One of my favorite things about art–and this applies to music, film, literature, and visual art–is when a new creation reminds me of previous works without feeling overly derivative. Today I saw a great example of this: Bart Layton’s film “American Animals.” I have to admit I had never heard of Layton before, but his movie (about a misguided book heist that actually happened in 2004) combines elements of some of my all-time favorites and still feels like an original work.
Right off the bat, I thought about Richard Linklater’s “Bernie,” another film that uses fourth-wall breaking interviews from real-life people involved in the events depicted on screen. These interjections provide more insight into the character’s (Should we call them “characters” if they are real people?) motivations and personalities, but Layton is smart enough to not abuse this technique so that the actors and the script can tell the story. Craig Gillespie accomplished a similar feat in “I, Tonya,” albeit with the same actors that appeared throughout the film.
Allison Janney in “I, Tonya” (my favorite acting performance of 2017)
Even if these four young men were planning a heist instead of building a website, the whole “white guys on campus” atmosphere reminded me of David Fincher’s “The Social Network.” Other similarities with that masterful film include themes of peer pressure, youthful arrogance/overambition, upper-class entitlement, and an all-consuming desire to stand out.
Fincher also addressed this last topic in “Fight Club,” another film that I thought about mere minutes after “American Animals” started. These movies tell us that everyone from talented college kids to overworked middle-aged men is looking for a way to feel special and “alive,” and that poor judgment brought on by desperation and hopelessness leads to self-destructive behavior that also endangers innocent people.
Edward Norton and Brad Pitt in “Fight Club”
Layton also deserves credit for cleverly acknowledging classic heist movies of the past. After all, it would be naive (at best) and presumptuous (at worst) for any director to assume that they’re creating an entirely original work within the heist genre. Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs” and Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing” are referenced directly in “American Animals,” and if you are unfamiliar with this story, those references alone should provide enough clues about what happens later.
However, the film that I consider the direct precursor to “American Animals” is Nick Cassavetes’ “Alpha Dog.” An immensely underrated movie about the kidnapping and murder of a 15-year boy, it’s also a story about real events and its perpetrators were also young men whose sense of invincibility and longing for an extravagant lifestyle made them inflict catastrophic damage on themselves and others.
Although the nature of Anton Yelchin’s and Barry Keoghan’s roles in these films is very different (one being the victim and one being the victimizer), both play confused, scared, and impressionable kids extremely effectively, and you could say they are the main reason behind “Alpha Dog’s” and “American Animals” success. The performances by the other young actors in both of these films (Emile Hirsch, Ben Foster, and Justin Timberlake in “Alpha Dog” and Evan Peters, Blake Jenner, and Jared Abrahamson in “American Animals”) are also noteworthy, and after seeing them bring these people to life, it’s hard to imagine anybody else in those roles.
Anton Yelchin and Justin Timberlake in “Alpha Dog”
I suppose all this makes “American Animals” the “Definitely Maybe” of cinema: a fresh, entertaining, and yes, original piece of work that also wears its influences on its sleeve and is completely unashamed of it. I doubt it will become as revered in the cinematic world as Oasis’ debut album is in the music world, but cinephiles everywhere will surely enjoy its references to the past and its engaging storytelling.
Verdict: 4/5 stars
A Journalist Who Bleeds Green 