Animal Kingdom; Analysis

Animal Kingdom - 2010, Directed by David Michôd
Staring James Frecheville, Guy Pearce and Joe Edgerton

Tells the story of seventeen year-old J (Josh) as he navigates his survival amongst an explosive criminal family and the detective who thinks he can save him.


In Animal Kingdom, the director uses several thriller conventions to establish the film as a thriller. 
One convention that the director uses is the setting of small indoor spaces. Spaces such as the homes of the family being quite small and claustrophobic, as well as being dirty inside. Another example of this is a part of the film is filmed within a motel - this being quite a common setting for thriller films, No Country For Old Men for example which was mostly filmed within motels.
 Another aspect of the thriller genre that the director used  was the character that was put into a unfamiliar situation. This is a important aspect of the film as it is based around the character of Josh 'J' Cody, who is put into the surroundings of the rest of his family once his mother dies. This leaves Josh into the violent and crime-filled surroundings of the rest of his family. The director also makes the family seem like a pride of lions in africa, with one male figure at the top of the family (Andrew 'Pope' Cody) however there is also the matriarchal figure (Janine 'Smurf' Cody) who is ultimately in charge of the family. Within this family they se themselves as the top of the 'Food Chain' within Melbourne, However as the story progresses we see that ultimately they are all vulnerable and scared of the world around them. This in some ways is quite similar with other thriller films - the character/s think they have everything under control but they come to realise that they cannot escape the thing that is chasing them.
One final feature of the thriller genre that the director uses is the open spaces, although he doesn't use it as much as alot of other thrillers use that particular convention. The scene where Craig Cody is shot by the police while running off into the bush is really the only scene where the director utilises this aspect. This is possibly as a signifier of Craigs isolation in the world at the time of this scene.


This Film stands out from the Hollywood mainstream mainly by being set within Australia, and not the norm of the mid-west of america or Europe as a lot of modern thrillers are set. It also stands out thought the minimal use of CGI and also the lack of big budget actors, apart from Guy Pearce, this is inline with the very small budget of the film (around AU$5 million) compared with films such as medium budget tinker, tailor, soldier, spy (budget around £20 million) and big budget The Bourne Ultimatum (Budget around US$110 Million). The film also uses everyday settings for filming (locations such as Houses and outside city locations) the only exception to which would be the Police interrogation rooms and the courts (which we don't see inside of)