Film Review: Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom. 113 minutes. MA15+. Written and Directed by David Michôd.

When David Michôd’s debut feature Animal Kingdom was catapulted into the international spotlight by winning one of the Sundance Film Festival’s prestigious Grand Jury Prizes, the anticipation accompanying its release in Australia became intense. Here was an Australian film from an unknown writer and director that had taken the film world entirely by surprise. Absent were the big name drawcards, the massive production and marketing budgets, and the almost pre-requisite tourism tie-ins.

Michôd’s near-perfect film is an astonishingly accomplished debut – nurtured by, one suspects, devoted and complete attention to every creative detail by Producer Liz Watts (Little Fish). Brave producers are rare beasts, and they can make or break a film’s chances of escaping anonymity. The intensive script development process to which Michôd’s script has been subjected, has paid rich dividends. It’s the most engrossing piece of writing for the camera in recent memory – and the creative team, including Art Director Janie Parker (Somersault, Little Fish) and Production Designer Josephine Ford (My Brother Jack) have responded to its lean, purely cinematic muscle with absolute relish and conviction.

The allegorical ‘animals’ of the title are the Cody family, led with chilling efficiency by matriarch Janine (Jacki Weaver, in a career-defining performance). When her daughter dies from a drug overdose leaving her teenage son Joshua (James Frecheville, pictured) orpahaned, Janine takes responsibility for the boy’s future. What he will learn – and quickly – about life as the youngest member of a criminal family, results in a story of extreme levels of constant and increasingly unbearable anxiety and fear.

Everything about Michôd’s direction and cinematographer Adam Arkapaw’s photography is measured, considered and necessary, while editor Luke Doolan ensures the deceptively languorous pace – reminiscent of a recurring nightmare – renders the story both relentlessly and utterly compelling. Antony Partos’s score and Sam Petty’s sound design combine perfectly to create a soundscape of such soul-tearing complicity with the material that, at times, it was just impossible to hold back the tears.

The entire cast are outstanding and never put a foot wrong – with Ben Mendelsohn, Luke Ford, Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton and Sullivan Stapleton all delivering career-best performances. But Frecheville – whose stunning turn as the cub of the pride – is a revelation. His scene, alone, in a suburban bathroom will break your heart.

Stripped of all the crime genre’s recently attendant glamour and neon, Animal Kingdom owes more to The Godfather than it does to Underbelly – but if you aspired to live the life that this family lives, regardless of what trimmings and advantages you might think came with the territory, you’d have to be seriously fooling yourself. This is an unmissable, landmark Australian film. See it.

This review was commissioned by the Geraldton Newspapers Group and was published in the print edition (Wednesday 16 June, 2010) of the Geraldton Guardian.