WE THE ANIMALS
US, 2018, 94 minutes, Colour.
Evan Rosado, Josiah Gabriel, Isaiah Kristian, Sheila Vand, Raul Castillo.
Directed by Jeremiah Zagar.
This is a brief, independent, small-budget film set in upstate New York.
The audience is invited to share the experiences of three young boys, brothers (though none of the actors are related and audiences have to take it on faith of these three are brothers). Their mother is white, their father black. The parents have a mixed relationship, sometimes passionate to the ignoring of their children, sometimes on-and-off, the father disappearing.
The film creates an atmosphere of the town, homes, farms…
The central focus of the boys is Jonah, who participates in all the rough-and-tumble of their life but also has an inner, imaginative life, enabling him to draw.
The boys also visit a local farm where the son there watches a deal of pornography – which fascinates the boys, pre-puberty, including Jonah.
The film is something of a memoir, a small glimpse of life in the town, of the boys and their relationships.
1. An essay-portrait of a family and three young adolescent children?
2. A piece of Americana, families and the 21st-century, white mother, rhetoric and father, the children?
3. The location settings, upstate New York, the town, homes, farms, streets and shops? The musical score?
4. The title? The original novel by Justin Torres, a memoir? The start of the film, pieces of the puzzle, random moments, flashbacks, narrative? The overall effect? Impressions rather than a linear narrative?
5. The title, as applied to the three boys, the characters, their way of life, with the parents, aggressive towards neighbours?
6. The mother and father, the relationship, seemingly loving, the sexual attraction (the shower sequence when they become involved with each other and forget to search for the children in the shower)? The fights between them? The father leaving, his return? The mother and her relationship with the children?
7. The three boys, their bonding as brothers (though as actors they are unrelated)? The characters, different personalities, dependence on each other?
8. The focus on Jonah, his narration? Joining with the boys in all their activities, happy, aggressive, taunting people? The relationship with his parents? His book, the drawings – and the animation? His going into his imaginative life? The scenes of magic realism?
9. The boys going to the farm, the old man, the son, his watching pornography, their being intrigued? His being continually drawn back to visit the farm and his relationship with the son? The pre-puberty attraction?
10. Happy moments, the angry moments, the aggression?
11. The invitation to audiences to immerse themselves in the experience, identifying, challenged, not trying to work out a linear exposition?
