Cert 15
123 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong violence, sex, strong and racist language
Even after more than four years of the everyfilm blog, I am still honing my ability to manage my time.
Thus, it is imperative that a trip to London to watch two Turkish films is complemented by a movie en route.
By that, I mean on the ipad in the passenger seat while Mrs W is driving.
Ticking the box last weekend was Jim Taihuttu's uncompromising thriller, Wolf.
This surrounds characters in a unnamed Dutch city's rundown estate where only the very toughest survive.
These include Majid (Marwan Kezari), a hardnut former prison inmate, who, when the film starts out, is into petty crime alongside his best friend (Chemsedinne Amar).
Majid is fast with his fists and doesn't mind proving so to anyone who winds him up.
This and his criminality put him on collision course with a father who has grafted for 30 years to put food on the family table.
He is, however, offered a way to earn legitimate cash, on the kick-boxing circuit.
Here he shows great talent but the lure of crime and violence still attracts like a moth to a light-bulb.
Marwan Kezari achieves where many actors fail in eliciting audience empathy for a character who scarcely deserves it.
He creates the impression that, despite his ferocity, there is good behind the tough veneer.
Taihuttu's film is hard. In fact, I was, with hindsight, relieved it was filmed in black and white because, otherwise, the blood-letting would have been tougher to take.
However, there is a context to its violence. It concentrates on second generation immigrants who find themselves struggling to capture an identity in their native country.
It has a gritty realism which has led to awards in the Netherlands and beyond.
Marwan Kenzari: "Majid is stuck between two worlds - sport and heavy street life but, in my opinion, he is a good guy, stuck in a difficult situation."
Reasons to watch: It is a remorseless, well-acted, sublimely directed thriller.
Reasons to avoid: It is so tough, some may want to turn away.
Laughs: none
Jumps: none
Vomit: yes
Nudity: yes
Overall rating: 7.5/10