THE WOLFPACK – The Review

Review by Stephen Jones

“Hey, did you hear about this family that kept all the kids inside? Apparently they only related to the outside world through movies.”

“Oh? That sounds weird, what else about them?”

“…nothing, really, just thought it was interesting.”

This is the vibe I got watching Crystal Moselle’s THE WOLFPACK. To be fair, the subject IS really interesting. The Angulo brothers were kept in an apartment on New York’s lower east side, forbidden to leave. Everything they know of the world outside is through movies they watch. For her directorial debut, Moselle immediately shows a good eye for subject matter. I just don’t know that she quite has the hang of saying anything about the subject matter.

There are aspects of the story that could’ve been fascinating. Their father, the driving force behind the family’s isolation, is seen only in archival footage for a while. The way he’s spoken of creates an ominous feel to him. When he does start participating in the documentary… there’s not much to him. At least not much shown.

It’s something that persists through the entire documentary. The one big development in the real-life “Dogtooth” is the eldest son leaving the apartment for the first time, and that’s obviously already happened before the documentary even starts. Other developments that could also provide some drama (or at least any sort of narrative) are treated with almost nonchalance. I couldn’t tell if it was a symptom of a first-time director or if Moselle deliberately avoided any sort of narrative structure in favor of simply displaying the family.

If it’s a deliberate choice, it’s not for the better. The movie’s best moment is a montage near the end of the change the family has and is undergoing. There are some genuinely effective moments, and there are seeds of a really great documentary in these moments. These, and the scene in which the brothers venture out to see their first film at the theater. That scene brought a nice big smile to my face.

There are subjects and documentaries that work just fine without any sort of narrative structure. But there’s a story to be found in THE WOLFPACK. Beats are danced around, alluded to, hinted at, but never told. As interesting as the family is, and they are plenty interesting, this documentary as it is could have easily been trimmed and been a stellar short documentary. At feature length, it’s still very good, but the story expands just enough to make me wish there were more.

3 3/4 of 5 Stars

THE WOLFPACK opens in St. Louis June 26th exclusively at Landmark’s The Tivoli Theater