...it's like a body, infected with a plague, tossed in a river, the poison, just seeping out, infecting everything around it.
you come in at the downfall of a crime family (a mother, her four sons) and watch as the inevitable disintegration both reels in the unsuspecting and casts out it's sharpest edges, creating an incredibly dramatic cataclysm that is both quiet and treacherous.
the premise is a boy, 17, who has just lost his mother, and apathetically, "allows" himself to be taken in by his extended and unabashed underworld family.
The thing about this movie is it never lets up. There is not a moment the viewer feels likely to look away, though nothing here is easy to watch. There are several scenes during which I squirmed, my palms sweat, and actually I gasped. It is also deeply symbolic, and is not titled "animal kingdom" arbitrarily. You watch, mainly from the perspective of the boy, J, as he and those closest to him, (close not necessarily implying blood relationships, as he finds these may be the most dangerous)are increasingly immersed in this boiling, tragic descent. Unlike many films, AK expertly succeeds in displaying the disastrous consequences from several aspects in beautifully unfolded collection of circumstances, bringing J (and the audience) to an ultimate crossroads in finding place in "the kingdom." there are several memorable quotes and sequences, none of which will be spoiled in this review. The performances, to say the least, are incredibly real and convincing, and "animal kingdom" delivers us two of the most richly disorientated, disturbed and provocative "villains" to be recalled in recent film history. there is ultimately no real "hero" only an array of characters who offer incredible insights to the multi surfaced sides of human nature, and what lies beneath.
on a final note, AK was one of the most well directed films I've seen in a while, and absolutely shatters the realm of crime drama, into something totally new and introspective, mainly due to it's cunning, realistic, and deeply complex characters to merge, collide, evolve and devolve in front of our eyes that have forgotten to blink.
you come in at the downfall of a crime family (a mother, her four sons) and watch as the inevitable disintegration both reels in the unsuspecting and casts out it's sharpest edges, creating an incredibly dramatic cataclysm that is both quiet and treacherous.
the premise is a boy, 17, who has just lost his mother, and apathetically, "allows" himself to be taken in by his extended and unabashed underworld family.
The thing about this movie is it never lets up. There is not a moment the viewer feels likely to look away, though nothing here is easy to watch. There are several scenes during which I squirmed, my palms sweat, and actually I gasped. It is also deeply symbolic, and is not titled "animal kingdom" arbitrarily. You watch, mainly from the perspective of the boy, J, as he and those closest to him, (close not necessarily implying blood relationships, as he finds these may be the most dangerous)are increasingly immersed in this boiling, tragic descent. Unlike many films, AK expertly succeeds in displaying the disastrous consequences from several aspects in beautifully unfolded collection of circumstances, bringing J (and the audience) to an ultimate crossroads in finding place in "the kingdom." there are several memorable quotes and sequences, none of which will be spoiled in this review. The performances, to say the least, are incredibly real and convincing, and "animal kingdom" delivers us two of the most richly disorientated, disturbed and provocative "villains" to be recalled in recent film history. there is ultimately no real "hero" only an array of characters who offer incredible insights to the multi surfaced sides of human nature, and what lies beneath.
on a final note, AK was one of the most well directed films I've seen in a while, and absolutely shatters the realm of crime drama, into something totally new and introspective, mainly due to it's cunning, realistic, and deeply complex characters to merge, collide, evolve and devolve in front of our eyes that have forgotten to blink.