I just watched two films that show the far-end extreme of warped close-knit families -- people related by blood, birth and marriage, but who mix like gasoline and matches. Yet they abide by each other. Both shock with volatile material, especially with the mothers on display. Gems? No. These are jagged, precious chunks of broken glass that cut deep. One more than the other.
Among boxing films there is “Raging Bull” and “Rocky” and everything else. “The Fighter” doesn’t reach those levels, but it stays in the ring. Few boxing flicks even try. This is a true story, where the underdog boxer hero has to overcome Job-worthy troubles to win the belt. And you know how that turns out, right?
Mark Wahlberg -– built, tough and coolly in control -– is Micky Ward, a street worker who can’t see his boxing dream amid all the empty factories of his dead New England town. Micky’s deepest battles aren’t in the boxing ring, but at home. His former-boxer brother (Christian Bale) is a crack addict, his mother (Melissa Leo) is a tyrant who can’t disapprove of Dicky and all his druggy shtick.
It’s a gripping ride. The Ward family –- including seven freakish sisters -– can be harsh to watch, but is endlessly fascinating. (This despite the fugly sisters falling into mimicry.) The boxing scenes have -- bad pun -- punch. It’s also a darkly funny. Dicky has a repeated gag where he jumps out a crack house second-story window. It’s pathetic and induces laughter. But when mom catches him, it’s heart-breaking. Truly hilarious: A scene where Micky and his girlfriend (Amy Adams) rip snobby films. Ironic as “Fighter” will win several Oscars. Bale and Leo outlast every round against a top-of-their-game cast. A-
“Animal Kingdom” is the movie “The Town” wanted to be, before it went soft with sentimentality and unearned romance. “Animal” rages and gets darker and scarier, and sadder, too, as its minutes tick by. It’s 2010’s only crime film that can be held up as near flawless.
The film opens with a Melbourne teen (James Frecheville) sitting on a couch, watching TV. The viewer only thinks mom next to him is asleep. But she’s dead. Heroin. That’s before the credit role. J –- his nickname –- then has to reintroduce himself to grandmom (Jacki Weaver), and so he goes to live with her and his gang of uncles. They are a literal gang: Bank robbers, drug dealers and killers. The most dangerous of the uncles is “Pope” (Ben Mendelsohn), a fiercely quiet man who could hug or kill with equal aplomb, depending on the mood.
Written and directed by David Michôd, “Kingdom” follows J as he deals with this lot, who to trust and who to flee from, and not at all aware of who really is the largest monster in his life. Guy Pearce (“Memento”) is a cop who tries to pull J out of the lion’s den. There always is a cat-and-mouse game.
Nothing is amped up. No fancy edits. No exploding armored truck or hot air balloon chase. It’s emotion and body language, and double-edge words. It’s topped with scenes that smacked me in the skull even as I saw where the action was going a beat or two before. As the grandmom, Weaver is crazy good, all kisses and hugs and cookies … but oh so not. The music score -– tense as hell -– makes the film. Wild fact: Similar to “Fighter,” this is based on a true story. A
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