Hesher (played by Joseph Gordon-Levitt) is a character that represents almost all different sides of life, and mainly, childhood. He’s reckless, narcissistic, always looking for fun, and you never know whether or not he’s your friend or your greatest enemy. Hesher is a cypher, someone that you can never truly understand or grasp. Many will love him and many will hate him. A character such as Hesher can’t be easy to write. If he becomes too extremist, he can lose any hints at humanity and could become a total cartoon. But director Spencer Susser and co-writer David Michôd (the director behind last year’s tremendous Animal Kingdom) managed to find an authentic grounding in this coming-of-age film that chronicles the extreme emotions of childhood. Hesher isn’t the star of the film, but he represents everything about childhood and what the lead, T.J., is going through. Here’s what Susser had to say about writing a jarring tone, the max levels Hesher goes to, and writing spontaneity:

Why Watch? There is absolutely nothing wrong with shooting a flaming arrow at a zombie to blow it up. There’s also nothing wrong with Spencer Susser’s short film I Love Sarah Jane. Especially since there’s nothing wrong with Mia Wasikowska dropping F-bombs a lot. I mean, a lot. There are a lot of instances and colorful uses of the word Fuck here. The gore is particularly gruesome with some droolingly uneasy wounds and creeping zombie make-up as the bloody cherry on top. Thanks, Australia! What Will It Cost? Just 12 minutes of your time. Does it get better any better than that? Check out I Love Sarah Jane for yourself: I LOVE SARAH JANE (2008) Directed By: Spencer Susser Written By: Spencer Susser & David Michod Starring: Mia Wasikowska, Brad Ashby, Beau South, Vladimir Matovic, and Peter Yacoub Trust us. You have time for more short films.

Unspoken love is a tough thing to deal with, but throwing in a zombie apocalypse while secretly pining for a lovely lady has got to be double complicated. Should I do the yawn-arm-over-shoulder bit, or keep that hand free to grab a machete? Should I tell her how I feel, or concentrate on the itchy bite on my ankle? Decisions…

J awakens one day to find his mother dead from a heroin overdose. He waits, calmly, while the ambulance attendants take her away, and then he calls the only other family he has. His grandmother, Janine (aka Smurf), picks him up and welcomes him into her home. J soon discovers why his mother tried to keep him away from this extended family… his three uncles along with a friend are involved deep in Melbourne’s criminal underworld including drug dealing, bank robbery, and possibly murder. J’s arrival coincides with a stepped-up police investigation into the family’s activities, and when a seemingly concerned detective singles out J as a possible witness the teen realizes survival of the fittest is no game… it’s a way of life. And death. Animal Kingdom is writer/director David Michod’s debut, and it’s this year’s answer to The Hurt Locker when it comes to pure, unrelenting tension. J is our window into not only the personal realm of one crooked family but also of the dangerous and menacing world outside. His Melbourne streets are the urban equivalent of the African Veldt where everyone is prey until they figure out the rules of nature and their place in it. Michod presents J’s indoctrination into this landscape as an uncertain path between a family determined to maintain their lifestyles at any cost and a police department hell-bent on taking them down by any means necessary. It’s as smart and assured of a film debut as anyone could have hoped, and [Due to Content Scraping and Theft, we have been forced to try abbreviated feeds. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause and woud very much appreciate you clicking through to view the full article on FilmSchoolRejects.com]

I remain cautiously optimistic about Animal Kingdom, the blessed child of Cannes that’s gotten intensely high praise. It’s the story of a young man caught between a crime family and the long helpful arm of the law that’s intending to get him out before he’s pulled back in. Unfortunately for it, its premise, praise and promise of violent drama make it sound far too much like The Square which turned out to be more boring than riveting. Joel Edgerton’s involvement here doesn’t help the cause either.

The first trailer for Animal Kingdom, the intense and atmospheric Australian crime drama that debuted at this year’s Sundance Film Festival, has hit the web. The film was picked up for distribution by Sony Pictures Classics, and will get an American release sometime this summer. As you will see from the trailer, it’s a film with some big family drama that gets very messy when things begin to fall apart.

Atmospheric. That’s probably the best way to describe director David Michod’s Australian gangster flick Animal Kingdom. Interested? You fucking should be.