Review of Animal Kingdom (2010) by David B — 05 Jan 2013

David Michod's riffs on both Scorcesse and Michael Mann with this slow burning and mesmirising Gangster thriller. Michod who also penned this delivers with the help of an exemplarary cast.

Jacki Weaver's subtle but terrifying turn as family matriach Janine (Smurf) Cody won her a rightly deserved Academy award nomination having an almost incestuous relation ship with her 3 sons Pope, Craig & Darren. Ben Mendohlson as the menacing Pope matches Weaver's turn.

Newcomer James Frecheville as Joshua simmers in the role of Smurfs Grandson caught in the middle of a violent war between the family (thrust into this enviroment after the death of his Mother) and Melbourne's Armed Robbery Squad, that has resulted in a number of casualties on both sides.

Michod's relatively unknown cast is complimented by Guy Pearce's Homicide Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan Leckie aware that the Pope is aware the Cody's are implicated with these deaths.

Michod shows with his impressive debut that he'll be a director to be watched and while both Scorcesse & Mann can be name checked as obvious influences this is not the Australian Goodfella's as inferred by The New York Times, such statement might find some going in with completely different expectations, this is a more intitmate but none the less take on the genre.