Icarus Films will be joining forces with the KimStim Collection on Oct. 13 for the DVD debut of the writing and directing team of Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León’s mind-bending animation treasure, The Wolf House.
Done in a mixture animation and stop-motion paper mache-like characters, we are introduced to the “Colony,” a German outpost in Chile, which is a very sinister place, but much of that is left to our imagination.
Escaping from there is Maria (voiced by Amalia Kassai — as Almendra in the Chilean Casa de Muñecos television series), who was being punished for letting some pigs escape and takes off into the spooky woods. She comes upon a house and her surreal adventure begins in earnest.
It is absolutely guaranteed that The Wolf House is like nothing you’ve ever seen. One minute, Maria can be in “solid” form, the next, morphing into a painting. The same with the creatures that come and go in her nightmare world … it is very unsettling. The only “real” inhabitants of the house are two adult pigs, which also change, sometimes evolving into human form, which is both surreal and creepy.
Meanwhile, Maria’s oppressor, “The Wolf” (voiced by Rainer Krause), lurks outside and tries to temp Maria into joining him.
The Wolf House is a basic “Little Red Riding Hood tale,” with sexual and political overtones, but honestly, they are second in every way to the visuals that filmmakers Joaquín Cociña and Cristóbal León conjure-up during the film’s swiftly-paced 75-minute running time.
It is presented in Spanish and German (switching back-and-forth) with English subtitles. As to bonus goodies, there are deleted scenes, a video session with the filmmakers and two short animated films — Weathervene and Der Kleinere Raum.
In other release news from Icarus Films this week,
France’s premiere film production and distribution company, Distrib Films, will
be bringing to the domestic marketplace on Oct. 27 writer/director Mounia
Meddour’s award-winning debut feature film, Papicha.
The film opened at the Cannes Film Festival in May of last year and continues to work the film festival circuit — nearly 18 months in continuous release. The awards piled up … so too, the critical praises. But with Covid-19 lurking Icarus Films and Distrib Films have elected to go ahead and move Papicha to the DVD market so that as many as possible can enjoy it.
The action takes place in 1997, in Algiers, with the constant and growing threat of Islamic “purity” seeping into the culture. Counter to this is Nedjma/“Papicha” (Lyna Khoudri — The Blessed, Luna, The French Dispatch), a young, vivacious fashion design student, who could easily avoid the coming storm by simply studying in France, but she wants to remain in “her” country and succeed in Algeria, not some alien place.
Even her parents urge her to re-think that. And each day, in some way, we see the gathering storm. People giving in an inch here, an inch there. Avoid trouble, wear the hijab … maintain a low profile. That, of course, is not who Papicha is … and therein lies the conflict.
Papicha is presented in French and Arabic with English subtitles.
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