Naked Animals

Standing in relief from other films of its generation, Melanie Waelde’s Naked Animals pulsates with daring anarchic intensity and defiant vitality, bearing a directness and authenticity that is frequently attempted but rarely ever achieved. Bolstered by the heady, visceral camerawork of DP Fion Mutert, and charged with torrid performances from a talented young cast, it is a work of rare intimacy and personal candor, initiating us into the tenuous yet no-holds-barred, self-made world of five teenagers, each with their own past traumas. In choosing to live together, entirely without adult supervision, they form—as the film’s title intimates—a sort of insular tribe devised of its own rituals and unspoken language. As the film goes on, their tight clan begins to feel as fragile as it is sustaining, a quixotic communion that is nevertheless a necessary respite from the real world.    

Image © Media Luna