Wolves: Bart Freundlich's Freudian Tale of Basketball and Family Dysfunction

Bart Freundlich's independent film 'Wolves' follows Anthony, a high school basketball prodigy recruited by Cornell University, whose dreams are jeopardized by his father Lee's alcoholism and gambling addiction. The film explores themes of greed, emotional dependency, and the brutal transition from adolescence to adulthood, drawing inspiration from the Latin proverb 'Homo homini lupus' from Plautus's Asinaria. Starring Michael Shannon as the frustrated father Lee and Taylor John Smith as Anthony, the movie features a sober aesthetic and well-calibrated rhythm. Freundlich portrays a dysfunctional family masked by apparent normalcy, leading to a necessary 'murder' of a pivotal figure for the protagonist's emancipation. The 109-minute drama was released in 2016 and reviewed by Giulia Pezzoli in Artribune Magazine #46.