David Michod's "Animal Kingdom" is a brilliant and genuinely disturbing crime movie from Australia about a family of criminal psychopaths that make the Barker brood seem like pussycats. Actually, the analogy between the Barkers and the Codys here is an apt one since they are both ruled by a particularly tough old broad with a penchant for planting big wet kisses on the mouths of their criminal sons. As 'Ma Cody' Jackie Weaver is superb, (she was Oscar-nominated), though the central
character is her grandson 'J' who comes to live with the family after
his mother has overdosed on heroin and through whose eyes the unfolding
events are seen. He's played by James Frecheville as an uncomprehending
lout in way over his head and wanting out. As the policeman trying to
help him get out Guy Pearce is outstanding. An American film dealing
with the same material would almost certainly have played it as an
action picture but here the killings are chillingly cool and the
perpetrators are characters out of a nightmare. Very unsettling.
The films reviewed here represent those I have liked or loved over the years. It is not a list of my favourite films but all the films reviewed here are worth seeing and worth seeking out. I know many of you won't agree with me on a lot of these but hopefully you will grant me, and the films that appear here, our place in the sun. Thanks for reading.
Monday, 3 December 2018
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