The Wild Boys

Five ultra-violent teens are sent off on the Capitan’s boat, who is charged with setting them on the straight and narrow. It is the early 20th century and the journey turns out to be a nightmarish adventure. Once they have arrived on an island whose natural wilderness bears aphrodisiac properties, the crew starts to undergo a strange metamorphosis. After creating many baroque short films of unbridled imagination, Bertrand Mandico’s cinema is here transformed into a sublime butterfly, wielding all of its artistic virtuosity, including incredible old-fashioned superimpositions and physical special effects. Here, he invents a filmic world dominated by actresses, combining fascination and anxiety, reflecting desire in its purest state. (Laurence Reymond)