Haifa IFF 2010: Animal Kingdom

Australian Writer-director David Michôd’s ‘Animal Kingdom’ starts with a banal image. A bored-looking teenager is sitting on a couch with his seemingly sleeping mother, watching ‘Deal or no Deal’. It’s the kind of bleak portrait of middle-class drabness that seems like a strange way to open a crime-drama. Then paramedics come to take the mother. She was not sleeping, but dead, from a heroin overdose, and her son was not bored, but utterly numb. Michôd is setting the stage for this elegantly staged yet utterly savage world, fleshing out the title of the film in this scene and in the stately main credits. Typical of this smart and tight film, Michôd doesn’t push the metaphor, and once he sets up the underlying premise of this world, plunges us into the story of this boy and his criminal family.

 
The only person Josh, known as “J” to his family, can think to call when his mother dies is his grandmother, whom he hasn’t seen in years, due to a falling out between mother and daughter. Janine, his grandmother, offers to take care of all the funeral arrangements, and insists that J come stay with her. J is then re-inducted into the family, which consists of three uncles and a close friend – all of whom are professional criminals (incidentally or not, the family makeup is nearly identical to the Corleones). The family business is in recession at the moment, with a police hunt going on for Pope, the most violent and sociopathic of the brothers. Pope is advised by Baz – a close friend seemingly in charge of the family’s activities, and also the one most aware of the fragility of being a career criminal – to get out of the business, and to start playing the stock market. Baz however, underestimates the forces threatening the family, and meets his demise in a shocking act of violence. Pope and his brothers enlist Jay to help them get back at the perpetrators, and he officially becomes a member of the family.
 
The killing of Baz is the first of several deaths shown in the movie, and it is to the movies credit that at no point is murder glamorized. Every time a person is killed in this film, it makes things significantly worse for all those involved. There is no fun in seeing this family in action. The residue of romanticism of the old gangster films – the thrill of seeing an enemy efficiently dispatched, the audience’s inherent dislike for snitches – is entirely absent here. The Melbourne presented in this film is a cruel, corrupt place. Faced with being stuck with these people, Jay remains numb – or at least removed – from many of the events that transpire. He does what he’s told, what he thinks is best. James Frecheville may not have a huge range, but he is exactly right for the role of Jay. The character is often faced with tough decisions, and Frecheville always succeeds in convincing us that his choice is motivated by the character, not the plot. Throughout the performance we sense that below the surface is a character desperate to find a way out of this fate, out of this family.
 
One of those ways may be his girlfriend, who convinces her parents to allow Jay to stay with them. Another may be the police detective who is following the family, played by Guy Pearce (in one of the many pitch-perfect performances in the film). But as these ways out begin to materialize, a more sinister force reveals itself. A lot transpires in this film, but it is a credit to director Michôd that at no point does it feel rushed, at no point do his characters do anything that is not in accordance to what we know about them. And to his even greater credit, ‘Animal Kingdom’ is a very elegant film. Although gritty and unglamorous, the camera work isn’t haphazard and hand-held. Michôd uses the camera to add weight to the actions, giving the film a larger scope.
 
This film is also full of good performances. Ben Mendelsohn is magnetic as Pope – he’s an oncoming disaster that you can’t look away from. In one of the few ironic touches in the film, we are given the opportunity to watch Pope as his sociopath mind is trying to piece together a plan while he’s sitting watching a music clip. The clip that he’s watching while coming up with a new murderous scheme? Air Supply’s ‘All out of Love’. The irony of the moment and the intensity in his face allow us to get a sense of the utter depravity of the character. Sullivan Stapleton is also very good as Craig, the younger brother who is also unhinged, but is more mischievous than the bone-chillingly malevolent Pope.  But stealing the show is Jacki Weaver, as the matriarch of this family. She gets the juiciest role in the film, of the sweet and caring grandmother who is merciless when it comes to her family. As we get to know her, we see that her sons are truly mama’s boys.
 
It may not be the most innovative or most profound film, but ‘Animal Kingdom’ rarely takes a wrong step, and is the most perfectly tempered combination of writing, acting, pacing, and shooting around at the moment. It is one of the year’s best films.

SHLOMO PORATH