Wolfsong

Are you of a mind to take to a corner and have a quiet little weep but need something to precipitate that lachrymose moment? Then get ready to claim that junction at which your walls meet and when people ask just point to your PC or laptop or mobile device, indicate play should be pressed and spread the tears: there are, after all, four corners in every room.

OK, that may have been a little glib but as someone who, as a child, had to be removed from a cinema when Bambi’s mother bought the farm, Wolfsong really did impact on me. I think it must be some form of protective mechanism whereby I have to make fun of myself for my inclination to weepiness every time an animal dies on film.  Wolfsong did it for me, though: there is even a Lion King sky moment at the end which will do nothing to halt the waterworks, believe me.

Wolfsong, written and directed by CalArts student Toniko Pantoja, is a Bambi in reverse in as much as it is not the mother but the child which has died.  A wolf, desperate for the return of her beloved cub, risks her life in a rescue attempt.  Yet, even though the cub is long since dead, she persists.  Watch and weep, kids, watch and weep.