Wolfs
USA, 2024. Director Jon Watts Screenplay Jon Watts Starring George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Amy Ryan. Distribution Apple TV+ Running time 108 minutes
Nick (George Clooney) and Jack (Brad Pitt) do a very peculiar job. They are fixers: they clean up other people’s dirty business. They get rid of dead bodies. They set up crime scenes Luminol-proof. In short, precision work. The two don’t know each other, but one evening, they find themselves in the same flat, both called upon for their services. It is immediately adamant to professionals like them that this is no accident and the situation will become very complicated.
‘Frank Costello, Ghost Dog, Collateral… I love films about lone professionals dedicated to their craft, and I’ve always been curious about what would happen if two guys like that were forced to work together. The director of Wolfs, Jon Watts, satisfied this curiosity with two superstars like George Clooney and Brad Pitt, ‘two flamboyant movie stars facing each other on a giant screen’. They had not worked together since Burn After Reading, the magnificent black comedy by the Coen brothers that was presented at the 2008 Venice Film Festival. Clooney is particularly attached to the festival, where he has brought three of his directorial films, all selected in competition, starting with Good Night, and Good Luck (which at the time would have deserved at least the Coppa Volpi for David Strathairn’s performance) in 2005. In 2011, it was the turn of The Ides of March, and finally, in 2017, with Suburbicon. Brad Pitt is on the Lido this year in the dual role of actor and producer. This film, but also One to One: John & Yoko, the documentary by Kevin MacDonald screened during the first days of the festival.
The title, Wolfs, clearly refers to the elegant character played by Harvey Keitel in Tarantino’s Pulp Fiction. Jon Watts, director of the trilogy of the teenage Spider-Man played by Tom Holland, changes genres, moving from the cine-comic to a thriller-comedy, and also the generation of the protagonists, charming 60-year-olds with still a lot to say and do. The cast also includes the talented Amy Ryan, who was nominated for an Oscar in 2008 for Ben Affleck’s directorial debut film, Gone Baby Gone. A remarkable actress who deserves more space.
