Dunlop – who also wrote, edited, produced, shot, and co-wrote the score – is a true force of nature. He favors a contemplative mood, with static and slowly panning shots, gently luring the viewer into his twisted world. The filmmaker introduces several disorienting jump-cuts to the mix to reflect the protagonist’s disheveled state of mind. Everything in Wolves is immersed in monochrome gray, tar-black, and eggshell-white. From the gorgeous opening shot of a person jogging down by a river, streetlights reflected on its dark surface, to the final, restaurant-set sequence, Dunlop creates an atmosphere of unease and subliminal tension.
“…Nocent provides an incredible performance.”
By turns likable and detestable, Nocent provides an incredible performance. With nary a word, he communicates volumes. His character steals, lies, and hurts people. But he’s also alone, harboring a darkness that no one but him could ever understand. Who can’t relate to that? After getting shot in the neck, his character removes the bullet shard in a fluorescent bathroom. The magic of this scene lies in the fact that it’s not so much what he’s doing that’s deeply troubling, but how he does it and what goes on in his head.
When loneliness reaches its peak, things like dating sites and a potential friend reaching out become meaningless. Your mind finds safety in purpose. Without purpose, we essentially cease to be human. Dunlop doesn’t provide easy answers: is society to blame for his hero’s emotional destitution, or perhaps childhood trauma? Maybe we are all wired this way, to constantly wrestle with the darkest of desires, and some of us are just better at it than others. Like wolves, we tend to hunt in packs, but every once in a while, a lone wolf separates himself or is exiled. Wolves takes a look at what may happen to that wolf.
Wolves screened at the 2022 Cinequest Film Festival.
"…one of the most disturbing films of the year."
