YOU MIGHT HAVE MISSED: Animal Kingdom

Catching up with movies that likely slipped past your radar.

By R. Kurt Osenlund, The Good Life film critic

ANIMAL KINGDOM
Dir. David Michod
112 min.  Rated R


Most movies about organized crime chronicle the rapid, prosperous rise of the crime family in question. "Animal Kingdom," the incredibly taut and expertly economical debut from Australian filmmaker David Michod, catches up with a lawless crew while it's coming apart at the seams.

Loosely based on real-life people, the Melbourne-based Cody clan is seeing some of its chief soldiers drop like flies, just as it's adopting an unlikely, reluctant new member in the form of young Joshua (James Frecheville). The reverse-assessment of this type of tale is only the start of how "Animal Kingdom" continually defies convention.

You'll fully forgive the film for its surprisingly, yet necessarily, slow-paced start, which throws in a bang or two, but mostly labors on cementing the dynamics of its characters. Because once the proceedings fold over the halfway point, "Animal Kingdom" becomes one of the year's most breathlessly enthralling dramas. It is truly a film for which the adjective "gripping" can be used to its utmost potential. In his hugely inspired script, and with his Hitchcockian direction, Michod delivers one never-saw-it-coming turn after another. Even the one development you might anticipate hits you like an electric shock. And, in hindsight, it's because of the seeds sewn in part one that the masterful suspense gets under your skin instead of just giving you goosebumps.


And speaking of goosebumps, if for no other reason, "Animal Kingdom" should be experienced for the revelatory terror that is Jacki Weaver's supporting performance. As the Cody family's quietly-malicious matriarch, Weaver is June Cleaver-meets-Carmela Soprano-meets-Norma Bates. At a pivotal point just prior to the film's climax, the whole temperature of the story hits a spike -- it's the moment Weaver's character finally steps front and center. It's a chill and a thrill to see how fully Weaver takes control of the movie, and to wrestle with how you receive the character's admirable authority and unnerving capacity for evil. Most folks don't get away clean in "Animal Kingdom," but in the real world, justice will only be done if Weaver walks away with an Oscar. 

5 stars (out of 5)