American Animals

This is an interesting movie to write a review for. I didn't love it but wow is it incredibly put together and I super appreciate the style and choices they made here. American Animals isn't a typically structured movie. Rather than being a standard procession of events portrayed by the actors it flits back and forth between the portrayals and the testimonial narrative of the actual people this is about. The way it plays with that idea of their retelling of the events and how their varied perspectives sometimes play with the portrayal we're given is a fascinating experience and one that I will likely go back to in the future.

Yeah, I think that's where I really come down on this. I want to love this movie because of how much I'm fascinated by the way it chose to tell it's story but it just didn't click with me, which is disappointing. It's just slightly off for some reason for me and I think it's because that style is so cool and the rest of the movie just didn't live up to it for me. Even though the performances were solid, it just didn't stick the landing perfectly. I still think this is worth checking out for most people, if only for the experience of a different kind of movie.

Just a sensational story ,, The script writing is brilliant ,, but the most noticeable was the Directing !!! Bart Layton did both and he did one amazing job.. bringing up the characters themselves telling their side of the story was a nice touch.

Casting Evan Peters and Barry Keoghan was a good move ,, they are both rising stars and they take the job seriously , and here they were engaging and so convincing.

Now my issue is ... the movie went on the big screen at the beginning of this year , toured all around the world festivals, and premiered 1st of June on movie theaters ,, yet .. no sound what so ever ,, the marketing is so bad for this movie ,, or it is hated for some reason ,,, or maybe the critics think this is in a way glorifying crime "which isn't"... I knew about this by accidentally looking for some cast members of "American Horror Stories" and clicked on Evan Peters's IMDB page to see what's new ,and this came up !!!

Without knowing anything about the film beyond some structural elements I came into the film and was surprised by how quickly I was engaged by it. The mix of documentary footage and reenactment is not new or special, but it is effective in the early stages of this film of allowing the viewer to catch-up with the people quickly, while part of the reenactment builds tension well early on. As the film goes on, the documentary side steps into the background, but the reenactment side is more than up to the task. It links well to the real footage, adding weight, and the performances are convincing as young men in this situation.

The tension surprised me - particularly as I knew this was part documentary, so I had not expected it to be as good a drama as it was. It perhaps is a bit functional and event driven, but this works well, and the conclusion suggests that motivations and feelings were not readily available. It is slickly filmed with good use of music, and a control of tone that draws in cool sequences with real life panic and fumbling. It doesn't quite satisfy in terms of the ending, with its lack of full answers and exploration, but it is engaging, well-made, and enjoyable in several different ways.

Came to this without knowing the story, but having seen The Imposter, it's impressive seeing this director's confident next step. I loved the combination of documentary style with heist movie, characters overlapping and switching in and out of styles and scenes. Evan's energy is frenetic and he seems to really enjoy the role and the supporting cast are great. It's sure to be a cult hit, with a great soundtrack and some very tense and awkward moments that make you cower and cringe at the mistakes and situations these guys got themselves into. It does begger belief its a true story, that these guys pushed themselves over that line, thus changing their lives forever. However, the fact that it is entertaining does not belie the seriousness and sadness that also comes through more by the use of the documentary elements and interviews with the guys and their families, and the librarian. Although it doesn't ever really answer why they all did it, or why they really thought it would be worth it, why they could justify one element in particular, money aside, with any conviction, or maybe that's because it doesn't relate 100% to its audience, though we can still watch with mouths open and it has certainly stayed with me and will definitely recommend a viewing.

The bad ratings might result because this movie is a mix of documentary and fiction, implementing real protagonists with actors etc, but for me this movie was intense, emotional, stylish filming, good acting and garnished with a cool soundtrack. definitely a must watch and one of the most underrated movies of 2018.