>Animal Kingdom
Directed by: David Michôd
Cast: Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce, Luke Ford, Jacki Weaver, Sullivan Stapleton, James Frecheville.
Rating: (R16)
5 stars (out of 5)
Review by Mark Orton
New South Wales might have been the set for most Australian crime dramas, but its Victorian rival definitely has the edge in the grittiness stakes.
The best Australian gangster tales are told where you can't see the sea, and the suburbs stretch forever.
Welcome to the nightmare that is Animal Kingdom.
As casual as you like, 17-year-old Josh J (James Frecheville) watches television as he waits for medics to attend to his overdosed mum.
Unsure of what to do after she has been carted off in a body bag, he dials his grandmother to see if she remembers him.
Diminutive nana Janine (Jackie Weaver) is no cookie-making doily collector either; she is the domineering mother of three boys who look as if they were grafted from Chopper Read's DNA.
What binds the Cody family together more than a love of crime is an unnervingly dangerous bond.
It's hardly the ideal environment for impressionable J.
Struggling for acceptance in a family that sees him only as a pawn in their battle with the police, J finds there isn't an easy way out.
Phenomenally executed, Animal Kingdom is a first-class lesson on how minute details can be used to ratchet up the tension.
To pick a favourite from the colourful assortment of characters is nigh on impossible, though merciless matriarch Janine is a treat.
Animal Kingdom packs one helluva punch.
Astonishingly gutsy, it's right up there among the very best from across the ditch.
Best thing: The sound design; never has Air Supply sounded so sinister.
Worst thing: The poorly drawn tattoos. It's a slight on career criminals to suggest that their skin art amounts to nothing more than doodling.
See it with: As many friends as you can encourage. This is one that needs to be seen and heard on the big screen.
