Animal Kingdom (2010)

Actors: Ben Mendelsohn (actor), Anthony Hayes (actor), Andy McPhee (actor), John Fox (miscellaneous crew), Joel Edgerton (actor), Guy Pearce (actor), Jacki Weaver (actress), Clayton Jacobson (actor), Antony Partos (composer), Kieran Darcy-Smith (actor), Luke Doolan (editor), Luke Doolan (miscellaneous crew), Luke Doolan (actor), Tony Gibbs (miscellaneous crew), Dan Wyllie (actor),

Plot: Despite being no saint herself, Julia Cody has shielded her seventeen year old son, Joshua "J" Cody, from her Melbourne-based criminal relatives who they have not seen in years. After Julia dies in front of J's eyes from a self-inflicted heroin overdose, J, who is slightly detached from life, feels he has no choice but to contact his maternal grandmother, Janine "Smurf" Cody, the family matriarch, for a place to live. Smurf rules the family with a borderline incestuous love over her three sons, the quietly menacing Andrew "Pope" Cody, the hyperactive Craig Cody, and the barely of age Darren Cody. Pope and his best friend, Barry "Baz" Brown, are armed robbers, with Darren their up and coming apprentice, while Craig is a mid level drug dealer. Melbourne's Armed Robbery Squad is after specifically Pope, who is hiding out. But when the standoff between the Codys and the Armed Robbery Squad is brought up a notch, an all out war ensues, with some casualties and J caught in the middle. The only grounding in J's life is his girlfriend, Nicky Henry. With those casualties comes an investigation by Homicide Detective Senior Sergeant Nathan Leckie, who knows the Codys are involved in some of those deaths. As Leckie tries to get J on his side, J has to figure out how best to get himself out from the middle, where he trusts neither side. J also wants to figure out how to exact what he considers justice in an all around bad situation.

Keywords: 17-year-old, acquittal, ambush, apartment-building, aquarium, armed-robbery, arrest, art-gallery, australian-noir, bad-mother
Genres: Crime, Drama, Thriller,
Taglines: A crime story.

Quotes:

Andrew 'Pope' Cody: Turn around, pig cunt.

[Barry is approached by detectives, thinking that they are after Pope]::Barry Brown: Oh sorry guys. You just missed him.::Armed robbery detective: That's alright. We like you better.::Detective: [shouting, referring to Barry who is unarmed] He's got a gun!::[the Armed Robbery Detective raises his rifle up and shoots Barry]

Andrew 'Pope' Cody: [Last words before being killed, and last words of the film] It's a crazy fucking world.

[after the death of Craig]::Janine Cody: [crying] I'm having trouble trying to find my positive spin. I'm usually very good at it. Usually it's right there, and I can just have it. But I'm having trouble finding it now.

[after the death of Craig]::Leckie: You know what the bush is about? It's about massive trees that have been standing there for thousands of years... and bugs that'll be dead before the minute's out. It's big trees and pissy little bugs. And everything knows its place in the scheme of things. Everything... everything sits in the order somewhere. Things survive because they're strong, and everything reaches an understanding. But not everything survives because it's strong. Some creatures are weak, but they survive because they're being protected by the strong for one reason or another. You may think that, because of the circles you move in or whatever, that you're one of the strong creatures, but you're not, you're one of the weak ones. That's nothing against you, you're just - you're just weak because you're young. But you've survied because you've been protected by the strong. But they're not strong anymore, and they're certainly not able to protect you. We're here because we know who you are and we know what you've done. Now, I know you feel like you're in a tough situation. But you have an out. There's nothing your uncles can do to squirm out of this one; Craig's learned that the hard way. But you're not like them. We can see that, and you know that. Now I know that they're saying to you that talking to me is betraying the family, but they've betrayed *you*. The fact that you're talking to me, the fact that you've been left to deal with us... is all the proof that you need. And you're in danger. Don't be confused about that. I think you know. And I think you know that I can help you. But I can't keep offering. You've gotta decide. You've gotta work out where you fit.::Joshua 'J' Cody: I don't know why you're telling me all of this.::Leckie: Yes, you do.

Detective Randall Roache: Look I know you got a problem Janine, but I don't see how this mess your boys are in has got anything to do with me. So if you've called me in here to see if there are some strings I can pull in your way of course. Is that what this is about?::Janine Cody: Hey Randall, before you go on, this boy who's currently being looked after, tell me if you agree with this, this boy who's being looked after, he knows who you are. And you know how these things go they're gonna ask him all sorts of questions about everything he's ever seen or done. Everyone he's ever met, the whole schmozzle. And you've done some bad things sweetie, haven't you? I want this part to be clear this is not about you doing me a favor or, me blackmailing you or anything like that. It's just a bad situation for everyone. Ezra here's got the address, it shouldn't be too hard to set up a raid on the house. There'd be reasonable grounds what with, all the strange activity, the comings and goings, day and night, one of the neighbors might've seen a gun or something. This is you're area of expertise I'm not trying to tell you how to suck eggs. What do you think?::Detective Randall Roache: I really don't, see how anything can be done Janine.::Janine Cody: Randall, I feel sick about this. I'm not happy at all, not one little bit. But we do what we have to do, we do what we must. Just because we don't wanna do something doesn't mean it can't be done.

Joshua 'J' Cody: Mum kept me away from her family because she was scared. I didn't realise it at the time, but they were all scared - even if they didn't show it. I think even Barry Brown was scared - even though he never showed it. Everyone felt safe around Baz. He'd punch your head off if ya got in the way - if he was in the middle of an armed robbin', you got between him and the door, he'd put you on the ground and not think twice about it. But he was good to me, and to everyone else. Darren was only a couple of years older than me. When we were little kids, he was like, my best friend. We used to throw rocks at cars 'n' that. He had a way better BMX than me - my bike was shit. My Uncle Craig moved really fast, like... he was tryin'a stay in front of somethin'. And Grandma Smurf - she just seemed to wanna be wherever the boys were. And she just wanted to be around whatever the boys were doing. But they were all scared, even if they didn't show it, even if they didn't know it exactly. Even if they were having to do what crooks do all the time which is, block out the thing they must know. They must know it - which is that crooks always come undone - always, one way or another. In Melbourne at this time - this is a while ago now - the armed robbery squad was out of control. They were shooting guys willy-nilly and gettin' away with it, and they'd been after Baz and my family for months. But the guy they really wanted, the guy they really hated, was my other Uncle - Uncle Andrew, but everyone just called him 'Pope'. He was hiding in a motel room somewhere 'cause he heard he was next. Craig was sellin' drugs, he was sellin' lots of 'em. He had a detective in the drug squad helpin' him do it - a guy called 'Randall Roach'. They'd meet in a fish shop in Footscray, 'cause Craig loved fish. An' I dunno - all this seemed strange to me, but not strange either, you know what I mean? Kids just are wherever they are and they just do what ever they're doin', you know? This is where I was, and this is what I was doin'. After my mum died, this was just the world I got thrown into.

Craig Cody: [after handing J. a handgun] Go get him.::Joshua 'J' Cody: And do what?::Craig Cody: Let him know who's king.

Barry Brown: Hey, so Nicole's a sweetie. Where'd ya find her?::Joshua 'J' Cody: [as J. leaves urinal] Found her at school.::Barry Brown: Where are you going?::Joshua 'J' Cody: What?::Barry Brown: Did you wash your hands?::Joshua 'J' Cody: No.::Barry Brown: You had your hands on your cock. Your hands go anywhere near your ass or your cock, you wash 'em after. Jesus, c'mon. Bit of soap, get a lather going. Rinse. Alright that's enough, now stick 'em under there. [Gesturing towards hand dryer]::Joshua 'J' Cody: I'm invisible, these things never see me.::Barry Brown: No one's invisible, mate.