Animal Kingdom

Horrorphile

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Animal Kingdom

May 12th 2010 00:31

Joshua “J” Cody (James Frecheville) is 17 and lives in Melbourne. His mother is getting cold on the sofa. Her last shot of smack killed her. His grandmother, Smurf (Jacki Weaver) comes to collect him and usher him into her fold; middle son Craig (Sullivan Stapleton), naïve younger brother Darren (Luke Ford), and the eldest, Pope (Ben Mendelsohn). The Cody boys are criminals. Craig is making a mint from illicit drugs, but he’s a speed freak and volatile. Pope has been partners-in-crime with best mate Baz (Joel Edgerton), but now Baz wants out of the game, and Pope is in hiding from renegade detectives. Darren does what he’s told. Smurf smiles, turns a blind eye, and kisses her boys tenderly on the lips; she’ll do anything to keep them safe.

James Frecheville as J

Writer/director David Michôd’s first feature, Animal Kingdom (2010) is a powerhouse crime story, superbly written, directed with consummate elegance, and sensationally acted from a top-notch cast, that also includes Guy Pearce as by-the-books Det. Snr. Sgt. Leckie (complete with moustache), Dan Wyllie as dodgy lawyer Ezra White, Anna Lise Phillips as an equally suss barrister, and, beside fellow newcomer Frecheville, Laura Weelwright, as J’s girlfriend Nicky. Hard to name the stand-outs performances, but if I had to: Stapleton and Mendelsohn; frighteningly convincing sociopaths, bordering on psychopathic. Mind you Weaver’s role as the Cody matriarch is as dark as coal.

Animal Kingdom Luke Ford and Ben Mendelsohn

Luke Ford as Darren and Ben Mendelsohn as Pope

Michôd is a member of the Blue-Tongue film company which includes the Edgerton brothers (Nash Edgerton directed the recent excellent noir thriller The Square (2008), which together with Animal Kingdom, are two of the best Australian features in years). Michôd has been involved in several impressive short films, including writing the terrific Spider (2007, which Nash directed), and writing and directing the disquieting domestic drama Crossbow (2007). Rather curiously, another of his shorts is called Ezra White LL.B, the titular character of which turns up in Animal Kingdom. He also co-wrote the blackly comic horror short I Love Sarah Jane (2008).

Animal Kingdom Sullivan Stapleton and Jacki Weaver

Sullivan Stapletone as Craig and Jacki Weaver as mama Smurf

The movie's disturbing tone is set during Animal Kingdom’s prologue, through the epic quality of the opening credit sequence which introduces the fantastic score from Antony Partos, a rich and emotionally resonant electronic and acoustic orchestration. It is Partos’s music, combined with Michôd’s controlled, intelligent direction, and Adam Arkapaw’s moody camerawork and lighting, that lifts the movie’s game ten-fold. Obviously the acting is paramount, especially since this is a slow-burn drama, but there is a magnificent ensemble structure at work, that balances this almost Shakespearean tragedy like a tightrope. The narrative weaves effortlessly, yet is taut the entire time, so much so that as the movie’s final image fades to black, you feel quietly exhausted, yet utterly satisfied.

Joel Edgerton as Baz

While Animal Kingdom is a study and portrait of a crime-riddled extended family and the violence that surrounds and embraces them, it’s never gratuitous (yet packs a punch when need be) or out to glamorous the criminal life. Characters are very real (but entirely fictitious), very flawed, capable of honesty (however tainted that might be) as well as betrayal. Of course, like the best Scorsese gangster movies, it is their inherent undoing that becomes the focus, provides the dramatic dynamic, the cinematic tension, the emotional release. This is truly great cinema.

Guy Pearce as Det. Leckie

Animal Kingdom is essential viewing for those that enjoy watching the suburban jungle nightmare implode, the torn pieces of bloodied hide scattering in the hot summer breeze, the vultures circling, the hyenas cackling, the snakes still slithering, the ants still scurrying, scurrying; chaos, then some semblance of (dis)order regained.

US movie poster where it won Best Foreign Film at Sundance

Here's the trailer:

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

9 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Matt Shea

May 12th 2010 01:10

Nice review, Bryn, and completely agree - this is a cut above your typical Australian film, and really because of its screenplay - Michod knew what he was doing. I'll be looking at it later in the month on 20/20.

Comment by Bryn

May 12th 2010 01:40

Horrorphile

Cheers Matt, I just knew it'd be good, and it satisfied in every department. I look forward to your review. Did you see The Square?

Comment by David O'Connell

May 12th 2010 05:48

20/20 Filmsight
Screen Fanatic

Excellent mate, great to hear yet another positive review of this. I'm actually going to see it tomorrow, and to be honest I'm pretty much frothing at the mouth..............

Comment by JohnDoe

May 13th 2010 02:47

Film & TV on DVD

Sensational review Bryn,

I hadn't heard of this one over here yet, might have to order a copy on DVD from Down Under...oh the irony

Comment by Bryn

May 13th 2010 03:01

Horrorphile

JD, yes, irony indeed, you'll have to wait a few months then ... It should be getting a US theatrical.

Comment by Anonymous

May 13th 2010 03:44

I have a new fear fro Grannies after watching this film!

Comment by Bryn

May 13th 2010 04:29

Horrorphile

Anon ... and so you should! I remember the novel Grinny by Nicholas Fisk when I was a lad, terrified me. Story about a family who have their grandma living with them and the son and daughter discover she's actually a malevolent robot been replaced by aliens!