With his huge backpack and high boots Wilcox trudges around the countryside, traversing deserted roads and nameless fields, living in the moment and connecting with nature. Breaking into either abandoned homes, stealing from the supermarket or relying on the kindness of strangers, Wilcox is a man who lives entirely off others’ contributions. Deserter, delinquent, or survivalist, the adventurer quietly roams in search of something; in search of a touchstone of some kind; in search of what could more simply be described as freedom.
"I think Wilcox is someone who is looking for some kind of anchor point. We might believe that he’s beautiful in his freedom, that he’s quasiheroic in the way he turns his back on civilization; but I don’t want to ignore the darker sides of him. It’s also possible that he is simply a person without direction, and who lacks resources to orient himself. I like that the film fluctuates between despair and this great thirst for freedom. The only identity that Wilcox can be proud of is the one that was sown onto his jacket; he exists in the space between visible and invisible." (Denis Côté)
Denis Côté
Born in 1973 in New-Brunswick, Canada. Director and producer Côté is considered one of the proponents of contemporary Canadian independent film. He worked as a journalist and film critic until his 2005 debut feature, Drifting States, which received the Golden Leopard at Locarno. Five years later, at this same festival, Côté’s Curling won the Best Direction Award.