What is this movie? Is it an allegory for marginalized people or is it a satire of the same? Or just a satire of conversion therapy? And, if so, why does it try to make you laugh or, at the very least, stare askance at the screen, wondering what up with that? Or a satire of any kind of psychotherapy? Was the writer someone who saw a guy on YouTube confronting trans people by claiming he identifies as an attack helicopter maybe? Give me an in here, movie!

The flick is about a teenager who is committed to an institution for people with species dysphoria. He thinks he’s a wolf in a human body while others think they are squirrels, horses, and ducks. And that’s about it… the doctors and nurses work with the patients and try to make them understand they are human. Using strange, seemingly unhealthy methods.

Yeah, I get that it’s probably meant to be an allegory and the simplest allegory would be gay conversion therapy. But since the main character is barely a character and rather more a set of imitations and physical tics, it’s hard to feel any empathy for him. This should be a movie that makes the audience feel confined, but all I largely saw was an actor who had taken one too many acting classes where they made him get down on all fours and growl.

Which, hey, sometimes that’s funny… right? I mean, the girl who neighs like a horse… that’s weird right? And the doctor who gets in her face and neighs back at her and all the other characters in a long, unbroken one cut… that’s not normal. That’s a joke? Or is that some kind of serious or satirical analysis of what conversion therapy is? I doubt it.

So this was a chore to sit through. Not “getting” what they were getting at and not remotely connecting with the characters as people just made this a chore. Maybe if you are cued in on the deeper meaning, you might dig it. I’m giving it a slight bump for being well shot and having good acting, I guess.

Score: 64