The subject of Crystal Moselle’s engaging, award-winning documentary debut beggars belief. Essentially it hangs out with the Angulo clan, six brothers who have lived sheltered lives in a Manhattan apartment, home-schooled by a hippie mother and watched over by an overbearing religious father. So the brothers learn about the world through Hollywood movies that they fastidiously remake — there are fantastic scenes of homespun recreations of Reservoir Dogs and The Dark Knight.
As a piece of filmmaking, The Wolfpack is ragged, and doesn’t probe as deeply as you would like (hints of abuse are not followed up), but it’s a compelling glimpse into a bizarre, hermetically sealed life, the brothers are easy to warm to, and the family’s slow introduction into the outside world is quietly moving.
