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For those who have not yet seen it, and who live in NYC or LA, run, do not walk, to go see David Michôd's "Animal Kingdom" from Australia. Set in Melbourne in the 1980's, and based upon a real incident (the "Walsh Street Shootings") and a real dysfunctional crime family (the Pettingill family), it is as impressive a film as I have seen in many years.
It is told from the point of view of an innocent, thrown into the jungle that is his extended family. Only this family is one of sociopathic criminals, led by grandma Janine "Smurf" Cody (Jacki Weaver, last seen on these shores years ago in "Picnic at Hanging Rock") along with her various sons (by various boyfriends or husbands... none of the siblings shares the same father). The oldest son is Andrew 'Pope' Cody (played by the amazing Ben Mendelsohn). The full extent of mother and son's pathology becomes apparent only slowly. The plot is full of twists and, only in looking back at it, do you realize that the arcs of each of the characters were fully pre-ordained by their flaws.
It plays like opera. Go see it. It's opened in NY and LA, and now is breaking open wider.
