Animal Kingdom ***

Director: David Michôd

Cast: Ben Mendelsohn, Joel Edgerton, Guy Pearce

Jacki Weaver, Luke Ford, Sullivan Stapleton, James Frecheville

Dan Wyllie, Laura Wheelwright, Justin Rosniak

Films that deal with crime either have a tendency to romanticize it or moralize it. It's surprising to see a movie that does neither and even more than that, actually takes a look at it from an "objective" point of view.

Animal Kingdom is a chilling family drama that just happens to have elements of crime in it. The film begins with the death of Jay's (Frecheville) mother. As if he'd been expecting this to happen at any moment, after the paramedics take his mom, he pragmatically grabs the phone and calls his grandma Janine (Weaver) to let her know he needs a place to stay.
He moves in with her and his uncles: armed robber Pope (Mendelsohn), drug dealer Craig (Stapleton) and soon-to-be criminal Darren (Ford).

Considering his mom dies from a heroin overdose and she'd tried to keep him away from her family, we understand that Jay has been raised under a different code of ethics and writer/director Michôd's first great step is establishing that we can not judge Jay or any of the other characters for that matter.

They all exist in a world where keeping the family together, regardless of their criminal activities, is more important than adjusting to societal rules.

Of course this means that they will clash with the rest of the world and as Jay explains "crooks always come undone, always". Things begin to spiral out of control when a group of detectives led by officer Leckie (Pearce) try to get Jay on their side in helping them stop his family, soon the young man find himself in the middle of a battle between law and family (not precisely right and wrong).

Coolly shot by cinematographer Adam Arkapaw, who doesn't let his camera intrude, Animal Kingdom becomes a documentary of sorts as we merely observe these people act as their nature moves them to and this is ultimately what the film is about: people being driven merely by their instincts.

Frecheville's Jay serves as an ambiguous guide through this maze seeing how it's easy to deem him as too passive and be annoyed by him; however, taking a closer look we realize that he's not just an accessory, he's giving a simple but effective performance of someone under a lot of stress, channeling it in the only way he can.

In a way we see Jay develop something that resembles Stockholm Syndrome, as he becomes settled in his new life with his family. The double life we see him lead when he hangs out with his girlfriend (Wheelwright) gives the film a strange, surreal tone.

The rest of the cast is impressive with Mendelsohn creating a man who could represent some symbol of evil yet instead just chooses to be someone who's taken very bad decisions in life and is merely striving for survival.

Edgerton is strangely moving as their friend Barry Brown, while Stapleton delivers a heartbreaking performance, especially towards the end of the movie. However, it's Jacki Weaver who remains with you long after the film has ended.

Her Janine is someone who has adapted to a lifestyle that will help her provide for her boys. "I've been around a long time" she declares with a sweet smile when an accomplice is surprised by the reach of her influence. The way in which Weaver delivers her lines makes for a beautiful complex, given that, as with most of the film we don't know whether she's being psychotic or just "being".

However beyond the sometimes heartless actions and lovable "sweeties", we can see an entire history of pain in her eyes. Perhaps at one time she was just like Jay, being swallowed by a world she couldn't understand but had to be a part of to be with the people she loved.

"There are certain things you don't tell girls about" says family lawyer (Wyllie) to a confused Jay and in Janine's sensitive acknowledgement we know that this never really applied for her, at one moment she just had to make a choice. Weaver makes it impossible for us to believe that someone would just be born this way.

Three Blind Mice ***1/2

Director: Matthew Newton
Cast: Ewen Leslie, Toby Schmitz, Matthew Newton
Gracie Otto, Barry Otto, Heather Mitchell, Pia Miranda
Jacki Weaver, Charles 'Bud' Tingwell, Alex Dimitriades

It's been more than sixty years since Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra played jolly sailors on leave in "Anchors Aweigh" and "On the Town". While their kind of sailor sang a song to score a date and wore a smile as they got back on their ship, the Australian navy officers in "Three Blind Mice" are far from that.
Perhaps, they too grew up watching those musicals and romanticized the idea of being a sailor which is why on their last night of leave on Sydney they plan to have the time of their lives.
We all know how it goes, they drink, they relief their six months of blue balls, they party and then go back to the ship.
Dean (Schmitz) is eager to see his fiancé Sally (Miranda) and have dinner with her parents (Otto and Mitchell). Loud mouthed Harry (Newton) wants to get it on with a "skanky" hooker and get his buddies into as much trouble as he can.
Sam (Leslie) on the other side, is contemplating going AWOL after being brutally tortured by higher rank officers.
The three friends will have a life defining night that results surprising because the movie doesn't just feel like one of those movies with "life defining nights".
The cultural background might have something to do with that, because it usually results more affecting to listen to non-Americans talk about their involvement in the Afghan invasion because unlike the USA's direct link, other countries' participation gives way to more political and ethical dilemmas.
It could also be out of the distinctive personalities Newton (who also wrote the screenplay) gives every character. Even a prostitute gets to deliver a hilarious, profound line in this movie.
But Newton's best work is with the three main characters.
Dean becomes someone trying to collect a debt out of life. Schmitz plays him with enough contempt to make us both like and feel bad for him.
Watching him try to behave with his future in-laws reveals someone absolutely lost, when we learn he's carrying something akin to a secret, his character reveals unexpected layers.
Sam has to endure the fact that he might never live up to what his mom (Weaver) expects him to be. On his night out he meets Emma (Otto) an outgoing waitress moved by his lack of confidence.
Otto and Leslie's chemistry is a joy to watch. They share a conversation that on lesser hands would've come out as painfully unnatural. With Sam, the movie asks about the navy's policies and how much is too much when enforcing the law.
It shouldn't be too much of a surprise that Newton saved the film's best character for himself. With the strange charm, and looks, of a less obnoxious and more attractive Ricky Gervais, the blond actor/writer/director establishes himself as the film's presence.
It really doesn't take much for you to figure out that this young man's involvement went beyond what we see onscreen as he's the one who moves and talks with absolute naturality, even in moments where he should be invisible.
His crassness and loudness are obvious signs of someone putting up a show to conceal something. That we never learn exactly what it is yet are enthralled by this man is just one of the many things the movie gets so right in the weirdest of ways.
The energy Newton injects into it sometimes recall an all male version of "Sex and the City"-complete with jazzy score and walks through the park at night-but within the enjoyable nature of the film there lies a profound examination of male codes of conduct and an ending that might just go and break your heart.