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★★★☆☆
15 July 2019
A movie review of ANIMALS. |
“Sooner or later the party has to end,” Jean (Amy Molloy)
ANIMALS is ambitious but flawed. The themes in its crosshairs need to be continually vocalised in cinematic form until societies progress. However, the runtime occasionally drags and the pivotal plot points and character arcs feel signposted at best and hackneyed at worst. When it is just the lead duo running riot, the movie feels like anything could happen. Where havoc will they wreak? Will harm befall them? What genres will be touched upon? Though, by the end the gnawing sense that potential has been squandered pervades.
ANIMALS is about a myriad of 30-something existential crises. And covers various forms of social anxiety, from status to the definition of commitment. Plus, the pressure of being a young woman. The title is allegorical, which has to be explained. There is a conversation about human needs. Otherwise taken literally audiences perhaps might assume the film’s moniker refers to hedonism unchecked.
ANIMALS is ambitious but flawed. The themes in its crosshairs need to be continually vocalised in cinematic form until societies progress. However, the runtime occasionally drags and the pivotal plot points and character arcs feel signposted at best and hackneyed at worst. When it is just the lead duo running riot, the movie feels like anything could happen. Where havoc will they wreak? Will harm befall them? What genres will be touched upon? Though, by the end the gnawing sense that potential has been squandered pervades.
ANIMALS is about a myriad of 30-something existential crises. And covers various forms of social anxiety, from status to the definition of commitment. Plus, the pressure of being a young woman. The title is allegorical, which has to be explained. There is a conversation about human needs. Otherwise taken literally audiences perhaps might assume the film’s moniker refers to hedonism unchecked.
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That’s how we greet the story’s driving forces. Laura (Holliday Grainger) is tied to a bed, waking up confused and hung-over. Tyler (Alia Shawkat) walks in giving louche commentary. Their party lifestyle is impressive. The narrative crux arrives when Laura begins to want something more meaningful than perpetual inebriation. (They have a jar of ketamine in their apartment!) Tyler, whose lonely (and traumatic) backstory is hinted at, is inured to the idea of future – she has found her groove. Laura aspires to be a novelist. Ten years in, the book still has not emerged from her psyche. She delves into poetry, which in cinema always seems to have the cringe-factor. (Bar THE KINDERGARTEN TEACHER.) How do movies talk poems without appearing pretentious? It’s akin to characters talking about their dreams – who does not immediately tune out to that? At least ANIMALS is a little bit self-aware with “alt-minimalist poet”, The Avant Gardener (Muiris Crowley).
Laura’s sister Jean is a warning: A former partier turned new mother. Short-tempered and moralising, the anti-climax of having kids is seldom portrayed. Freedom curtailed and thus the bitter need to verbally rein in those footloose and fancy-free. Squeezing out sprogs is not for everyone. Are having children a euphemism for giving up on aspirations?
It’s a shame the typical bromance movie trajectory rears its head. Pals moving at different speeds through existence require a better plot device. At least the ending isn’t neat, but the life lessons are too dramatically learned. Though, there are interesting ideas expressed on friendship, co-dependency, and fidelity. (If one is being facetious, the moral to the story is to create at least a few boundaries.)
ANIMALS is analytical, but without enough narrative surprises.
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