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Jan 5, 2018 · “The Strange Ones” is an assured movie that makes a number of big, bold choices with confidence (such as the card-shuffling editing, also by the directors, and the decision to break the story into neatly delineated halves that could be titled “ The Incident ” and “The Aftermath”).
We spoke with the directors in Austin after the film’s world premiere about this six-year road to feature production, their ongoing collaborative process, how to present taboo subjects on screen, and more. “At film school, you get told that your shorts don't really matter, but they really do.”.
- What’s this?
- What’s It About?
- So It’S ambiguous?
- But Did You Like The Film?
- How Are The Supporting Actors in The Strange ones?
- Recommendation?
As the title suggests, it’s very strange. From the filmmaking team of Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein, The Strange Ones is a puzzle of a film. You can solve it – either immediately or gradually. But you get the sense, sometimes, that every aspect of it is designed not to fit together quite right. It’s dreamlike in its construction and pre...
Sam (James Freedson-Jackson) has somehow ended up in the passenger seat of a car driven by Nick (Alex Pettyfer). That much, at least, you can figure out for yourself. Sam’s a teenager; slack-jawed not with awe or idiocy, but a kind of meanness – an anger, a frustration. Nick’s a rugged twenty-something; handsome and charismatic, but vaguely siniste...
The story is told nonlinearly, but the through-line is clear enough. It’s just that everything seems slightly off-kilter. From the start, it’s clear that the leads, who present themselves as brothers, have an uneasy, unnatural relationship. The environment they navigate is familiar, but eerily depopulated. Beautiful, too, in the way that dying thin...
It’s difficult to say. I admire a lot of what it attempts to accomplish, even if it isn’t entirely successful. I certainly felt something while watching it – a chill that settled across my shoulders and the back of my neck; a stirring that wound up into my stomach and coiled there like a reptile. I don’t know if that’s to the film’s credit or its d...
Less noteworthy, but then again the film asks less of them. Emily Althaus, from Orange is the New Black, plays a motel manager. Gene Jones plays an older man who runs a work camp for delinquent boys. The leads – again, particularly Freedson-Jackson – have an easy rapport with them. There’s probably a film to be made about every combination. That’s ...
Unsettling and unusual, but predictable and thin, The Strange Ones is worth watching mostly because it suggests the possibility of a fine filmmaking career. But it lingers, too, for whatever reason. It runs less than 90 minutes; as lean as a feature film gets. I hope the next one is longer.
- Christopher Radcliff, Lauren Wolkstein
- Christopher Radcliff
- January 5, 2018
The Strange Ones is a maddening, yet exceptionally-directed debut feature from acclaimed short filmmaking duo Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliff, adapted from their 2011 short the film of the same name.
Jan 4, 2018 · “The Strange Ones” is a mysterious puzzle box of a film, anchored by a quietly mesmerizing performance by James Freedson-Jackson as a young boy on the road with an older companion.
We were able to talk with Lauren Wolkstein, co-director of the thriller The Strange Ones, which is now available on VOD. We talked about the movies that inspired her, her experiences in the industry and the making of the film.
Jan 22, 2018 · A provoking film that resonates long after the credits have rolled, The Strange Ones is an understated debut, with just enough external beauty and internal unease to keep us hopeful for their cinematic future.
