All hail the modern Australian crime saga. First Snowtown, now Animal Kingdom. Similar aesthetics, similar tone. Similar attention to detail.

A profound mix of the tragic and the social. Strong senses of family and volcanic tensions.

Animal Kingdom is beautifully written, superbly directed and exquisitely performed. 

The comparisons with Goodfellas in the marketing are wayward in my opinion. There is much more in common here with the stark, sprawling nature of the likes of Gomorrah than its bravura American counterparts. 

The sad, cyclical nature of crime families, the tragic descent into complicity of youth caught in the crosshairs. Serious, hard cinema. Brilliant.