The 2011 Tribeca Film Festival hosted the premiere of one of my favorite movies of that year, the Israeli horror film Rabies directed by Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado. This year they are back at TFF to debut their second feature, a revenge driven crime drama/thriller/comedy titled Big Bad Wolves.
When a young girl is brutally murdered, Detective Miki (Lior Ashkenazi–Footnote) is willing to go to great lengths to prove that Professor Dror (Rotem Keinan) is the man responsible. Though it isn’t clear how Dror became a suspect in the case, what happens after is the focus of the film. After being temporarily suspended from the force, Miki continues to pursue Dror but he isn’t the only one on that quest. The father of the murdered girl, Gidi (Tzahi Grad), is on to Dror as well and eventually the two capture and begin to interrogate the accused killer in the basement of an isolated home. But this isn’t a regular interrogation, Gidi is willing to do whatever is necessary to get the information regarding the location of his daughter’s head…and death is most certainly an option in his playbook.
As a huge fan of the film Rabies it was only natural that I would compare the two works together. Rabies and Big Bad Wolves are very different films; one is very intense, gruesome and hilariously clever while the other is more of a slow burning, patient revenge driven drama/thriller. The only similarities between the two are that they both are very funny and express violence well (they tase a dog in this movie and its hilarious!). Keshales and Papushado prove once again that their comedic timing is perfect but when they both want to express brutality they do it really well and are very explicit when displaying it. Though I may like Rabies more, Big Bad Wolves is still a pretty good endeavor in its own right.
When observed without any comparison, Big Bad Wolves ends up being a pretty taut thriller that loves toying with its audience. It’s a rollercoaster ride of intensity and relief as we watch a very upset father toy and torture the prime murder suspect of his daughter. The directing duo did a great job weaving in very sadistic elements into a film that, when you finish, doesn’t seem that disturbing but in actuality is very much so. It’s their use of humor that distracts the audience but when they snap back to the suspension and torture you are reminded that this man strapped to a chair may have mutilated a girl to a degree that’s just fucked up beyond all recognition. The best part of the film though is that you can never decide if Dror is innocent or not, which is a true testament to the writing skills of the Israeli duo.
Once again the duo has come up with a clever title that represents the story arc of the film really well. This fairy tale tells the story of what happens when the w
rong wolf grabs little red riding hood and how people shouldn’t mess with traditional fairy tale storylines if they aren’t ready to face the consequences.
Big Bad Wolves does have a couple of problems. At times it moves too slow for its own good, making the audience restless. Additionally, there is one moment in the film that feels completely forced and out of place and it’s when the film introduces an Arabic guy on a horse. He has a semi-important role later on in the film but his introduction to us is completely random and laughable. Basically, Gidi is sitting on his porch enjoying his new “home” and the guy randomly rides up, asks for a smoke and leaves. That’s it. It feels completely farfetched, as if they couldn’t find another way to write the role into the script and instead just plopped it in so we would know who he is later on in the film when it’s headed towards its climax.
Overall, this Israeli interrogation film isn’t torture porn for those who are worried, it’s a nice and unlikely mash-up of dramatic, thrilling and comedic elements that uses its Israeli roots to its advantage (especially when it comes to the hilarious parent/son interactions) and manages to create a disturbing and semi-compelling anti-fairy tale. It may have its issues but Big Bad Wolves shows that Aharon Keshales and Navot Papushado know how to handle other genres outside of horror and that they are developing into talent worthy of a larger audience.
Rating: Not as good as their first film but still a clever and intense piece of cinema that will have you cringing and laughing in equal doses (6.9/10)
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