The boys are unleashed. In the early 1900s, five teenagers from rich families are sent on a repressive cruise after murdering their teacher. Led by a violent captain, they arrive on a strange island with luxuriant, supernatural vegetation. As the song says, “a change is gonna come”.
In his first feature, Bertrand Mandico deepens the universe of his award-winning shorts: cinema as something organic, only-shot-on-film, where bodies are shrouded by highly-stylised, sexy and wild visuals. A world of literal (bodily) and metaphorical fluids. The Wild Boys manages the crazy feat of merging such disparate influences and genres as Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim, Rainer Werner Fassbinder, Kenneth Anger, 80’s New Wave, Joseph Von Sternberg and Wakamatsu Koji in a gorgeous (mostly) black-and-white feast of magical visions. With the strength of poetry rather than speeches, the film pleads for a fluid sexual identity to free ourselves.
Trailer
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Film details
- Country of production
- France
- Year
- 2017
- Festival edition
- IFFR 2018
- Length
- 110'
- Medium/Format
- DCP
