Australian director Rowan Woods certainly doesn’t shy away from seeking grand truths in his films. His works to date have been gruelling dramas that deconstruct psychopathology (The Boys, 1998), drug dependency (Little Fish, 2005) and now, with Winged Creatures, post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD). Judging by that, one could conclude that he lacks a certain faith in the goodness of man.
On closer inspection, though, he could be softening. There is no way to put a positive spin on the borderline humans who inhabit The Boys; adapted from Gordon Graham’s play that was loosely based on the lives of the killers of nurse Anita Cobby, it features a vile, haunting lead performance by David Wenham. But Little Fish was about people striving to escape their cursed lives and survive in society, hoping to find the good person they once were. Woods let Cate Blanchett shine (overtly so for some critics, who thought her a little too polished as a recovering heroin addict), and it showed his belief in his lead character’s inner strength.
He takes another step towards tangible optimism in Winged Creatures, though at times it is a tentative and not altogether convincing one.
Roy Freirich’s long-gestating script follows four survivors of a senseless, brutal shooting in a Los Angeles diner. Charlie (Forrest Whitaker) contemplates a recent Cancer diagnosis as he awaits his breakfast order; Anne (Dakota Fanning) and her best friend Jimmy (Josh Hutcherson) sit with Anne’s father, Aaron (Tim Guinee), sipping Coke and giggling playfully; Dr Laraby (Guy Pearce) holds the door for a stranger before leaving the roadside restaurant, having gently flirted with waitress Carla (Kate Beckinsale) while collecting his morning coffee.
A series of recollections and flashbacks throughout the film depict the incoming stranger randomly shooting cafe patrons. The survivors – Charlie, Jimmy, Anne, Carla and a profoundly guilt-ridden Dr Laraby – all must deal with the repercussions of their experience of the shooting spree. This device allows Woods to construct multiple-character arcs that deal with such PTSD manifestations as religious epiphany, abandonment of values and Munchausen by Proxy syndrome (the deliberate inflicting of pain so as to act as caregiver and provide relief).
Winged Creatures is a bold, ambitious first dip-of-the-toe into the American movie-making industry for Rowan Woods. Had be been given total freedom to create a world of angst and nightmares and lost innocence, he may have fleshed-out more fully, each of the characters for whom he obviously has a great deal of empathy and insight. But reports that the film was a troubled production and that many of Woods’ decisions were overruled, tends to show in the final cut: the film is interesting without being compelling; admirable without being deeply emotional.
The acting is uniformly fine, especially from Kate Beckinsale as the most ambiguous of all the survivors. Succinctly, she fills in the grey areas of Carla’s suffering with subtlety and nuance, enlivening the film whenever onscreen. Forrest Whittaker is good (it was his post-Oscar involvement that got the film financed and greenlit) but the narrative construct that the script imposes upon his final moments rings false; his scenes with fellow Oscar-winner Jennifer Hudson are brief and unworthy. Many of the best acting moments come from support characters dealing with the PTSD-afflicted leads; Jeanne Tripplehorn, Jackie Earle Haley, Robin Wiegert and Embeth Davidtz make the most of short scenes and crisp dialogue.
The flight metaphor that runs through Winged Creatures is telling – not only for the characters, for whom birds, butterflies and toy helicopters symbolise freedom from their pain, but also for the production as a whole. Rowan Woods had his wings clipped on this film, ultimately having to settle for an altogether fine movie, if not a resoundingly memorable one. Woods will soar within the American movie industry eventually – his skill and vision is unique and will find a suitable outlet eventually. He’ll look back at Winged Creatures and regret it never fully flew, despite his best efforts.
