One of the most striking features I’ve seen this year is Bertrand Mandico’s debut feature The Wild Boys, which premiered at last year’s Venice Film Festival and I caught at Film Comment Selects. Ahead of a theatrical release in August, Altered Innocence has released the U.S. trailer, which is a compelling tease of the Guy Maddin-esque adventure.
Following a group of boys (all played by actresses), they are trapped on a boat with a commanding captain, only to discover more about themselves as they arrive on an island, and things get trippier from there. It’s a gender-fluid, erotic trip that’s both phantasmagoric and orgasmic, and certainly worth seeing on the big screen.
The Wild Boys will screen in NYC this Tuesday, July 31, and open on August 24. See the theatrical rollout here and the trailer and poster below.
Channeling the spirit of Guy Maddin, the debut feature from Bertrand Mandico tells the tale of five adolescent boys (all played by actresses) enamored by the arts, but drawn to crime and transgression. After a brutal crime committed by the group and aided by TREVOR – a deity of chaos they can’t control – they’re punished to board a boat with a captain hell-bent on taming their ferocious appetites. After arriving on a lush island with dangers and pleasures abound the boys start to transform in both mind and body. Shot in gorgeous 16mm and brimming with eroticism, gender-fluidity, and humor, THE WILD BOYS will take you on journey you won’t soon forget.
