Five Fresh Clips From ‘Animal Kingdom’

This one is probably one of my most anticipated from Sundance TwentyTen. Since I saw the short trailer a while back I’ve been intrigued, and all the buzz I’ve been hearing thus far is fantastic. Now five awesome clips have popped up over at Collider, and my excitement level just went through the roof. Writer and Director David Michod is making his feature film debut with Animal Kingdom, but he does have a bit of history in the industry. He’s made a bunch of short films prior to this, and written several others, one of which was Spencer Susser’s 2008 short I Love Sarah Jane, which took the youtube community by storm, and won several awards at festivals across the country. While Michod didn’t develop the story or direct, he played a key role in getting Susser’s screenplay written, and now Susser himself has a film premiering at Sundance this weekend which I wrote about the other day; Hesher, starring Joseph Gordon Levitt.

It must be pretty exciting for both filmmakers to have their movies premiering at Sundance in the same year, and I applaud both of them for making fantastic looking films. I’m eagerly awaiting both, but it’s going to be a while before I can see them for myself. Animal Kingdom screens first tomorrow night at 9:00 and then three more times throughout the week. Check the synopsis, clips, and teaser trailer below.

Written and directed by David Michôd, the film centers on a 17 year old boy who must navigate his way between a Melbourne crime family and a cop who wants to save him. Stars the perennially underrated Guy Pearce and underused Joel Edgerton, among others.

-William Gutheil