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Animal Kingdom (2010)

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clip Family conference

Original classification rating: MA. This clip chosen to be PG

Clip description

A family conference in a deserted café about what to do in the wake of the murder of two cops in which the brothers have been involved. Family matriarch Smurf (Jacki Weaver) reminds her criminal sons Craig (Sullivan Stapleton), Pope (Ben Mendelsohn) and Darren (Luke Ford) that the police know they are associates of Baz, who was recently shot dead by rogue detectives. (The implication is that the cops know they have a revenge motive that may link them to the murder of the two police officers.) She advises Craig to hand himself over for police questioning, otherwise they’ll suspect him even more. Pope notices that J is still being questioned by detectives. The ominous implication is that J could be doing a deal with the police and drastic action may be necessary.

Curator’s notes

by Lynden Barber

Jacki Weaver was nominated for a best supporting actress Academy Award for her performance as ‘Granny Smurf’, the first for an Australian performer in an Australian film since Geoffrey Rush’s in Shine in 1996 (he went on to win the award for best actor).

This scene gives a good idea of what Oscar voters and many others found admirable in Weaver’s performance – it’s remarkably controlled, showing a glinting edge of steel beneath a softly purring concern for her boys (who she calls ‘sweetheart’ and elsewhere even kisses on the lips).

What’s chilling is that her concern is not just for her sons as flesh and blood but above all for the family’s amoral criminal enterprise. Underneath her soft, maternal surface lurks a hard, black heart. Weaver’s subtle delivery shows that duality to highly persuasive effect.

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