359. American Animals; movie review

AMERICAN ANIMALS
Cert 15
115 mins
BBFC advice: Contains strong language, threat, drugs misuse

Thank goodness it's September. The spark of originality which has been so lacking during a dismal summer is returning to the cinema.
After enjoying The Miseducation of Cameron Post on Friday, Mrs W and I complemented The Equalizer 2 with the most unusual but enthralling American Animals on Saturday.
Bart Layton's movie tells the story of an extraordinary art heist, carried out by four Kentucky students.
But when is a true story not a true story - when the participants cannot agree on what actually happened.
Layton splices interviews with the four, their families and witnesses with a fully fledged dramatisation of the events.
Thus, Barry Keoghan plays Spencer Reinhard, an art student with a desperation to make an original mark on the world.
Meanwhile, Evan Peters portrays Warren Lipka as a maverick who becomes obsessed with the success of the heist as soon as the plan is put into his head.
Lipka is a very strong and erratic character whose re-telling of the lead-up to the theft and even the raid itself, differs from the others.
Reinhard and Lipka initially planned the crime but realised that they needed a bigger team and, consequently, Eric Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson) and Chas Allen (Blake Jenner) are brought on board.
To describe the plan as hare-brained is a severe understatement. The team vastly under-estimate the margin of error.
The construction of American Animals makes it one of the more interesting movies of 2018.
There is a seamless transition between the actors playing out key moments in the preparation, the heist itself and the aftermath and commentary from the real participants.
Occasionally this even manifests itself in the real characters finishing off the actor's sentence.
If the concept seems cumbersome, let me assure you that it isn't. In fact, it adds great depth to the movie and it wouldn't surprise me to see it being copied.
However, what it does show is that the difference between a true story and fake news may not be as obvious as first appears.
Are some memories playing tricks or is someone lying? Not even they know, so how would we?

Reasons to watch: A gripping true story, told in a most original way.
Reasons to avoid: Some may prefer straightforward action

Laughs: None
Jumps: None
Vomit: Yes
Nudity: None
Overall rating: 8/10

Director quote - Bart Layton: "You know, if someone pulled out a gun in a documentary or there’s blood on the floor, that is like heart-stopping stuff. People get shot in the face every five minutes in the movies and we don’t bat an eyelid, do we? I wanted to try to bring those two things together."

The big question - Is this the creation of a new docu-drama style?

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