The Strange Ones

The Strange Ones is not your typical movie. The concept behind the feature film, began in 2010, when the co-directors: Christopher Radcliff, Lauren Wolkstein, started filming a short for the 2011 Maryland Film Festival. The short of the same name ended up being a scene that they used later for their 2017 feature film, with different actors.


The 2017 film of the same name, appears to have a simplistic approach to two people whom appear to be going on a camping trip in what could pass as anywhere, remote USA. As the movie develops, you get mysterious and thriller ties to why these to people are traveling together. As a viewer, you begin to question why these two people, a young boy, and a young man are really traveling. What is the nature of their relationship? Why are they really going camping? Do they have any intentions of returning home, wherever that be? Why are they being so secretive? What is a simple vacation spirals into human nature and a web of dark and complex secrets that binds the two travelers together.


I really enjoyed the use of rural areas in this movie. It allowed for wonderful natural light and the concepts of how different environments can effect relationships with individual, as well as others. I liked the use of the cat in the movie as well as it seemed like a good connecting factor to a lot of themes, old and new. The farm for troubled teens the young boy ended up at also truly fascinated me, as I'm curious to find out how many of these actually exist and the reasons why he felt safe there and wanted to stay. The big negative for me, is that it had a lot of various clips that spiraled out from the story. Many of the back story lines they visited I felt truly added to the story and made you question human instincts and relationships people had, but at the same time, this was also a big down fall for the movie. The scenes after the initial arrival to the farm of flash fowards were almost too much in potential options for the movie. I think I would have been more confused about the movie, had I not gone to the q&a discussion with the directors. I think this is a promising debut feature film, and I certainly look forward to other potential movies they do, this one I think could have just had a better selection and editing process for the last 30 minutes of the film.