With news just announced that Mount McKinley has had its name changed back to Denali, its original Alaskan name, by Barack Obama, it seems quite fitting that WILDLIKE is screening at this year’s Cambridge Film Festival.
Written, produced, and directed by Frank Hall Green, WILDLIKE uses the strong imagery of the Alaskan wilderness to propel a simple yet engaging storyline. Ella Purnell plays Mackenzie, a fourteen year old girl sent by her mother to live with her uncle in Juneau, Alaska, after the death of her father. Her relationship with her uncle (Brian Geraghty) is fraught at first, and the discomfort is magnified when it is revealed that he is sexually abusing her. Mackenzie escapes, struggling on the streets of Alaska before landing in the way of fellow lonely traveller Renee (Bruce Greenwood), a fifty-something year old widower looking to hike alone. Brazenly following him on his expedition through the Alaskan mountains, a troubled companionship develops between the two.
It would be easy for WILDLIKE to slip into the formulaic storyline of troubled characters using a journey out in the wild to find some sort of liberation. There’s something charming, however, about how the film delicately handles its subject matter, whilst avoiding too much sentimentality. Much of this comes from Ella Purnell’s presentation of Mackenzie, who at first appears unlikeable and sullen, but becomes relatable as the film continues. She never becomes entirely sympathetic, even with her disturbing background, but that is to the film’s credit; and a mature performance helps define Mackenzie as a sensitive, courageous figure. It’s a great step up for Purnell, most famously seen as a younger version of Angeline Jolie in Maleficent.
a mature performance helps define Mackenzie as a sensitive, courageous figure…
Greenwood gives another subtle, understated performance as the solitary Renee, at first wanting no part in Mackenzie’s plan to get to Seattle, but then reluctantly letting her travel alongside him. His confident turn as the widower allows him to convey masses of meaning with very few words or movements. Whenever the film does tread dangerously towards the melodramatic, his performance is part of what helps draw it back to a safer level.
Green’s choice of a striking Alaska as the setting for WILDLIKE is a smart move. The low-budget drama relies heavily on the spectacular Alaskan landscape, from which cinematographer Hilary Spera wonderfully forms a trustworthy supporting character. The beautiful, desolate scenery is appropriate for its awkward travellers, providing magnificent images of barren landscapes and ice-cold glaciers. WILDLIKE is a film that requires a lot of patience, due to its subtlety and slow-moving plot, but the Alaskan surroundings do more than enough to hold it together. The odd bear is thrown in to provide some drama, but it is unnecessary considering the vast isolation and apprehension drawn from the landscape.
As a film that could easily move towards the cliché, WILDLIKE does well from some responsible performances and mesmerising cinematography. It also deals sensibly with the subject of sexual abuse, something which is always disturbingly present despite other goings on in the plot. Overall, it is a survival tale that does tread closely to others we may have been seen before, but never too closely.
WILDLIKE screens on 4 September at 21.00 at APH
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