We the Animals

Three kids grow up semi-feral in the 1980s in rural upper-state New York under the less-than-ideal influences of a loving but weak Italian mother and a feckless, often absent Puerto Rican father. Focusing in particular on the sensitive youngest kid, Jonah (Evan Rosado), documentary-maker Jeremiah Zagar's debut drama externalises Jonah's inner feelings via brief animations of the crude but telling pictures he draws under his bed in the dead of night. None of the child leads are professional actors, which makes the performances Zagar draws from them, and from Rosado in particular, remarkable. Constructed as a series of scenes, there is something of a lack of plot and structure, which might make it less suited to movie watchers whose tastes incline more towards mainstream multiplex fare. But for anyone who saw and liked the indie likes of Mud, Mid90s and in particular The Florida Project, this is well worth checking out.