Animals **** (2012, Oriol Pla, Augustus Prew, Dimitri Leonidas, Roser Tapias, Javier Beltrán, Martin Freeman) – Classic Movie Review 12,832

Marçal Forés’s very strange and extremely imaginative 2012 Spanish coming-of-age drama film Animals is a fascinating oddity following the angst-ridden journey of a troubled 17-year-old schoolboy called Pol (Oriol Pla).

Writer/ director Marçal Forés’s very strange and extremely imaginative 2012 Spanish coming-of-age drama film Animals is an entrancing, fascinating oddity following the angst-ridden journey of a troubled 17-year-old schoolboy called Pol (Oriol Pla) from being a nice naïve teenager to becoming a wounded young adult.

Pol is in high school, an English high school in Spain, and lives with his brother, but has a secret imaginary friend. Things change when Pol becomes fascinated by his new enigmatic male classmate Ikari and attracted to the boy’s dark side: wrist slashing, cue lots of blood.

Pol has a complicated life, with an interesting little network of assorted folk. He has a walking, talking cuddly little teddy bear he calls Deerhoof as his (imaginary or virtual) actual best friend, a best friend called Mark (Dimitri Leonidas), a kind of girlfriend named Laia (Roser Tapias), a possible new gay boyfriend in Ikari (Augustus Prew), a protective older brother in Llorenç (Javier Beltrán), who’s a cop, and a smug English art teacher called Albert (Martin Freeman). Pol is a true oddball, but oddly he seems the least weird of all these characters. And then there is the inexplicable death of one of the female students.

The beautifully realised film has all the courage of its own weird beliefs, with some brilliant photography and a great soundtrack, plus an animated teddy bear that will melt the heart of any grown up who, er. hasn’t grown up. Oh, yes, because of the troubled teen talking to a bear thing, the film has echoes of Jake talking to his rabbit in Donnie Darko, but it is still very much its own rich and strange thing. Best advice: approach cautiously and watch carefully. No patience is required, it is entirely engrossing. Oriol Pla keeps you on his character’s side seemingly effortlessly. You really want it to work out for him. Does it? I really couldn’t say.

As with the mysterious Donnie Darko, I really couldn’t say what the film is about. Best advice: go with the flow, take the journey, and enjoy the adventure with the hero. The adline offers a teasing clue to the film: it’s ‘A story about love, despair, and the pains of being pure at heart’. A-ha. And, while you’re wondering about that, you’ve got to wonder what the heck Martin Freeman is doing in this film.

The cast are Oriol Pla as Pol, Augustus Prew as Ikari, Dimitri Leonidas as Mark, Roser Tapias as Laia, Javier Beltrán as Llorenç, and Martin Freeman as Albert.

Animals is directed by Marçal Forés, runs 94 minutes, is written by Marçal Forés, Enric Pardo and Aintza Serra, and is scored by Natalie Holt.

Release date 27 September 2012 (San Sebastián International Film Festival).

It is shot in Catalan and English.

© Derek Winnert 2024 – Classic Movie Review 12,832

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