Animal Kingdom
Composite Score: 81.8
Starring: James Frecheville, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton, Jacki Weaver, Luke Ford, Sullivan Stapleton, Mirrah Foulkes, Laura Wheelwright, and Ben Mendelsohn
Director: David Michôd
Writer: David Michôd
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller
MPAA Rating: R for violence, drug content, and pervasive language
Box Office: $7.21 million worldwide
Why should you Watch This Film?
Animal Kingdom is the Australian crime film about a family of criminals who are coming undone. The fall from glory is traced across the deaths of the three most prominent members of the family and told from the perspective of the youngest and newcomer, J, the family’s nephew who comes to live with them after his mother overdoses on heroin. The film creates an atmosphere of tension as the men of the family and their mother struggle to come to terms with the collapse of their enterprise, each in their own way. The film is well-cast, solidly acted, and told with a unique perspective, making it one that is worth checking out.
Why shouldn’t you Watch This Film?
The deaths in Animal Kingdom come fast and unexpected. On the one hand, this helps add to the feeling of tension because you never know who is safe and who isn’t or what is coming around the next turn. However, such swiftness also takes away somewhat from the weight of each of the characters’ deaths. By making them unexpected and quick, the film gives the feeling at times of unearned consequences, with the writers making choices for characters (the police) that the audience never actually meet and, therefore, does not get to understand. This is only compounded by the way that the audience joins the story, in the middle of things, meaning that the only major evidence of most of these characters’ criminal activities comes from J’s voiceover narration or from things the characters themselves say, both of which should be unreliable. There is a lot of buy-in that needs to take place in order to make some of the early conflict make sense on the part of the audience.
So wait, why should you Watch This Film?
As a crime film, Animal Kingdom is fairly run of the mill and is arguably surpassed by it’s the television show that it inspired, but as a study in family dynamics, the film is a gold mine. From the matriarchal Smurf played artfully by Jacki Weaver and her estranged relationship with J’s mother to the different dynamics present between the brothers Darren, Craig, and Pope and even the wrench that nephew/grandson J throws into things, Animal Kingdom puts on a masterclass display of how complicated family can get – especially when you throw crime on top of everything else. Smurf is the family’s matriarch and (implicitly) criminal godmother, but she also comes across as another one of the boys at times, which creates a fascinating motherly archetype. Darren is the youngest brother and seems the most hesitant of the three about the whole “crime thing”, but when it comes down to it, he still joins in on most of their forays. Craig is the unhinged middle brother who has expanded his branch of the operation into drugs, fully embracing all of the darkness and wealth that the criminal life brings, somewhat to the detriment of his relationship with the other members of his family. Pope is the oldest and most dangerous brother whose paranoia about death turns him into the antagonist of the family, seeking to root out anyone who might be a threat to him and his own power. And then J is the catalyst that brings change to the family dynamics, bringing everything to a head by the film’s close.
When framed as a family drama that happens to be crime-crime associated, Animal Kingdom’s greatness shines through thanks to some solid casting and good writing from the filmmakers. In spite of its simple crime elements and mostly plot-device deaths, it remains a quality film that is certainly worth watching, simply for the drama of it all. This film has mess to keep up with even the Kardashians, and that is what I think makes it one of the Greatest Films of All Time, worth watching again.