It’s a surprisingly old-fashioned set-up for Dan Wilde’s full-length debut; the Ferris family, a middle-class Home Counties household, collapse following the premature death of figurehead Jim.
Alice (a well-cast Jennifer Ehle) struggles to keep the family together as son Jack can’t accept her new partner, Clive (The Office’s Patrick Baladi), whilst daughter Elyssa’s mental state veers towards breakdown.
Alpha Male is a tremendously frustrating work. Wilde makes several furtive steps towards following a much darker path that would take this clichéd genre somewhere truly exciting, but on almost every occasion the conventional road is the chosen one. An elegiac score adds dramatic tension from the outset, but as the film edges towards what is hoped to be an explosive finale, its sheer repetition jars.
That said Alpha Male is truly deserving of an audience. There’s enough intrigue, mystery and sorrow on display for a strong debut. Yet the undeniable sense of a missed opportunity is anger inducing.
