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Steve Buscemi's directorial follow-up to the barfly
classic Trees Lounge is a mature and hard-hitting
adaptation of American crime scribe Edward Bunker's
highly regarded prison novel. In swapping Bukowski's
territory for Bunker's, the director examines an
alltogether darker side of humanity and does so with
considerable style.
When 21-year-old Ron Decker (Edward Furlong) receives
a surprisingly harsh jail sentence for dealing
marijuana, he finds himself in a vulnerable position.
Less than savvy to the way of life inside, the
good-looking young man soon attracts unwelcome
interest from some of the long-term inmates. He is
subsequently forced to approach the powerful gang
leader Earl Copen (a shaven-headed Willem Dafoe) for
protection and the two convicts slowly develop an
ambiguous and unusual relationship that leaves Ron
wondering if there will be a price to pay for Earl's
friendship.
The Animal Factory is a triumphant piece of ensemble
filmmaking that stays in the mind long after its
dramatic ending. After impressive turns in both
Pecker and American History X, Furlong is
thoroughly convincing as Ron and the often unreliable
Willem Dafoe gives a solid central performance as the
father/brother/lover figure who has already spent 18
years in the joint and knows the system inside out.
John Heard appears as Ron's father and there are also
unusual appearances from Mickey Rourke (as Ron's
transvestite cellmate) and Tom Arnold (as a deviant
who has his eyes on the youngster.) The action is
perfectly matched by John Lurie's eerie and
marvellously discordant original score and is
dramatically shot by Phil Parmet. Director Buscemi
(who has a minor role in the movie) keeps the pace
slow in order to give a detailed depiction of the
routines of prison life and presents both the racial
and sexual conflicts that exist inside. He also puts
the interior and exterior locations to good effect
with some imaginative framing and aerial camerawork.
The Animal Factory also has a cracking script that was
co-written by Bunker and manages to faithfully bring
the action to the screen.
Reviewed by Chris Wiegand
Reader comments about The Animal Factory
(*_*)Mz-Glitter-Honey(*_*) (Mzglitter@hotmail.com) writes:
"Animal Factory" is a good film. The film introduces situations into the story that places the conclusion in the minds of viewers. The film is very ambigious as to the nature of certain relationships, and only once does the film directly imply the true intentions of Earl for his young friend Ron. The implication occurs when Earl simulates an anal sex act with Ron in order to maintain his ruthless status amongst his friends. The film is blunt without being disturbing. Furthermore, it is realistic without being vulgar. I rate it a seven out of ten.
Phillip (Email address withheld) writes:
This is a realistic, if at times shocking look into life at a prison. The film is about Ron who is considered a fresh piece of meat and Earls relationship and eventually attempt at escape. There are some distrubing scenes, but they all serve a purpose. This movie will shock, but it doesn't shock for the sake of doing so.
I will never forget Earl slashing the vein......
Anthony (Email address withheld) writes:
I didn't enjoy watching Animal Factory at all. I thought the characters were weak and under developed. Why was Defoe in prison? How did he gain his prison status? I couldn't bring myself to care about any of the people in this film. I thought the kid from Terminator 2 was irritating from beginning to end. He never pulled off scared and vonerable for me. He looked like he was doped up through the entire movie. Was I the only person hoping he'd get crushed in the not so daring escape?? Also, the violence in the movie just seemed to be added for effect, every now and again some random inmate would get stabbed in the back etc etc. This film in not a patch on the Shawshank Redemption, in fact it is an insult to the makers of the Redemption that this film is likened to it. Yeah it's set in prison, but that is it. This film is more like Prisoner Cell Block H.
krista (Dirtyd488@aol.com) writes:
After stumbling across the actor "Edward Furlong" i couldn't get enough of him. I started renting every single movie that had him in it and this movie just happened to be the first one i rented. By the time the movie was over i was really amazed that this film was in some strange way sweet and loving. I was shocked, i admit, at a lot of parts in the movie but all in all it was very amazing. I loved how the director made the film sort of an oxymoron by mixing in love with hate and violence with tenderness. So if your planning on watching this film, i highly recomend it.
c.d.missenden. (Email address withheld) writes:
having watched the film,i cannot help feeling that i have seen a very simular escape scene in another film.
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