Director: Fernando Coimbra
MPAA Rating: NR
Fernando Coimbra’s Brazilian thriller A Wolf at the Door begins as a kidnap story, with a couple reporting that their child was abducted from school. From here the viewer is led to believe the film will then progress as a simple whodunit, with police tracking the kidnapper and attempting to rescue the child. Coimbra boldly tosses this procedural structure aside however, and reveals the kidnapper within the first act. Surprisingly, even after knowing who took the child, the film still manages to keep the viewer on their feet as they discover the reasoning behind the abduction.
Going into this film completely cold and expecting nothing more than a standard thriller, I was very pleased with how the storytelling in A Wolf at the Door played out. Through flashbacks we begin to understand the kidnappers motivations and the lines between good and bad, right and wrong, start to become blurred.
Taking place in Rio de Janeiro, the film gives off a constantly grimy, sweaty look. Having never been to Rio, I can’t attest to what it’s really like, but it seems every movie that takes place there has the same look. All the homes are dilapidated and run down, and even the police station appears to be ready to collapse at any moment. This dirty, gritty look complements the film’s subject matter to great avail, making the events that transpire all the more disturbing.
Further complimenting the film’s plot is the great cinematography by Lula Carvalho, who previously did Elite Squad and the new Robocop reboot. The framing of each scene felt deliberate and impeccable, and made a film that revolves so heavily on just conversations way more enjoyable to watch.
The plot moves slowly, giving us only small bits of progression while taking up a lot of time developing the characters and their relationship to one another. Some of this development feels needless, as we get a good idea of who these people are fairly early on, and it results in the pacing feeling too slow. Once the final act hits though, things pick up and culminate in a fairly shocking way.
While it moves a little too slowly and it started losing me about halfway through, A Wolf at the Door makes up for it by the end, and winds up being a powerful, tragic, and rewarding thriller. It throws away many procedural conventions and brings the why in focus instead of the who. Fans of high octane police stories will be frustrated, but those who enjoy their crime dramas more about the characters will find a lot to like about this one.
“complements the film,” not “compliments the film.”