In the opening scenes of the film the furry faced ‘Wolfboy’ is at an old fashioned Carnival being aggressively encouraged by his father to have some fun. Meanwhile he is also being mercilessly taunted by some teenage boys from his school. We not only feel as unhappy as Paul the Wolfboy but are also already convinced we will not be able to last watching until the final credits roll.
How wrong we were. This film, the directing debut of Martin Krejčí the Los Angeles-based, Czech-born filmmaker, from a script by trans writer Olivia Dufault is one of the best unconventional coming out films we have seen a for a very long time.
It is the story of 13 year old Paul (the very talented Jaeden Martell) who has hypertrichosis, a condition that causes unusual amounts of hair to grow on the face and body. His single parent dad (Chris Messina) does his best to make the world a better place for his son. but what Paul craves is his mother who had left them both straight after he was born.
So he runs off in the middle of the night determined to track her down, and what is essentially a sort of road movie, turns into a journey of fantasy and discovery that eventually enables Paul to find and accept his truth.
His first encounter is back at the Carnival where the owner (a very over-the-top John Turturro) wants to exploit Paul as a sideshow attraction. That ends in a desperate Paul escaping by burning the place down.
His next ‘adventure’ is an encounter with Aristiana a teenage self-assured transgender ‘mermaid’ (the debut acting role of trans actress Sophie Giannamore ). She is probably the most exciting person Paul has ever come across in his life and she dazzles him with both her glamour and confidence
Together they quickly become fast friends and inseparable as she introduces him to her own world where being different is the norm, and slowly he starts to feel at home. The only down side of Aristiana’s bubbly life is her mother’s refusal to accept her gender.
In fact Dufault’s script cleverly draws several parallels with both their own journeys for acceptance..
After quite a few detours and now being pursued by an eager Police Detective and an outraged Carnival Owner, Paul finally makes it to his mother (a finely nuanced performance by Chloë Sevigny)
No spoilers here at all, but we can say what we are grateful to Krejčí for is giving us (and them) a happy ending even though it is not the one we had imagined.
The film contains a wonderful lesson in acceptance and finding out that your own truth may not always be the same as others in your life. It’s not always an easy journey but Wolfboy at least shows it is full of possibilities if we are open to them
We so hope this exceptional wee film finds the audience it deserves.
Available On Demand & Digital Friday, October 30
