Wicker

"You are the reason I live and breathe...."

For anyone heard complaining "they don't make any really original films anymore", I give you WICKER, an adult fable that defies easy description.

The word adult is not used flippantly, as this clever, hilarious and surprisingly touching tale drips in sex, enough lust for a couple villages and vulgar verbal exchanges that truly spark.

It's wicked, inspired fun with true heart.

The always superb Olivia Colman is The Fisherwoman. Hard working, single and lonely, she has little time to bathe or worry about a mate when she spends her days fishing for her tiny village. The daily barbs and hooks she hears from the townspeople on her daily walk with her catch are as sharp as anything in her trusty tacklebox.

After witnessing yet another marriage ceremony in the town, loudly celebrating an institution that has never found near her tiny home, she approaches The Basketmaker and asks him to make her a husband.

Peter Dinklage, perfectly cast and stellar in the role, tells The Fisherwoman to meet him at the Church in 30 days. Dinklage goes to work, his thoughts pouring forth as we watch him approach what soon becomes an important task for him.

If you hated "The Shape of Water", del Toro's brilliant love story that I've heard people call "that movie where the lady falls in love with a fish guy", you probably aren't going to like "Wicker". Del Toro's fable was my favorite film of 2017 and it finds a fascinating celluloid sister piece in WICKER.

If your take is "How does a lady fall in love with a basket guy?", you need to just keep walking.

As Del Toro did so superbly in his 1950's set tale, Writer/Directors Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson (Save Yourselves!) cleverly weave a world all their own here, inspired by English romance, the look of 1960's Hammer Films and a creative spirit that feels incredibly original, grown up, fun and touching.

Alexander Skarsgard serves up one of his best performances as The Wicker Husband. The make up team at Weta has created a fascinating look for him, inventing a man who's face may seem botoxed within tree parts, but expresses an enormous amount of emotion and truth with his eyes and voice.

Colman (Broadchurch, The Crown) is terrific, making you feel the sheer joy of someone who's never been in love before. Her life is changed and it's beautiful to watch.

But the townspeople, wresting with marriages of varying duration but similar discontent, find no other way to deal with their own failures than tearing down everything that exudes joy in their midst.

The village becomes a powderkeg of repressed longing, sexual desire, jealousy and all the hidden lust that puritanical attitudes can't quite keep hidden.

Elizabeth Debicki (Tenet, The Crown) is a standout as The Tailor's Wife as his Nabhaan Rizwan as her husband, The Tailor. The dynamics of their relationship are an explosive arc throughout.

Ella Bruccoleri made me laugh every time she's on screen as The Bakerwoman. She's a modern young woman, with a flippancy and sarcasm that would land very well in 2026.

Skarsgard and Colman bring their characters and their love for each other to life in a way I couldn't have imagined before the film. They transcend a very clever story and create a flesh and blood couple that you'll cheer for, making some of what happens on screen very hard to watch. These are two of our finest actors, invested fully in creating two people you have never met on the big screen before.

The production design, down to the clever title cards that introduce different segments of the fable, is first rate. Every corner of this muddy, messy human gathering holds surprises.

As with any great fable, The Basketmaker serves up an excellent lesson in the film's final twenty minutes. I smiled when Dinklage teed it up, wondering how the film was going to serve up its response. It exceeded my expectation in how the villagers respond. Hilariously so.

If you think a man made of wood can't be moving, settle in for one of the most eccentric, unfiltered and enjoyably strange movies I've seen in ages.

WICKER is a finely woven fable with true joy and heart beneath its very deliberately crafted, hilariously horny surface. It gets an A.