Animals
Image: Photo: Tamara Hardman
This is a warts and all depiction of two besties sharing a flat in Dublin, living and loving excessively and… well, the “and” is the problem. We’re taken on a wild ride of boozing, snorting, smoking, sexing, a semi-serious relationship, a tear in the friendship and then to an ambiguous, unsatisfying conclusion.
Laura (Holliday Grainger) is a frustrated writer doing bare minimum menial work to make rent. Tyler (Alia Shawkat) is an American ex-pat. The two are extraordinarily close – they have no inhibitions, no personal space between them, and seemingly no desire to change their hedonistic lifestyle. That is… until Laura meets Jim (Fra Fee), a handsome classical pianist, whom she considers marrying – much to Tyler’s chagrin. From here, the plot becomes circular and a bit unfocused. It’s very raw, unperturbed storytelling with equally brash performances. The characters are well developed, with Tyler in particular, having some thrusting one-liners.
You’ll be no doubt entertained but you may get to the end and think “what just happened?” But maybe that’s the point.
★★★
Reviewed by Rita Bratovich
