005)) plays Jerry, a hard-working dad who struggles to feed his family, but when he gets laid-off, he becomes restless and faces self-doubt about his success on the American Dream. When he unexpectedly decides to get the low-paying but dangerous job of fighting fires (a calling that, at last, makes him passionate), he leaves his family surprised and frustrated. Carey Mulligan (An Education (2006), Never Let Me Go (2010))plays Jeanette, the mother who feels betrayed and soon goes through a middle-age crisis of her own. She gets a job, she panically thinks of moving to a more affordable house and she starts flirting with a rather wealthy man.
The two adults' actions are never fully explained or analysed; they are just told matter-of-factly as the teenage son of the family, Joe (Ed Oxenbould), sees and misunderstands them. The boy is treated as an adult by his mother who tries to teach him a lot of the lessons that she has learned in the depressive state that she is in. Jeanette is transformed in front of her son's eyes from a dependent happy mother to a sensual woman who does not need her husband; and this is a discomforting situation for a child who has to grow up fast. Mulligan gives an excellent performance here, one of the most mature of her career. As for Oxenbould, his stoic observation of events is also great, despite its lack of sentimental ups and downs.
It is only natural for a boy in his early teens not to realise what the complicated adults are going through; all their inexplicable choices and mistakes are seen as crazy and spiteful. This does not mean that they aren't, however; it is just evident that children see the world as a simpler place. When Gyllenhaal comes on screen, his constantly calm presence is that of a lost adult boy, a man who tries to find his place in the world but has lost his place in his family. His son, who makes an effort to catch up with the maturity that is asked of him, can only see the irrational and childish behaviour of his parents; the audience, too, understands and can judge the bad decisions they've made but is, like Joe, just an observer to a damaged life that has taken the road of no return.
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