[7][3] In 2011, she co-directed the short The Strange Ones with Christopher Radcliff, which was described by Filmmaker as "a brilliantly unsettling drama about two travelers, a man and a boy, who create fear at a roadside motel.

"[12] Chuck Bowen writes for Slant Magazine that the film directed by Wolkstein "revels in the potential cleaning of an authoritarian slate, using nightmarishly symmetric imagery to relate a tale of a masculine hierarchy turned upside down by apocalypse.

"[15] Eric Kohn at IndieWire writes, "Eventually, the feature-length debut of co-directors Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein reveals all its cards, and the full picture of this brief tone poem doesn’t match the level of engagement generated early on.

But its atmospheric sophistication holds strong throughout, channeling a wonder for the natural world reminiscent of Terrence Malick with an air of existential dread straight out of Andrei Tarkovsky.

"[19] Leah Pickett writes for Chicago Reader, "cowriter-directors Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliff, expanding on a 2011 short, seem more concerned with building an eerie mood around the boy than with revealing what actually happened to him.

"[21] Sean L. Malin writes for The Austin Chronicle, "Wolkstein’s and Radcliff’s direction and editing only extend outward in technical excellence from the actors with a tight orbit of handsome visual and aural contributions,"[22] and Andy Crump writes for Paste, "Radcliff and Wolkstein’s approach to editing and filming lends an eerie cadence to their picture, looping from day to night to morning with a tempo that’s as natural as it is thoroughly spooky.