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Director: David Michod. With Ben Mendelsohn, Guy Pearce, Jacki Weaver
FROM ONE MATRIARCHAL figure (Potiche) to another, but this is one grandmother you wouldn’t join for a cup of cocoa. Janine ‘Smurf’ Cody (an electrifying Weaver) rules her family of criminal types with an iron hand. For Josh, her 17-year old grandson, it is decision time – family or a cleaner future. The latter option could be hazardous, since it involves becoming an informer and there are enough corrupt police officers to let the cat out of the bag. Animal Kingdom is a superb amalgam of style and content – a tense, pared-down thriller with top- notch acting and a moral centre. All of which earned it 18 nominations at the Australian Film Institute Awards and the Grand Jury Prize at Sundance.
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