I declare In the Company of Wolves to
be a great movie. It’s a dreamlike dark fairy tale with its own logic (dream logic,
I guess). It has werewolves in the strictest sense but it’s not a werewolf
film, or even really a horror film. Based on a short story by Angela Carter,
who co-wrote the screenplay with director Neil Jordan, it brings the subtext of
Little Red Riding Hood (sex and predatory men) to text. But Carter and Jordan
turn the story on its ear – they empower Rosaleen, the red-hooded heroine, and
aren’t entirely clear about the wolves’ nature.
Most of the film is set in a
shadowy forest of mossy, gnarled trees and giant mushrooms; lizards, frogs,
snakes, and birds are tucked into almost every scene. The setting and the
man-to-wolf transformations work not because they’re believable or realistic
(they’re not) but because they fit the uncanny world. It has stories within a
dream within a story, and, though the logic of the real world doesn’t apply to
any of it, the story coheres.
Sarah Patterson, who was only about 13 when the film was shot, delivers a good performance as Rosaleen and I’m surprised she didn’t go on to do more. The rest of the cast is also very good: Angela Lansbury plays Granny, David Warner plays Rosaleen’s father, and Stephen Rea and Terence Stamp make short appearances.
Sarah Patterson, who was only about 13 when the film was shot, delivers a good performance as Rosaleen and I’m surprised she didn’t go on to do more. The rest of the cast is also very good: Angela Lansbury plays Granny, David Warner plays Rosaleen’s father, and Stephen Rea and Terence Stamp make short appearances.
This was a nice change of pace,
and my favorite of the new films I’ve watched this month.
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