“Things survive because they’re strong, and everything reaches an understanding. But not everything survives because it’s strong. Some creatures are weak, but they survive because they’re being protected by the strong for one reason or another. You may think that, because of the circles you move in or whatever, that you’re one of the strong creatures, but you’re not, you’re one of the weak ones. That’s nothing against you, you’re just – you’re just weak because you’re young. But you’ve survived because you’ve been protected by the strong. But they’re not strong anymore, and they’re certainly not able to protect you.”
David Michod’s Animal Kingdom is a sly beast of a crime thriller. Building slowly and surely, setting up the storylines of each character to reel you in before repeatedly punching you in the guts.
After the death of his mother, seventeen year old Josh (James Frecheville) is taken in by his grandmother and uncles. Never knowing why his mother was so keen to distance herself from the rest of her family, it quickly becomes clear that he is now living with a group of criminals, watched over by loving matriarch Janine, played by Jacki Weaver. There’s something not right at the heart of this unit though, with Janine seeming maybe a little too close to her boys.
Josh, or J as he is known, quickly becomes drawn in to the violent world of his uncles after a particularly brutal event in a car park. An event that leads to the beginning of the end for their way of life.
From the sidelines, Sergeant Leckie (Guy Pearce) watches the family and sees J as a way in to break their reign. It’s when Leckie gets involved, that the true nature of Janine is unleashed. This is where we see exactly why Jacki Weaver earned her Oscar nomination for best supporting actress.
At times, Animal Kingdom can be uncomfortable to watch. There is a constant feeling of dread that runs through it, but the level of acting on display keeps you captivated at all times. Often James Frecheville appears rather flat and non-reactive, but I’m not sure if it may be a little bit unfair to judge him as he is in the middle of a sea of pure talent.
Jacki Weaver turns out to be fantastic. Guy Pearce is just, well, Guy Pearce – in other words faultless as always. Joel Edgerton’s Barry Brown brings the glue that may just have been able to hold everything together. Ben Mendelsohn gives one of the most quietly menacing performances I’ve seen in a while as J‘s uncle Andrew – he’s a twisted bastard of a creation – while Sullivan Stapleton and Luke Ford display a great range of violence, hurt and helplessness between them.
J says of his family near the start, “they were scared”. All scared, but too afraid to admit it. This whole sense of danger and fear that permeates Animal Kingdom is so fitting, because not at any time during the film do you really know exactly what will happen at any point.
Raw and unflinching in its depiction of death – whether of the accidental or deliberate kind – Animal Kingdom makes for a stunning debut from Michod, and I almost can’t wait to see what he brings next.
