Wildlife is an adaptation of the 1990 novel by Richard Ford about a family coming apart at the seams, and while cinema is full of families coming apart at the seams this one is a cut above. It is exquisite and riveting. It pays proper attention to its characters. And it is brilliantly acted. According to recent figures, the chances of Carey Mulligan ever turning in a duff performance are 0.0 per cent but she still wholly outdoes herself here.
This is the directorial debut of actor Paul Dano, who worked on the script with his partner, Zoe Kazan, for several years. He initially chanced upon the novel in a bookshop and was understandably hooked by the opening line: ‘In the fall of 1960, when I was sixteen and my father was for a time not working, my mother met a man named Warren Miller and fell in love with him.’
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