Animal Kingdom

Animal Kingdom, an Australian film written and directed by recent newcomer David Michôd is a thrilling journey into the makeup of a Melbourne criminal family. The film is seen through the eyes of the youngest family member; 17 year old ‘J’ played amazingly by James Frecheville, as he is propelled into the web of deceit, hate and murder which surrounds his estranged family. So begins a tense and thrilling two hours.
Faces that you will recognise include Guy Pearce, Joel Edgerton and Ben Mendelsohn. Mendelshon’s performance was naturally amazing as always, his depiction of an unravelling criminal leader left an everlasting creepy impression. But the scariest character was without a doubt the mother of the crim’ family, Janine ‘Smurf’ played chillingly by Jacki Weaver. I can think of only two words to describe her. Devil. Woman.
The standout performance was by the young lead who perfectly created an emotionally withdrawn teenager unsure of pretty much everything in his life, especially where he belonged. For less than half a minute we were witness to his only emotional breakdown in the film which later reinforced the decisions surrounding the film’s final outcome.
The cinematography was another thing to love about this film, the composition of every frame was basically perfect and overall the cinematography greatly assisted in telling the story, instead of being just artful filmmaking.
Everything seemed to work for Animal Kingdom; the script was amazing, the performances were extraordinary, the cinematography was to be marvelled and finally the music beautifully captured the sense of the film.
This has to be one of the best Australian films I have seen and is definitely, from what I have seen so far, the BEST film of 2010. From the opening scene you will be left guessing the outcomes of the thrilling story. A must see.