Hello, and welcome back to Netflix Dumpster Dive. It’s been a long couple months of editing my third book (check here, wink wink) and it feels like a great time for a change of pace, both in what I’m working on, and the type of movie we’ll be looking at.

Yes, for once I decided, I don’t feel like doing a horror movie. A lot of the horror movies had become formulaic and bland, and while I enjoy pretty much all that I review for this series, I needed some different scenery, which brings me to a movie chock-full of scenery: The Skin of the Wolf.

I’m still not exactly sure how I came upon The Skin of the Wolf. I was looking at action movies and somehow, I wound up with this, which is nearly devoid of action. I found the premise of a wolf hunter trying to find companionship after years of solitude interesting, though. A bit of The Grey with some heartfelt flair. If what I just said sounds exciting to you, however, prep for disappointment.

The Skin of the Wolf is not an action movie, first and foremost, which is fine. It’s not claiming to be. But, I’m not exactly sure what this movie is claiming to be. We start off with very poignant, beautiful images of the solitude that the Hunter lives in, but soon we’re in the nearby village, and the Hunter is told to get a new dog (his last was killed by the wolves). When he says no, he’s told to get a wife. After saying no to this as well, the Hunter has sex with a woman, and is married to her offscreen.

I will return to the disjointed nature of the movie in a moment, but let me point something out. The offscreen marriage is a highlight of how awkwardly the movie handles time. We can infer from a scene between the sex and the couple at home that a marriage was arranged, but we’re also supposed to infer that months have passed with no clear indication other than that they’ve left the village and the snow is back. This is a common problem from start to finish, and makes the movie confusing.

Back to the movie’s identity. If I had to peg it, really peg it, I’d have to call it slice of life. However, the movie is two hours long and takes place over at least a two year timespan. A bit bulky for slice of life. If it’s merely an artsy drama film, there’s not a lot of palpable conflict to make the movie dramatic. This movie is slow and just as devoid of drama as it is thematic consistency.

When I say slow, you may think, “Well, usually the first act of a film is slow and it ramps up in the second.” You would be sorely mistaken. The first half of the movie is one act. And it’s an hour of slow-paced buildup that I desperately hoped was going to become an exciting second half. But, the second half of the movie is just as slow, and even less engaging, because it takes the brooding, but likable Hunter and turns him into a cold man who forces himself on his wife rather than having any sort of intimacy. And, while he becomes compassionate when his wife is pregnant, and I find him to be sympathetic in some ways, I still can’t help but feel like his character was torn down in the most unsatisfying of ways. In short, this movie is two hours long, with an unsatisfying conclusion, and I think an hour and a half would have been pushing it for what I got out of it.

The things that this movie have going for it the most are its individual themes, and the gorgeous visuals. I think the isolation, and the way that it can affect a person are great ideas and in this setting would work if they were stuck to. Instead, the movie doesn’t try to make the Hunter very redeemable at all. His compassion is fleeting, and he ultimately dies because of a man who was callous toward his daughters and put them in harm’s way for profit. The visuals of this movie are wonderful, from scenery to costume design, and they are what made me want to watch this movie past the first fifteen minutes.

Unfortunately, this is one of those rare times where I can’t recommend this movie. I liked a lot of things in the form of the movie, but I’ve neglected to mention them because the movie itself does not keep me engaged. I can tell that hard work went into the production of The Skin of the Wolf, but the execution, in the end, didn’t keep me invested. I wish it did, but it just didn’t.

Overall Personal Rating: 3.5/10

 

Thank you for reading! If you want to be notified of when the next Netflix Dumpster Dive comes out, feel free to follow the site, and you can also follow me on Twitter. As mentioned previously, I just published my new fantasy book, and it’d mean the world if you’d check it out, and if it’s not your cup of tea, share it with someone who might like it. Thanks again, and I hope to see you here next time.

-Vincent

© 2018 Vincent C. Russo. All Rights Reserved. This post is intended for review and constitutes fair use. This film and any images used belong to their respective owners.