Wolf

A kooky concept about a romance between teens who think they're animals isn't improved in the execution.

Species identity disorder, or “otherkin” as those who suffer from it prefer to call themselves, are people who think they are animals. I’ll admit when I first heard the concept in relation to the new film “Wolf,” it sounded like a joke, a sick and jaded retort from transphobic types.

But I learn it is a real thing, if not exactly common, and the drama written and directed by Nathalie Biancheri is a look at a young man who believes he’s a wolf in spirit if not in flesh being sent to a treatment facility. There he suffers abuse from the twisted clinicians and falls for a girl who identifies as a bobcat.

It’s a pretty kooky concept, and I kept hoping Biancheri and her cast could work past it and make us care about these people. A lot of really delightful, quirky filmmaking falls into this space, where you start with an out-there idea and then draw us into these characters’ stories and identities — “Lars and the Real Girl” is a great example that comes to mind.