A rarity among a generation of socially committed auteurs, Neil Jordan has consistently focused on the inner lives of his characters and in the process opened up a space within the contemporary vogue for naturalism (be it the school of Leigh or Loach) that embraces the genuinely unnatural. Prefiguring the wrenching walk through the inner life of the male child in The Butcher Boy, this early fantasy film probes the pubescent dreamlife of a highly imaginative thirteen-year-old girl. An adaptation of Angela Carter's writings, In the Company of Wolves functions as a postmodern version of "Little Red Riding Hood," with Jordan's wolf "hairy on the inside."