‘Wild Foxes’ review: Samuel Kircher lands a punch in school boxing drama

Dir/scr: Valery Carnoy. Belgium/France. 2025. 92mins

Samuel Kircher’s rising star standing is confirmed by Wild Foxes, his efficiency as a troubled younger boxer the primary occasion in Valery Carnoy’s sharply noticed debut function. A boarding faculty for younger sports activities stars gives an ideal setting to discover a swirl of points round peer stress, male friendship and the bruising expectations of masculinity. The timeliness of the subject material and the thoughtfulness of the execution may entice arthouse audiences on the size of those that sought out Charlene Favier’s Slalom (2020) or Elie Grappe’s Olga (2021).

Carnoy packs rather a lot into his compact, nuanced storytelling

A well-considered piece about boys being boys, Wild Foxes builds on the themes of Carnoy’s quick Titan (2021) and marks him as a expertise to observe. It additionally gives a demanding showcase for Kircher, a Cesar nominee for Most Promising Actor for Catherine Breillat’s Final Summer season (2023) and star of fellow Administrators Fortnight title The Lady In The Snow.

In Wild Foxes he performs Camille, a floppy-haired, easygoing younger boxer destined for greatness. Disciplined and devoted to coaching, he’s a whirlwind within the ring, unleashing a flurry of blows as he dances, geese and dives. He’s a lot admired by his fellow boxers, particularly finest pal Matteo (Faycal Anaflous), one other boarder on the faculty. Conroy captures all of the boisterous vitality and altering room banter of boys who really feel unbeatable. Every part is bodily as they slap, hug, combat and play. Additionally they belong to a technology the place nothing feels actual except it’s shared on social media. Mixing handheld camerawork with telephone digital camera footage and extra conventional framing, Conroy and cinematographer Arnaud Guez make the movie really feel mild on its ft. 

Camille has a delicate facet, leaving strings of uncooked meat tied up within the forest so he can watch foxes soar as much as catch their treats. He’s a pack animal however there may be additionally one thing of the loner about him. Carnoy drops delicate hints of how Camille was drawn to boxing as a way of defence. His father might need been violent in direction of him.

Every part adjustments when Camille falls 10 metres down a steep cliff. Matteo rescues him, however the accident leaves Camille with bodily accidents and psychological scars. He’s struck by an unfamiliar despondency, panic assaults and considerations about his means to carry out within the ring. His younger mates appear to treat any signal of weak spot in the identical method a shark reacts to a hint of blood within the water.

Wild Foxes is superb at conveying the altering dynamics of the group. Now not high canine, Camille’s vulnerability leaves the others jockeying for place, disparaging his well being struggles and beginning to ease him out. Conroy progressively strikes him to the sting of the body. One of many bleakest moments comes when the blustering Pierre (Jef Jacobs) tells him he’s now not welcome to sit down at their desk within the communal eating room. The slights, the general public humiliation, the informal cruelty of his friends begin to tackle the flavour of William Golding’s ’The Lord Of The Flies’ or Lindsay Anderson’s boarding faculty traditional If…. There’s a rising sense that solely the fittest will survive in an area the place empathy is a luxurious that none appear keen to indulge.

Carnoy packs rather a lot into his compact, nuanced storytelling, together with Camille’s attachment to trumpet-playing Taekwondo scholar Yas (Anna Heckel) and the destiny of the foxes within the woods. He additionally attracts sharp performances from a well-cast ensemble that features stand-out work from Jacobs as boastful joker Pierre and, notably, Anaflous, who makes Matteo a sympathetic determine additionally struggling beneath the calls for of male delight.