Film

Wildlife

Name: Wildlife
Genre: Drama
Released: 2018
Cast: Jake Gyllenhaal, Carey Mulligan, Ed Oxenbould, Zoe Colletti, Bill Camp

Drama

A intimate family portrait set in 1960s Montana where a teenage boy watches his father abandon his family to fight a raging wildfire, and his mother scramble to hold their lives together. Quiet, unsentimental, and devastatingly precise about how small decisions fracture a household. Paul Dano's directorial debut moves with the unhurried pace of lived experience rather than plot mechanics.

TMDb rating

3.3

If you liked this

Krisha2016

A semi-autobiographical portrait of a struggling family held together by will and prayer. Isko Sollish's directorial debut has the same raw, observational intimacy—watching people cope with economic precarity and fractured bonds.

But Shot in Tajikistan with a non-professional cast and a demanding runtime. The unfamiliar setting and lack of conventional drama may test your patience.

American Beauty1999

Another story of suburban collapse told through a teenager's eyes—a father abandoning his purpose and his family, a mother adapting to keep things standing. Both films understand how spectacularly ordinary lives can implode.

But It's far more nakedly misanthropic, and the filmmaking is showier. Wildlife's restraint is the opposite of its philosophy.

The Tender Bar2021

A boy navigates growing up with an absent father while his mother does the real work of holding the family together. Warm where Wildlife is cool, but the emotional architecture is similar: childhood from the inside.

But Lean toward nostalgia and sentimentality. It's a gentler film—if you want Wildlife's unflinching coldness, you might find this too kind.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Wildlife

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Meek's Cutoff2011

Both films use a historical male figure (the father, the wagon master) as the centre of the frame while the real emotional work—the endurance, the adaptation—happens in the margins. Both ask: what happens when the man's story isn't enough?

Kelly Reichardt's minimalist Western tracks a wagon train that's genuinely lost—no rescue, no clarity, just slow attrition and the question of who leads and who decides. A film about the failure of male authority and the women who survive it.

But Shot in academy ratio on Super 16mm, it moves at the speed of actual travel. If you're seeking conventional narrative momentum, you will be frustrated.

Boyhood2014

Richard Linklater's twelve-year study of a boy watching his parents' marriage deteriorate. Long, patient, and utterly uninterested in melodrama. It moves at the speed of actual life.

But At three hours, it requires commitment. Some find its refusal to shape events into narrative deeply moving; others find it aimless.

The Killing of a Sacred Deer2017

Yorgos Lanthimos examines a family fractured by a father's moral failing. Formally composed, deeply strange, and absolutely certain that ordinary people make extraordinary messes.

But Deliberately artificial and glacial. If you want naturalism and emotional recognisability, this will feel cold and mannered.

A Ghost Story2017

A meditation on presence and absence, family and time. Like Wildlife, it uses genre restraint to explore how people are haunted by those who leave—sometimes literally.

But Structurally experimental and often quiet to the point of frustration. Some viewers find it pretentious; others find it profound.

Manchester by the Sea2016

Kenneth Lonergan's portrait of a man unable to assume responsibility, and the family left managing the consequences. Achingly specific about shame and the ways we fail each other.

But Depressive and emotionally draining. There's no catharsis, only the persistence of grief and regret.

First Reformed2018

Paul Schrader's stark study of a man's inner collapse and the people around him trying to reach him. Both films understand how private crisis bleeds into family catastrophe.

But Deeply pessimistic and formally austere. The theological questions may alienate viewers looking for straightforward drama.

Winter's Bone2010

A sixteen-year-old girl assumes adult responsibility when her father abandons the family. Lean and powerful, it shares Wildlife's interest in teenage endurance and maternal fragility.

But Rural poverty and family dysfunction are depicted without glamour or resolution. The bleakness may feel punitive rather than illuminating.

The Florida Project2017

Both are told from a child's vantage point watching a parent's inability to provide stability. But where Wildlife is cool observation, this one makes you feel the child's confusion and loyalty—a different emotional temperature on the same crisis.

Sean Baker's film follows a six-year-old girl living in a budget motel as her mother's schemes slowly unravel. Joyful and catastrophic at once, it captures childhood's beautiful obliviousness to adult collapse.

But Plotless and episodic. It ends with a decision so emotionally devastating it can feel punitive rather than earned.

Minari2021

Both centre on a man's decision (Jerry to fight fire, the father to farm) that puts his self-definition above his family's security. Both are told by filmmakers interested in how the camera itself can honour the ordinariness of family pain—how formal precision becomes a kind of love.

Lee Isaac Chung's film follows a Korean-American family chasing the rural American dream in Arkansas, watching the father's ambitions drive everyone else toward breaking. Shot with deep warmth and specificity about immigrant labour and masculine pride.

But A recent Best Picture nominee with wide availability—less obscure than genuinely moving. If you came to Wildlife for difficulty, this might feel too accessible.