Review - Animal Kingdom

David Michod’s directorial debut – Animal Kingom – won the World Cinema Dramatic Grand Jury Prize at Sundance this year, and was one of the most popular films of the festival. Animal Kingdom is a dark crime thriller, based around a dysfunctional Australian family.

When his mother dies of a heroin overdose, 17-year-old Josh (James Frencheville) is taken in by his grandmother and uncles. The family have been estranged for many years; Josh’s mother kept him away from them because she was afraid of their involvement with crime. Josh’s uncles, Baz, Craig and Pope, are known armed robbers and the police are staking out the family home. While all seems to be holding together at first, as Josh says, “all crooks come undone”, and when things eventually begin to unravel they do so very quickly.

Animal Kingdom, when stripped down, is a story about family loyalty and, ultimately, fear. Josh is caught between the family that took him in when he had nowhere else to go and the police. Even though Josh knows that what his family are doing is wrong, he is too afraid to stand up to his erratic uncle Pope, until his girlfriend – and himself – are in the firing line. At the end of it all, Josh has to decide what loyalty means, where his loyalty belongs and what is best for the family that surrounds him.

The film is dark and atmospheric, filled with long corridor shots, moody lighting and use of ambient sounds and music create the tense and unstable environment of the family home, but what actually drives the film are the performances. Each actor carries their role with ease and confidence, but the interactions between Josh, his uncle Pope (Ben Mendelsohn) and Detective Leckie (Guy Pearce) are the backbone of the film. Each performance is wonderful, but special mention has to go to James Frencheville for his performance as the quiet and unsure Josh and Jacki Weaver as the grandmother whose character journey leads to a tense and surprising third act.

Michod’s film is a dark and tense thriller that draws the viewer in with understated and subtle performances from the entire cast. Although – at 120 minutes – the film runs a little long, it is easy to get lost in the deep and complex emotions wrought by the decisions each character makes, and the consequences of their actions.