Animal Kingdom

Australian writer/director David Michôd's feature debut is an astonishingly assured and powerfully gripping work, a fusion of searing style and profound content. A tense survival of the fittest ensues when socially inept teenager Joshua (newcomer James Frecheville) goes to live with his criminal relatives after the death of his drug addict mother. However, while learning the tricks of their Melbourne crime trade, he's caught in the centre of a bitter feud between his family and renegade police. The performances are exemplary: Ben Mendelsohn is simmering rage personified as a man whose days of criminal supremacy are now behind him; Oscar-nominated Jacki Weaver is terrifying as the grandmother who'll stop at nothing to protect her boys; and Guy Pearce excels as a straight cop who struggles to get Joshua to do the right thing. With its vivid portrayal of a realistically grimy underworld, this is a tremendously exciting and challenging thriller that builds unnervingly to a stunning conclusion.