It’s a first timer’s dream to make such an intelligent and mature film that works on different levels. Animal Kingdom has depth, is entertaining and consists of images that linger in the mind long after viewing. What really impresses is the fact that David Michôd consistently underplays all aspects of the crime genre. By doing so he sets Animal Kingdom somehow apart from this genre.
This style of underplaying kicks off with file footage of bank robbers in Melbourne banks during the eighties, accompanied by heavy synthesizer music. These are by the way the only images of any bank robbery throughout the film you’ll see. Crime is never romanticized. Instead the criminals are portrayed as lazy, badly dressed inhabitants of suburbia killing time with boozing and fiddling with the barbecue under the Australian sun. The score is minimalistic without crescendos, contrary to the more usual style of bombastic orchestrated music to enhance menace and anxiety. Even production design has a minimalistic approach creating no specific sense of period thus making the movie somewhat timeless.
The story revolves around Josh, a 17-year old boy who after his mother dies from a heroine overdose, get’s taken in by his grandmother nicknamed Smurf. Smurf rules over her three sons who form a bank robbing crew like a real Don. When the armed robbery squad of Melbourne declares war on the bank robbers nobody seems safe, and a struggle for Josh’s loyalty gets underway. Smurf and her oldest son Pope try to maintain Josh on their side while good cop Guy Pearce is the only one who wants to protect him and tries to persuade him to take the stand and testify against his own family.
There is an ominous feel to the film, a major contribution to this feel are the exquisite performances by Ben Mendelsohn and Jacki Weaver. Mendelsohn plays Pope, the leader of the three brothers who as the film progresses slowly shows a side that gets darker and darker. Weaver is equally terrific as the sinister ‘Smurf’ the mother of the family who resembles most of all a snake in her motions and actions. James Frecheville is well cast as the seemingly emotionally numb Josh at the center of the narrative. Star quality is added to the project by the mere presence of Guy Pearce as the detective.
The use of violence is rare, but raw and shocking because it takes place when you least expect it. Michôd never builds the tension towards such a moment in a conventional way. He manages to surprise the audience with his realistic touch. This dazzling debut is hard to label (which is always a good thing) but if I would be forced to do so I would qualify Animal Kingdom as a study of how evil can manifest itself in Australian suburbia disguised as a gangster flick. David Michôd obviously has the maturity to mould the conventions of a genre to his own will to expose a complex and profound theme.
Rating: ****
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