English Abstract Remarkable opera prima of Paul Dano, Wildlife paints the crisis of a marriage from the uncomfortable place (for more than one reason) and the point of view of the couple's teenage son in a Montana town in 1960, in an unpredictable story. The film demonstrates how with sobriety, few and precise dialogues and eloquence in the images, the dissolution of a marriage can be sensitively depicted, placing it at the opposite end of the strident and overloaded Story of a Marriage. And, of course, with great performances, standing out that of the young Ed Oxenbould and especially that of an incredible Carey Mulligan.

English Review It's 1960. Jeanette and Jerry (Carey Mulligan and Jake Gyllenhaal) and their teenage son Joe (Ed Oxenbould) have recently lived peacefully in a Montana town. The father works at a golf club and the mother, a former teacher, plays the role of housewife. But suddenly, Jerry is fired from his job, precipitating a marriage and family crisis.

Thus put, it seems like a conventional and over-traveled story. But this exemplary opera prima by fellow actor Paul Dano is anything but predictable, in the first place, because of the uncomfortable place it assigns to Joe in the development of the story.

The fluidity of the narration is perfect and it unfolds with equal reliability in the scenes in closed spaces, with several fixed planes, as in the beautiful outdoor images, with scenarios that always make dramatic sense. The use of ellipsis is also notable.

Despite being based on the novel Fires by Richard Ford (narrated in the first person, that of the endearing Joe, from whose point of view the film is also developed) luckily Wildlife avoids the narrator in off, since it is enough to see the Ed Oxenbould's expressive face to understand his feelings.

But it is Carey Mulligan, whose Jeanette is the true engine of the story, who gives us an extraordinary performance that beautifully develops the evolution of her character.

Paul Dano and his screenwriter Zoe Kazan (also a notable actress that we saw in The Plot Against America) demonstrate how with sobriety, few and precise dialogues and eloquence in the images, the dissolution of a marriage can be depicted, placing itself at the antipodes of the strident and overloaded Story of a Marriage.