Animal Kingdom (2010, Michôd)

[ayaa1977]

IMDb Link

Synopsis: The film tells the story of seventeen year-old J (Josh) as he navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.

What a powerful film. What I liked about it is the way it portray its subject, not heightened, not glorified, or romanticized. They Cody family is a crime family in struggle with police, and the Special Crime Squad are out for blood; they also are not shown in the best of light. Josh the protagonist is just a teenage boy, a blank slate, he doesn't wanna be a hero or grow up, he is a good kid but they won't let him be. In the powerful opening scene, his junkie mother is sitting dead of overdose beside him. He called the emergency for her, but in the same time, he is so numb and disconnected that he has been watching Deal or No Deal on TV while his Mom is lying dead beside him on the coach. May be he is used to her Overdosing, or as if what he is watching on TV is the one thing that is interesting about his domestic life.

After he moves to his Grandmothers house, we meet his family, hardcore criminals, and the matriarch creepy grandmothers, who kisses her boys in the mouth, and sit on their laps sometimes. Jackie Weaver steals the show, for she is brilliant as grandma Smurf. She is motherly and all, but later on we see what is she capable of doing to protect her boys. She is truly the rock of the family. Then we meet Pope, the psychopathic uncle, played rather well by Ben Mendelsohn, who scares everyone. He is the time-bomb that can go off anytime. We see that his actions which drive the plot and lead to all the atrocities happens later, after what the corrupt police force does to his brother. The rest of the brothers, who act all tough and gangly, are frightened little kids who are afraid of the police and afraid from their psycho big brother as well. Guy Pierce is also there as the police detective, and he is just his brilliant self.
 
We are taken in Josh's journey, to see how he fits in the jungle. One thing I can say about newcomer James Frecheville, he really fits as the plain teenage that is thrown in the middle of it and can't see his way out of all the shit. He is uncharismatic and not very smart. But later we see how he has to learn to survive and grow up, and what he has to do at the end to protect himself and the ones he cares about.

It is a really a very good drama, though I would not call it a thriller. The film makes a good use of its few spars of violence, to the credit of the director David Michôd. The way its depicted is messy and sudden, and the camera doesn't linger there, some of it even happens off camera, but you get the effect anyway and perhaps more so. Michôd succeeded in presenting us with a powerful directorial day-view, hopefully he won't be corrupted by Hollywood and whore himself there.

Animal Kingdom is not a film that glorifies crime, and it is not a thriller as I said. It is a coming of age film about losing one's innocence and learning to be strong and protect oneself. Because if you are weak and are protected by the strong, nothing guarantee that the strong won't turn on you one day.

"You know what the bush is about? It's about massive trees that have been standing there for thousands of years, and bugs that'll be dead before the minute's out. It's big trees and pissy little bugs, and everything knows its place in the scheme of things. Everything...everything sits in the order somewhere. 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've been protected by the strong, for one reason or another."

My Rating 4/5.

[kaytee]

I found this too generic coming of an age story. Yes the grand-mom was the pillar of the family and she shows her true colors eventually but wasn't that kind of expected. The movie didn't have anything original other than the actors speaking English in an Australian accent. The lead character also looked stoned for the full movie until the last 30 mins of the movie.

[animatedude]

IMDb Link

Synopsis: The film tells the story of seventeen year-old J (Josh) as he navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.

What a powerful film. What I liked about it is the way it portray its subject, not heightened, not glorified, or romanticized. They Cody family is a crime family in struggle with police, and the Special Crime Squad are out for blood; they also are not shown in the best of light. Josh the protagonist is just a teenage boy, a blank slate, he doesn't wanna be a hero or grow up, he is a good kid but they won't let him be. In the powerful opening scene, his junkie mother is sitting dead of overdose beside him. He called the emergency for her, but in the same time, he is so numb and disconnected that he has been watching Deal or No Deal on TV while his Mom is lying dead beside him on the coach. May be he is used to her Overdosing, or as if what he is watching on TV is the one thing that is interesting about his domestic life.

After he moves to his Grandmothers house, we meet his family, hardcore criminals, and the matriarch creepy grandmothers, who kisses her boys in the mouth, and sit on their laps sometimes. Jackie Weaver steals the show, for she is brilliant as grandma Smurf. She is motherly and all, but later on we see what is she capable of doing to protect her boys. She is truly the rock of the family. Then we meet Pope, the psychopathic uncle, played rather well by Ben Mendelsohn, who scares everyone. He is the time-bomb that can go off anytime. We see that his actions which drive the plot and lead to all the atrocities happens later, after what the corrupt police force does to his brother. The rest of the brothers, who act all tough and gangly, are frightened little kids who are afraid of the police and afraid from their psycho big brother as well. Guy Pierce is also there as the police detective, and he is just his brilliant self.
 
We are taken in Josh's journey, to see how he fits in the jungle. One thing I can say about newcomer James Frecheville, he really fits as the plain teenage that is thrown in the middle of it and can't see his way out of all the shit. He is uncharismatic and not very smart. But later we see how he has to learn to survive and grow up, and what he has to do at the end to protect himself and the ones he cares about.

It is a really a very good drama, though I would not call it a thriller. The film makes a good use of its few spars of violence, to the credit of the director David Michôd. The way its depicted is messy and sudden, and the camera doesn't linger there, some of it even happens off camera, but you get the effect anyway and perhaps more so. Michôd succeeded in presenting us with a powerful directorial day-view, hopefully he won't be corrupted by Hollywood and whore himself there.

Animal Kingdom is not a film that glorifies crime, and it is not a thriller as I said. It is a coming of age film about losing one's innocence and learning to be strong and protect oneself. Because if you are weak and are protected by the strong, nothing guarantee that the strong won't turn on you one day.

"You know what the bush is about? It's about massive trees that have been standing there for thousands of years, and bugs that'll be dead before the minute's out. It's big trees and pissy little bugs, and everything knows its place in the scheme of things. Everything...everything sits in the order somewhere. 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've been protected by the strong, for one reason or another."

My Rating 4/5.

can you explain to me what she did exactly? because i didn't get the first meeting she had with who? and i also didn't get what the meetings with her kid are all about and with who exactly, who are these guys?!

and what kind of movie is this where we see the kid is cooking some food for the policeman, what was all that about?!

i didn't get who is who and what side they are on and i'm sure i will get it if i watch this again but i will not, so please can some explain this to me? speak to me in plain english please!

[ayaa1977]

You want me to explain to you plot details of a film I saw once over a year ago?? While I am at it, how about if chew your food as well and feed it to you beak to beak

[fizz]

While I am at it, how about if chew your food as well and feed it to you beak to beak

Careful, he might just agree.

[ayaa1977]

Lol@Fizz, some homoerotic teasing/flirtation never hurt anyone