We the Animals

"Beasts of the Southern Wild", "Tree of Life", and "Moonlight" rolled into one wonderful dreamy yet real indie movie.

The intimacy and rawness of the way it was shot made it feel a bit like a documentary. There's a plot there, technically, but it's more slice of life than conventional story. It takes a little while to get going and still occasionally lost my interest. But the parts that are good are really good, and it elevates itself in the last half hour or so. You have to enjoy watching the characters interact and it did feel organic and genuine. Intercutting with drawings periodically was a nice touch.

Essentially "Tree of Life" with an instagram filter. "We the Animals" wears its influences on its sleeve but still won me over with its touching depictions of brotherhood. Overall it was much colder than I anticipated, surprisingly painting the portrait of a broken family with heartbreaking honesty.

Beautiful, dreamy, thoughtful, and touching - if a little slow and unfocused at times.

When Tree of Life meets... a bad director.

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Uneven coming-of-ager feels a little too reminiscent of THE TREE OF LIFE at times, but the lower budget (and less loftier ambitions) give this film a rugged, tactile quality all of its own, with some sequences indistinguishable from documentary. It's a shame these viscerally authentic elements never quite mesh with the more fantastical, dream-like elements, though these are still intriguing on their own terms. Excellent performances from the entire cast.

Well directed and enjoyable enough, but it’s lack of plot causes it to be slow and uninteresting in places.

Atlas

25. Adana Film Festivali.

With powerful moments giving sight on a dysfunctional family, it becomes progressively heartbreaking through the innocent narrative. Having adapted many elements from greater influences, it still blossoms into something worthwhile and touching.