Film: Animal Kingdom No Oliver Twist
Film from Sony Pictures Classics catapults 17-year-old boy into a world of crime, violence and changing loyalties *** 3 stars
By Jennifer Huber
Animal Kingdom, an Australian family crime drama
HOLLYWOOD, CA (Gosh!TV) 8/15/2010 – “I wanted to make a film that unlike, say, a Quentin Tarantino or Guy Ritchie crime movie, took itself seriously, and was set within a big, dark, nasty world, which was nevertheless still quite poetic and beautiful,” says Animal Kingdom writer-director David Michôd.
Taking viewers on an intense thrill ride, Animal Kingdom excites with fine acting and an incredible story. Winner of the Grand Jury Prize World Cinema at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, this film is one to definitely check out.
Animal Kingdom is a story told through the eyes of Joshua “J” Cody, played by James Frencheville in his feature film debut. After the sudden death of his mother, J has little choice but to live with his estranged grandmother and her three criminal sons. Thrown into a world he knows little about, J has to not only navigate this new life, but also determine his role and where he fits in the scope of this family.
“It did take me a while to envisage him in the role, because he’s a big, strapping, seventeen-year-old, sort of a man-child, but the more I thought about it, the more I liked the idea,” says Michôd. “Suddenly the movie felt plausible in a way that it hadn’t before. Given his mature appearance, it was conceivable that his uncles would have allowed him to participate in their world. So in many ways the story felt heightened because he looked like a man and subsequently, people would expect him to handle himself that way, forgetting that he was really just a young kid. J is essentially our tour guide.”
“I wanted the story to be about a particular epoch during which the criminals realize that their illegal pursuits are shifting in terms of their lucrativeness, which precipitates a crisis,” says Michôd. “They then commit this terrible crime and their world collapses. Relating these events via J was the perfect way in which to navigate their world, as I never wanted Animal Kingdom to feel as though it was a movie solely about a kid, but someone out of place in a world that is maybe going to really harm them.”
Guy Pearce arrives on the scene as Nathan Leckie, a good cop amongst numerous crooked ones. Leckie provides J with an alternative choice to the life he shares with his criminal family.
“J’s story arc is about a kid who’s looking for a place where he belongs,” says Michôd. “He never felt that he belonged with his mother and then he lands in this house full of damaged people. Then Leckie comes along. It takes J a while to realize that maybe there’s something in Leckie that is genuine. I never wanted Leckie to be a father figure, but rather to represent there might be somewhere where J could be safe and comfortable. Eventually J realizes that he needs to be the one who decides where he belongs, instead of relying on other people to do so for him.”
Animal Kingdom was filmed in Melbourne and Victoria Australia.
Animal Kingdom
- Distributor: Sony Pictures Classics
- Running time: 112 minutes
- Release Date: August 13, 2010
- MPAA rating: Rated R for violence, drug content and pervasive language