The Wild One

2023 • 95 minutes

About this movie

This illuminating, visually poetic profile reveals the legacy of late director and acting teacher Jack Garfein, whose psychic scars informed a unique, uncompromising artistic vision. A co-founder of The Actors Studio, his theater credits include myriad collaborations with renowned dramatists and actors. A brief but landmark oeuvre includes the two provo­cative noirs, The Strange One and Something Wild. The Czech-born Holocaust survivor channeled personal trauma to confront censorship, as well as taboo issues of violence, racism and gendered power dynamics in postwar America. Melding past and present, Garfein's lucid memories are augmented with innovative archival projections, readings by Willem Dafoe, and appreciations by those he influenced.