Animal Kingdom -- the Australian movie

anybody else see this? I thought it was fantastic, if not extremely bleak and depressing in spots.

not that theres anything wrong with that

Very good, some brilliant sound design as well.

Still have trouble taking Ben Mendehlson seriously, pity Joel Edgarton wasn't in it more, he was fantastic.

Have you seen The Boys?

I have not. good?

Very. Perhaps even bleaker and more depressing though.

hmm I'll have to check that out.

Also, if you didn't know, AK is loosely based on real events

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Walsh_Street_police_shootings

wow, that's hardcore.

at first James Frecheville's very detached acting bothered me, as it seemed to impair his character arc, but the more the movie went on, the more it made sense. the way he grew up with a heroin-addicted mother and was completely removed from an entire side of his family that he (thought he) loved because of his mother's fear. father was presumably absent, guy was likely desensitized to many things due to his family history.

And the big reason I liked his performance is that when the walls break down at the end, it's all the more effective. Starting with his unusually temperamental moment in the restaurant, right down to the effective crying scene in the bathroom where you can see his inner walls just crumble as he sees his girlfriend's clothing/items. Powerful scene.

Holy wow I didn't know it was based on Walsh Street. Definitely seeing this, hopefully this weekend if it's still playing at the local. Love the cast.

"That's not a gay drink. If you're gay, have a gay drink."

I saw a preview screening months ago and still quote that line btw.

Dudes I get to meet Jackie Weaver in a couple of weeks.

All I can think to say to her is "OMG me Mum & Dad saw you in They're Playing Our Song when I was a little kid and I think ur grate"

"That's not a gay drink. If you're gay, have a gay drink."

― Hipstamatic Priest (King Boy Pato), Wednesday, September 22, 2010 5:57 PM (4 months ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

lol. yea this was p good. sound was great but maybe a bit too much use of slo mo montage-y scenes idk maybe there were only a couple but i thought they were bad & took me out of the slow burn of the plot

This was such a great movie. Really really good. The grandmother was amazing, so was the main character. The scene with the girlfriend dying was heart wrenching. And then him sitting in the toilet looking at her make-up stuff. Absolutely amazing.

yea, that moment had some stunning realism to it.

the movie really made the creation of humanity look like a mistake tho. only really one redeeming character!

I haven't seen it, yet, but from the rumblings that reach me I think this is going to be a movie that stays on the edge of the radar for a long time, kept alive by friends recommending it to friends.

It's so good...I love the way the mother's (well grandmother I guess, I think of her as the mum) true power doesn't fully reveal itself until the legal machinations really start to unfold, and even though it's based on a true story and handles that aspect well, it's also a really universal story.

And that kid. the boy. Does a perfect job of portraying that 'trapped between a boy and a man' in a way that might strike you initially as being almost wooden, but shows itself as a sort of forced stoicism where if you gave him the opportunity he'd probably bawl his eyes out. Awesome job for his first time.

I didn't realize it was based on a true story!

His acting is sublime. At first I found his wooden acting very very strange. But then after the voiceover and also discover of how he grew up, you can't but be that way, I guess.

The ending was just out of this world. Especially what his uncle says before what happens. It just echoes through the room (for me anyway).

Not sure if I want to see this again, it is like a sublime poem or record. I want to treasure that feeling of watching it for the first time and being taken away.

It's one of these movies I keep telling everyone about because I figure you will like it, no matter who you are. I keep banging on to everyone about it. It's absolutely awesome. Pure poetry.

yeah its based on the Walsh St cop shootings in South Yarra which is near me. I must get round to seeing this film.

I thought Ben Mendelsohn was the stand out tbh, so creepy. that 'are you gay mate?' scene was 0_o

Trayce, SEE IT NOW! :-)

yeah Trayce! DO IT

mendelson was great, so good. that Air Supply scene was O_O

And yeah Stevie, look up Walsh Street Shootings on wiki...storyline is similar, nephew was set to testify against them and if memory serves when the trial started he changed his story and the trial was basically dismissed with the suspects found not guilty. Nephew went into hiding, don't think he ever surfaced. Main shooter Victor Pierce was gunned down in 2002-ish, wife later said in an interview that he had admitted to the shootings, and I think one of the other shooters had admitted to a paper or a friend that he did it too. The whole aftermath was such a total balls up. But Melbourne was a total rats nest of crims and cops like the Armed Robbery squad were almost as bad as the crooks...Sydney was almost as bad then too. Crazy stuff.
I remember it being all over the news and the papers for a long time,never forgot the huge front cover photos of the 2 policemen.

i also like that the movie didn't spend time displaying the prior crimes by the family so that it left plenty of time to dive into the meat of teh main storyline. basically the family's prior criminal activity is detailed in a series of stills during teh opening credits (which is pretty neat).

Yeah they really honed in on the family really being the story, and weren't bogged downi in a lot of scene setting and background

the grandma's transformation to wanting to off her grandkid is just o_O. believably played, but just shocking human behavior.

I don't think she transformed really. I mean, look at how she reacted to the kid's mother dying. It made total sense: she had no real "bond" with him. The only people who were relevant were her sons.

Yeah they did a good job of slowly revealing her true nature...it was there in suggestive ways from the start, but it almost plays like a twist because she holds back just enough til the right time. Thought Weaver was fantastic

i thought this was really good

i can't put my finger on the feeling though -- events keep piling up on each other, but it still felt plotless? not nec. in a bad way, just that the attitude of the camera was kind of indifferent to it all.

(nerd alert) really reminded me of the "revenge tragedy" in that people keep having reasons to kill someone else to settle things and get out of the mess they're in but eventually the situation runs out of people...

nothing?

Have had this on laptop for a while and not sure of best time to watch it. Is it a last thing at night (now) or a Saturday morning in bed viewing?
These are the only times i watch films btw, unless cinema outings are in order.

I think all films are better in the morning, myself.

Anyway, it's great so maybe you should just watch it now, in case the world ends and there's no tomorrow.