Film review: To Kill a Wolf

Many of our favourite fairy tales date back to pre-17^th-century Europe and the stories have been continually revised, reimagined and reinterpreted over hundreds of years. The debut feature of writer and director Kelsey Taylor is a contemporary take on Little Red Riding Hood. Set in the Oregon’s beautiful, wooded wilderness, the drama follows teenager Dani (Maddison Brown) who is discovered sleeping rough in the forest by a bearded man played by Ivan Martin, credited only as The Woodsman. He takes her in, providing food and shelter, and we soon come to learn of the fraught situation she is running away from.

Split into four chapters with titles that correspond to the film’s aforementioned literary origins, the narrative structure lures us into different characters’ perspectives and allows for some surprising developments. The slow burn set-up is effective in establishing a perilous tone, with Taylor confidently crafting an atmospheric mood-piece. As the plot progresses, it shifts into a more harrowing social-realist space that confronts its folk-tale trappings but works in the way in which the well-observed writing plays with our sometimes misguided perceptions of villainy.

Though each of the key players symbolise characters from the source material, the acting, which is very much rooted in reality, elevate them from their archetypal positions. In the leading role, Brown is far more than the ‘little girl’ from the classic fable. The script is noticeably light on dialogue, and though Dani is vulnerable and often silenced by her trauma, she has cunning survival instincts that serve her well in times of trouble. Her fractured relationships give the film the bones of its simple story, none more so than in her unlikely bond with The Woodsman. Ivan Martin is terrific in this part, cranky and brooding but ultimately well-meaning – the troubled lone wolf seeking redemption.

Shrouded in mist and dew, To Kill a Wolf digs deep for the humanity and finds it’s in amongst the tall trees of the Pacific Northwest. There’s an assured sensitivity to its handling of dark themes by director Kelsey Taylor, and this intense modern retelling has a powerful bite of grim reality beneath its fairy tale veil.