Watched: Animal Kingdom
Observations:
- Watch this. Now.
- Every person in this acts beautifully. James Frecheville does so much with so little; Guy Pearce is so powerfully empathetic that he can move you to tears; Jacki Weaver veers from desperately caring to borderline sociopathic; Ben Mendelsohn is effortlessly creepy. No-one misses a beat. It feels real.
- This made me realise how long it is since I’ve seen silence done well (oddly, probably another Aussie film, The Proposition. It’s used to gripping effect in this piece, and at points I was on the edge of my seat. In my room. Wearing a bathrobe. Looking at my laptop. Hardly a cinematic experience, but it didn’t matter.
- Thinking about it, the whole will-he-won’t-he nature of the protagonist (where you’re only ever given the slightest clues) makes me think that it would have been extremely difficult to cast anyone else. Actors are often too expressive - Frecheville counteracts that by looking entirely stoic throughout.
- That said - the scene in the bathroom? Holy fuck.
- Can’t recommend this enough. Also: it has a really good trailer.
