Ever since I became a parent, there’s been one thought never far from my mind: “All you have to do is all you can do.”
Parenthood, when done right, is a 24/7, 365-days-a-year commitment that demands nothing less than everything that you have. It’s beautiful, soul-shaping and life affirming, far and away the best thing I’ve ever done. But it’s also relentless, exhausting and profoundly draining.
I’ve never seen that dynamic so vividly and lovingly depicted as I have in Wolf Children. If you’re a parent, you’ll likely recognize some aspect of your own journey reflected here. But this is a film that should be required viewing for everyone – if nothing else, it may provide a bit of insight into what was asked of your own parents when you were an unpredictable, rambunctious kid yourself.
A 2012 hit from Academy Award-nominated anime auteur Mamoru Hosada, Wolf Children is now available in a limited edition 4K UHD steelbook edition, a standard Blu-ray edition and as a digital download from GKIDS and Shout! Studios, as part of GKIDS’ rollout of the early works from Hosada, the director of Belle, Mirai and The Girl Who Lept Through Time.
The film concerns Hana – a young woman who falls in love with a wolf man – and the couple’s two half-human, half-wolf children, raised in the countryside by single mom Hana after their father is tragically killed.
Hana, as realized by Hosada, is a living, breathing ode to the fierce power of a mother’s love. From rehabilitating the family’s ramshackle home to single-handedly tilling and plowing a field in order to grow food for herself and her children, she is a lovingly realized testament to what can be accomplished through relentless devotion to one’s family.
Hana’s drive to care for and provide for her children is the heart of the film’s first half, before Hosada shifts his focus to the two children, Ame and Yuki, as they grow up torn between their human and wolf sides. This half of the film is just as emotionally and thematically rich in its depiction of adolescence, parent/child bonds and sibling ties, but delving into plot specifics would take us into spoiler territory for a film that deserves to be experienced on its own terms.
Hosada’s command of tone throughout the film is marvelous. In its broad strokes, “Wolf Children” feels like a dream, a fairy tale or a work of particularly imaginative magical realism. In execution, the story being told is so humanistically grounded, so emotionally true, that the movie’s fantastical elements never detract from its overall vision. Hosada casts a wonderful spell with this one.
