Just finished watching Big Bad Wolves and I have to admit it was a pleasant surprise. When I first saw it was in Hebrew I had my doubts about the quality of the movie. Not that I have anything against Hebrew or so but let just say I don't know any other good movie from there. And this one is definitely a good movie. Very nice filming with a very good suspense building soundtrack. The story is also well written, with a couple of twists that are good for the movie. Sometimes a bit hard to watch, because of the couple torture scene it contents. It's not very gory though, but it's more the gore that you imagine that is happening. It worked perfectly fine for me. The actors did a good job in building up the suspense. It's my first Hebrew movie and if there are more like this one I will become a fan.

Since reading about them making the first ever Israeli Horror Rabies after seeing Julie Estelle living Comic-Book role as "Hammer Girl" in Gareth Evans Neo-Noir epic The Raid 2,I've been meaning to check the work of writers/directing duo Aharon Keshales & Navot Papushado.Getting the honour of being the host for an event held on IMDb's Film Festival,I was excited to find that Papushado and Keshales latest had been chosen for the fest,which led to me crying wolf.The plot:After the kidnapping of a number of schoolgirls (who are found murdered) police officer Micki believes that school teacher Dror is the killer. Grabbing Dror,Micki starts torturing him for info.Failing to get any info,Micki receives an anonymous call over the location of the latest victim,whose head has been taken. Unknown to Micki,someone has recorded his beating,which leads to him getting sacked. Blaming himself for his daughters death, Gidi learns that Dror is the main suspect.As Micki vows to go rogue and get a confession, Gidi starts getting set to make Dror afraid of the big bad wolf.View on the film:Backed by an excellent roaring score from Haim Frank Ilfman,writers/directors Aharon Keshales/Navot Papushado and cinematographer Giora Bejach cast an atmosphere of Neo-Noir dread,set alight by the kids being caught in the darkness via stylish slow motion,and wide crane shots capturing the isolated Noir world the duo now inhabit. Locking the guys up in one room,the directors deliver the violence with a blunt-force,that is burnt with a gallows edge to the torture,which gives it an under the skin seedy edge.Before the wolves cross paths,the screenplay by Keshales and Papushado take inspiration from Nordic Noir,as Micki's claws of high-level corruption shine as the police find themselves in the wilderness over identifying the killer. Locking them in a basement with strips of jet-black Comedy,the writers cross the paths of Micki,Gidi and Dror (played by the excellent trio Tzahi Grad, Lior Ashkenazi and Rotem Keinan) and get the tools to drill rough Horror with crisp Neo-Noir discoveries.Whilst the comedic shots give the torture a jet-black snap,the writers become unwilling to cut into the inner horrors of the trio,which leads to the characters remaining still and failing to slice into the power-play Noir offering that is at hand,as the wolves blow the house down.

Not sure if I'd watched this movie, unless I saw Tarantino's 'best movie of the year' comment. I believe a lot of people fell for that too. To some extent it is probably true. This is a masterpiece in terms of how a story should be told. The rhythm of it - how it gets more and more twisted and brutal - just makes you desperate to know, what's gonna happen in the end. I simply could not turn it off, though few times I reeeally wanted to (some scenes are too violent). But. The general storyline has a few serious drawbacks. I'd personally suggest not to focus on them, in order not to ruin the impression of what's really brilliant here.Definitely not an average viewer show, but a real gem for a movie fanatic (like Tarantino).

"Big Bad Wolves" had topped a lot of 2013's best of lists and it's really far from the worst films of 2013, realistically it falls somewhere in the middle. Stylistic, charming, and great character acting highlight a sort of "who-dun-it" for dummies and I say that in the least offensive way possible. It doesn't take an Agent Starling to figure out who the culprit is though for some reason...many people didn't seem to figure it out...though the movie all but spells it out for you. So not being much, if any of a mystery, what genre does this movie fall in too? A comedy-revenge- lightweight thriller? Sure, I'll go with that. For such a brutal subject (child killer/pedophile) the characters are very charming and though we do know who did what...the actor playing the scumbag gives a convincing performance in the role he portrays. With such a small cast and not much drama, after the charm burns off in the first hour or so, I found myself wondering when this is going to wrap up...never a good sign. The movie ends sort of flat and uneven and I felt it was rather anti-climatic. Good for a rental I suppose and could make your top ten list of 2013 if you've seen very few movies that year. Tarentino really thought this was 2013's best movie though? That's probably the biggest surprise of all with this movie.