Like me, you probably had never heard of Big Bad Wolves. However, as I was researching this week's DVD
releases, I noticed something... there weren't any. Except for this one Israeli flick that
Quentin Tarantino proclaimed to be his favorite film of 2013. So I thought to myself, "Alright. I like Tarantino. And I could use any excuse possible to put
off studying for finals. Let's give this
a shot." And you know what? I liked this one. I question why Tarantino thought so highly of
it, for it certainly doesn't shine with polish anywhere near as brightly as any
of his films. However, I can see that
Tarantino was a big influence on this film's creators, and the notes they take
from him make this a worthwhile flick.
There's a murderer and pedophile out there, torturing young
girls and leaving their bodies for the police to find. However, their heads are missing. Enter our three main characters: the teacher
who everyone believes is the murderer,
though he perpetually and heartfeltedly
professes his innocence; a cop obsessed with the prospect that this
teacher is, in fact, the murder, and is willing to beat a confession out of him;
and the father of one of the victims, who sets up a torture chamber in the
basement of his house so that he can pull the location of his daughter's head
from the teacher's bloody lips.
The majority of the runtime feels a lot like Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs, relying on the
interactions between these three characters in order to tell an intensely
subdued thriller. Thankfully, though, as
interesting as the characters are, the film doesn't rely entirely on their
dialogue. For the first act of the film,
there's actually very little explanatory dialogue, and you have to piece
together the plot as you watch. It's
refreshing to see a film that expects its audience to pay attention enough to
piece together its plot, and its clues are subtle and masterful in a way that
make the first forty minutes a puzzling, but fulfilling, experience. Then, when the film finally does ground
itself a bit, it exposits the main plot points with finesse, using snappy
dialogue and a fantastically bizarre sense of humor juxtaposed with the
brutality of tortuous violence.
Unfortunately, I feel like the violence is where the film
loses some of its charm. I don't want to
give away any of the details, but there are times where it felt more like a
low-budget snuff flick than a Tarantino-inspired film. I recognize that it's trying to evoke the
spirit of those snuff flicks, much like Tarantino does, but the difference is that
Tarantino usually uses violence in a greater story-telling context than for its own
sake. Even though the violence isn't
excessive, it does feel like the purpose of the more tortuous scenes was only
to show us someone suffering. There were
also a few scenes with what seemed to be an entirely superfluous character
showing up on a horse and... doing nothing.
Huh. That was weird. For every inspired moment of directorial
quirkiness, there's an uninspired element that prevents the film from achieving
greatness.
I'd like to see more from directors Aharon Kashales and
Navot Papushado in the future. They have
the potential to make something truly great if they can learn from their
mistakes. However, I can't say I loved
this particular movie. I liked it, but
it's nothing spectacular. If you like
Quentin Tarantino, I think you'll like Big
Bad Wolves. It's obviously inspired
by his work and enjoyable enough, even though it's inferior to anything it's
muse has produced.
Have a favorite Tarantino movie? Let me know in the comments below!
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