Big Bad Wolves (2014)

"Big Bad Wolves" is, despite the English title, an Israeli Hebrew-language movie from 2013, so this one will have its 5th anniversary next year. Keshales and Papushado are a duo of writers and directors, who have collaborate on several other occasions too, but the great deal of awards recognition this one here got makes it their most known work at this point. The film may not have been picked by the country to represent Israel at the Oscars this year, but it still managed some attention in America besides the great deal it received in Europe anyway. At 110 minutes, it isn't a short movie at all, but still it basically never drags at all. I personally would categorize it as a thriller as it is the story of a man / several men torturing the prime suspect in a case of several murdered young girls. So yes the violence is really graphic in here at times and this includes multiple cases of beatings, broken fingers, torn-out toenails and even the use of a flame cutter on one occasion. But still, there is a great deal of comedy here too, pretty dark comedy actually, but funny such as the cake eating scene and several other smaller moments like oddball ringtones coming at the perfect time or the kid of a police chief copying his father to the protagonist's disbelief.To me personally not all the transformations felt entirely realistic to be honest. For example the way in which the (former) cop doesn't mind violence early on, is ready to shoot the suspect in that Russian Roulette scene and is 100% sure he did it and how he suddenly believes it's not him who did it when joining the father felt as strange as the father's father joining the gang like a complete lunatic in order to get out the admission of guilt. And another negative aspect was the music (surprised to see some awards bodies loved it too) as it really was way over the top in some of the dramatic moments. Sometimes less can be more. But I can ignore that in the face of everything else about the film I think as this was pretty good pretty entertaining. By the way the cop I mentioned earlier looked a bit like Al Pacino and the father resembled an actually talented Heino Ferch. But that's just random notes going through my head. The inclusion of smaller supporting characters like the man on horseback had a touch of Coen Bros to it and maybe they inspired the makers here. On other moments, the film felt a bit Tarantinoesque and I am not surprised he called it his favorite film of 2013 at all. I probably wouldn't call it that, but I am glad it got to theaters here once more some years after its release because it is definitely worth seeing on the big screen. One of the most interesting things about the film is also the way in which the audience sees the suspect. Even if you cannot really enjoy anything else about the movie, then you will still inevitably be drawn in by the question if he did it or not and my perception was always the same as the one of the Pacino lookalike. Early on yes, then no, then finally maybe until the revelation at the end which makes it obvious and the very final shot which makes it clear. This shot also makes me think that it really isn't a comedy by definition, but that the crime thriller aspects prevail. I also do believe they had to take that route because they never offered another suspect and also it would have been difficult to justify the violence before against him if he had been really innocent. It would have made sense from the irrational dad's perspective still, but most audiences won't be ready to understand that. And finally, I would like to mention the strong performances. The cast is relatively small, especially after the long introduction, but the core characters are all memorable thanks to the writing and physical acting too. Well done. By the way, early on I thought the father character was the bad guy when he tested out the house how people could or couldn't hear screams from the basement, but he clearly had other things in mind. That's all now I think. There were moments when the film had the potential to be among the year's best, but overall it comes slightly short. But it is still very much worth seeing. I give it a thumbs-up for sure and recommend you to check it out.

A few years ago I saw the film Rabies (2010) which was notable for being the first horror film to emerge from Israel. This fact made it instantly quite interesting, the movie itself was more decent than great although it did have the distinctive factor of being a maniac-in-the-woods film where the killer is not all that important and is merely a catalyst for a tide of criminal and homicidal behaviour carried out by all the other 'innocent' characters. So it was a film that did present a familiar story in an unusual way, which is exactly what its directors Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado have done with their follow up Big Bad Wolves. The story here has a young girl go missing during a game of hide and seek. The chief suspect is taken to an abandoned warehouse and roughly questioned by police. The damaging footage is secretly filmed and put on the internet and the cop who had exacted the most violence on the suspect is taken off homicide; this leads him to go rogue, kidnap the suspect and try to force a confession out of him. The situation gets far more volatile when the father of the murdered girl turns up and enacts his own even fiercer brand of vigilantism.This could have been a typical serial killer thriller but what makes it a bit unusual is that the audience are never at any point told just why the police or the vengeful father are so convinced that the suspect is the child killer. By withholding this information the film-makers create a tension that plays upon our uncertainty. It makes the torturous interrogation methods used seem horrendous and it makes us think that the accused should be given a fairer hearing. Quite cleverly, this decision strips us of any pre-conceived ideas and takes away a lot of inbuilt prejudice that many of us would carry into a highly unpleasant case involving a potential paedophile child killer, the result is it makes us more clearly question both the vigilante and heavy-handed police methods. As it transpires in the story, the torture doesn't actually ultimately help find the dead or missing girl.I would definitely consider this movie a step up from Rabies (2010). Quentin Tarantino had even declared it his favourite film of 2013, which I don't think it would be unfair to say is certainly something of an overstatement. Nevertheless, it is an interesting thriller that leads its audience down a carefully planned path that makes them question certain impulses and assumptions. I'm not so sure, however, on the use of black comedy here though. It felt a bit out of place considering the grim nature of the subject matter underpinning events. Still, I guess it did alleviate what could otherwise have been exceptionally full-on material. There are instances of some very wince-inducing violence it has to be said, although it stops short of truly going into torture-themed horror territory. It's more of a very dark thriller about three bad fathers. It ends on an unusual low-key but nihilistic tone, which admittedly makes us then reassess our judgements from earlier yet again and some actions that beforehand had seemed very bad now seem a lot more justifiable. Yeah, this deceptively simple movie is one that gets you thinking alright.

Since reading about them making the first ever Israeli Horror Rabies after seeing Julie Estelle living Comic-Book role as "Hammer Girl" in Gareth Evans Neo-Noir epic The Raid 2,I've been meaning to check the work of writers/directing duo Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado.Getting the honour of being the host for an event held on IMDb's Film Festival,I was excited to find that Papushado and Keshales latest had been chosen for the fest,which led to me crying wolf.The plot:After the kidnapping of a number of schoolgirls (who are found murdered) police officer Micki believes that school teacher Dror is the killer. Grabbing Dror,Micki starts torturing him for info.Failing to get any info,Micki receives an anonymous call over the location of the latest victim,whose head has been taken. Unknown to Micki,someone has recorded his beating,which leads to him getting sacked. Blaming himself for his daughters death, Gidi learns that Dror is the main suspect.As Micki vows to go rogue and get a confession, Gidi starts getting set to make Dror afraid of the big bad wolf.View on the film:Backed by an excellent roaring score from Haim Frank Ilfman,writers/directors Aharon Keshales/Navot Papushado and cinematographer Giora Bejach cast an atmosphere of Neo-Noir dread,set alight by the kids being caught in the darkness via stylish slow motion,and wide crane shots capturing the isolated Noir world the duo now inhabit. Locking the guys up in one room,the directors deliver the violence with a blunt-force,that is burnt with a gallows edge to the torture,which gives it an under the skin seedy edge.Before the wolves cross paths,the screenplay by Keshales and Papushado take inspiration from Nordic Noir,as Micki's claws of high-level corruption shine as the police find themselves in the wilderness over identifying the killer. Locking them in a basement with strips of jet-black Comedy,the writers cross the paths of Micki,Gidi and Dror (played by the excellent trio Tzahi Grad, Lior Ashkenazi and Rotem Keinan) and get the tools to drill rough Horror with crisp Neo-Noir discoveries.Whilst the comedic shots give the torture a jet-black snap,the writers become unwilling to cut into the inner horrors of the trio,which leads to the characters remaining still and failing to slice into the power-play Noir offering that is at hand,as the wolves blow the house down.

I guess it must be me, I must have missed something here because what I just saw wasn't the next big thing! Even as the almighty Tarantino recommended this flick. I can't say that it was boring but the two questions you want to be answered were, who has done it and where's the head.It started off promising with the killing of a child, abused and decapitated. I thought we were going to be in a ride to hell and the first minutes it did with the interrogation of the pedophile but once that's over and the so-called pedophile is captured by the father of the murdered child this flick turns into a lot of blah blah with black humour. But away goes the gore until the final. It wasn't all that bad because you want to know the why and who and where and you will keep watching until the end but the ending wasn't a surprise at all for me.The torture that you will see is well done and is on the edge of gore and it do has a horror and low comedy over it all but almost being pushed to watch this I was left with a bitter feeling. Go give it a try but I can understand that a lot of geeks will be disappointed.Gore 1/5 Nudity 0/5 Effects 3/5 Story 2,5/5 Comedy 0,5/5