First-time filmmaker Crystal Moselle struck documentary gold when she stumbled upon the six Angulo brothers, the subjects of her fascinating film The Wolfpack.
Confined through childhood by their dictatorial Peruvian father in the family’s cramped apartment on Manhattan’s Lower East Side, the siblings’ only contact with the outside world came via Hollywood movies, which they would subsequently re-enact using homemade props and costumes.
Shooting over four and a half years, Moselle’s camera gives us glimpses of the darker side of the boys’ upbringing as they go through adolescence, revealing the delusional beliefs that prompted their father to shut his family off from the outside world. Yet it’s the brothers’ singular sibling bond that comes across most vividly as they channel their joyful creativity and exuberance into their home movies.
Striking looking and naturally charismatic, in dark suits and sunglasses they make an impressive bunch of Reservoir Dogs, too.
Certificate 15. Runtime 86 mins. Director Crystal Moselle
The Wolfpack is available on Blu-ray, DVD & Digital HD from Kaleidoscope Home Entertainment.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rDbqcMfUdlI
