«You`ve done some bad things, sweetie…» In the criminal drama, unfolding against the backdrop of a bloody war between the Cody crime family and the Melbourne police department to combat gangsterism, a 17-year-old boy named Joshua or Josh is unexpectedly involved. In the first scene of the film, Josh’s mother dies of a heroin overdose, and he turns to his closest relative, his mother’s grandmother, Janine Cody, who, as befits a sensitive, caring grandmother, immediately takes his grandson under his care, to a house where she is an undisputed authority for three sons, Josh’s uncles. They call her "smurf", love, respect and listen unquestioningly. She would do anything for her boys. Just like a loving mom. But why did her daughter, who died of an overdose, want nothing to do with her family, leave the family, and protect her son from communicating with them while she was alive? The story of Josh is a story of growing up and survival among the deadly inhabitants of the “criminal jungle”, who share his blood.
Animal Kingdom (2009) is strong, sincere, exciting and made very confidently, given that it was the debut of writer/director David Michôd. Melbourne, where he moved as a teenager, was the real underworld capital of the 1980s. Intrigued by the criminal history of one of Australia’s largest cities, Michaud read many documentaries about Melbourne’s criminal clans and their ongoing war with corrupt police officers for spheres of influence. His feature-length debut addresses that turbulent time and is based on the story of the real Pettingill crime family, as well as the murder of two police officers. Michaud combined two high-profile cases in his time into one story, around which his film is built. And a great debut. That’s how you can make a fascinating and true crime drama without a big budget (the film cost 5 million Australian dollars), without big names, without special effects and the chase – on the talent of the narrator, on the ability to create a truly gloomy and even hopeless atmosphere. Pay attention to the first scene, perfectly balanced finale.
The acting ensemble, consisting mainly of young and still little-known actors outside Australia, is very convincing. The most famous of all is Guy Pearce as Inspector Lackey, trying to help Josh extricate himself from a deadly situation. The main achievement of the film is the famous and beloved in Australia Jackie Weaver as the “godfather” grandmother Janine Cody, a mother from the underworld, loving a cross between a tigress with a cobra, a think tank and PR for the bloody activities of her boys. Her few scenes closer to the film's finale are a knockout - a chillingly thoughtful, measured and logically constructed solution to a complex situation, which she put into three quiet but scary final words. The depth, or rather, the depth, into which Janine “Smurf” Cody descends when it comes to saving her sons from prison for a crime whose only possible witness is an orphaned 17-year-old grandson. It would seem that new and equal in emotional impact on the viewer can be said and shown about life according to animal laws after the trilogy “The Godfather” and six seasons of “Soprano”, which Melbourne crime story clearly resembles? Nothing, huh? And now imagine a miniature, pretty, aging Jelsomina-Cabiria-Julietta with a childish voice, next to which Michael Corleone from the second part of the Godfather seems soft-hearted kind.
8 out of 10