"The Wild Man" - Film Review
Of The Wild Man, director, writer, and actor Riley Cusick said, “Most of all, I just hope my dad likes [it].” At the heart of the film is the relationship between a father, Jeff (Chance Gibbs), and his son, Scott (Riley Cusick). Scott has spent years caring for Jeff as the sole caretaker. Theirs is different from most father-son relationships, mainly due to the fact that Jeff believes that he’s a bear and wears a full-body bear suit. Even though this is a film whose titular character is a man who lives in what is essentially a Bigfoot costume with horns, there’s so much humanity in The Wild Man.
The film is about meeting people where they are and understanding that it’s important to lead with kindness. Scott’s father is not played for laughs. In a lesser movie, the Bigfoot suit and the lengths Scott goes to as he cares for his father would be used to ramp up the absurdity for the sake of creating a visual oddity. It’s increasingly common in recent horror movies for plot points to be loosely strung together with striking images that are meant solely to shock the audience. These films swap purpose for one shot that will look great when circulated out of context on social media.
The Last Motel
The Wild Man is antithetical to this trend. The film takes an eccentric premise and basks in the earnestness of humanity. We are at our best when we are kind, hopeful, and caring for our loved ones. Humans are meant to exist as a community. It’s frustrating and fundamentally exhausting to go through life alone, but asking for help from those around us often feels insurmountable in a deeply conflicting way. Help to lighten the load should be easy to ask for, but that’s not usually the case.
The Bigfoot suit (obviously) gives The Wild Man an air of being a tall tale. The film is fantastical and fairytale-esque in its production design. It’s as though this story of familial trauma doesn’t exist within the realm of possibility, but there is nothing more honest or true than the ways kids try to care for their parents. The Wild Man asks the difficult question of what it means to care about someone and whether there is any one right way to do so. Of course, The Wild Man does not have all the answers, nor does it pretend to. The film simply advocates for the effort that goes into loving someone and the worthiness of that effort.
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