Animals

In Aussie director Sophie Hyde's belated second film (after her 2013 debut 52 Tuesdays), Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat are terrific as the hard-partying rebels without a pause, whose 20-something years seem to have been spent carousing on the streets of Dublin. Grainger's Laura is an aspiring author perpetually on the verge of writing a novel, if only brash American bestie Tyler (Shawkat) wasn't living for the moment and enticing her into a diet of drink, drugs and casual sex. So far, so hedonistic, until Laura falls for a young pianist (Fra Fee) and domestic respectability beckons, much to Tyler's horror. Irreverent, funny and refreshingly unsentimental, Hyde's sophomore drama gives Withnail & I a bawdy run for its money thanks to a nuanced script (from source novelist Emma Jane Unsworth) and believable lead performances that put flawed but fascinating women up front and centre.