[yasr_overall_rating]
Manny, Joel, and Jonah tear their way through childhood and push against the volatile love of their parents. As Manny and Joel grow into versions of their father and Ma dreams of escape, Jonah embraces an imagined world all on his own.
In my recent review of “Hot Summer Nights,” I wrote about the deluge of powerful coming-of-age films. Here we have yet another trip into nostalgia – Jeremiah Zagar’s feature-length debut, the searing drama “We the Animals” – which can proudly claim a spot amongst the best of them.
Jonah (Evan Castillo) is a quiet young boy, residing in near-poverty with his three brothers. The mustache-sporting Paps (Raúl Castillo) is the bipolar patriarch of the family, while Ma (Sheila Vand) struggles to balance her love for her children with the agony of her existence. The boys make do by shoplifting, throwing rocks at passing cars and generally tittering on the brink of major felony. Paps is a menacing figure, by turns gentle and loving, then suddenly violent and destructive, fueled by resentment and dissatisfaction.
Evan observes all this somewhat impassively, his inner turmoil a stark contrast to his extroverted, goofy brothers. One day he encounters another, older boy who spends his days watching porn commercials in the basement of his dad’s farm. The encounter changes Evan’s perception of reality, and frees him to a point, but also presents him with a new challenge that he is too young to know how to overcome.
The director skillfully intertwines lyricism into a tragic narrative. Magical interludes – such as the world seen through the prism of a child’s drawings, come alive, or the reoccurring underwater imagery, all buoyed by Nick Zammuto’s elegiac soundtrack – soften the harsh reality, but only to a certain degree. Just as a child can only take so much pain by escaping into fantasy, the film does not avoid portrayals of brutal truths, which escalate into a heartbreaking catharsis.
In what seems like an oversaturated market of nostalgia-centric features, Zagar’s “We the Animals” manages to shine as brightly as the sun does, intermittently, through the film’s saturated dark clouds. Three young children overcome difficulties – and we live and breathe every moment with them. They might be the titular animals, unkempt and vivacious and angry – but aren’t we all?
In theaters Friday, August 17th
