The Wild Boys

At the start of the century, on an island, five wealthy young men commit a crime against their teacher. Their punishment is to be handed to a ship's captain charged with correcting them through labour. The ship eventually reaches an island where the vegetation behaves strangely, and their bodies begin to change. Bertrand Mandico writes and directs, in his first feature. The clearest decision is the casting. All five male characters are played by women, and not as a disguise but as the film's own logic; the narrative is heading somewhere gender is not fixed, and the casting announces that from the start. It was shot on 16 mm, largely in black and white with bursts of colour. The effects are not digital: the plants, the secretions and the transformations on the island were made with objects built on set. Mandico chooses that deliberately and makes the handmade texture part of the film. It screened in Critics' Week at Venice in 2017 and took several prizes there. Its references are open: early twentieth century adventure literature, colonial narrative and sixties experimental cinema are all in use at once. Who it is for: viewers who like experimental cinema, formal play around gender, and handmade effects. Who it is not for: the narrative is not coherent and has no intention of being, and the sexual content and grotesque imagery are heavy.