Brooklyn, New York based
actor Steve Buscemi remains one of the distinctive character actors in modern
film. Often appearing in Coen Brothers’
films and sporting memorable performances in Quentin Tarantino’s Reservoir Dogs as well as Terry Zwigoff’s
Ghost World, the actor with his
wrinkly face and crooked teeth remains an instantly recognizable figure in
movies.
Like most actors flexing their
skills in the entertainment industry, Buscemi also tried his hand at film
directing, having directed four features in total over the last ten years in
addition to occasional television work.
Often helming character driven dramas involving dark humor, his second
feature Animal Factory stands out as
something of an outlier in his film directing oeuvre for it’s content and
overall approach.
A prison movie at heart, the
film is an ensemble drama primarily concerning Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), a clean
shaven miscreant and veteran con man, who takes newly admitted youngen Ron
Decker (Edward Furlong) under his protective wing to help the kid survive his
prison time. Based upon the novel by
former convict turned screenwriter Edward Bunker and co-produced by Danny Trejo
who also stars, Animal Factory is a
compelling yet modestly sized life-in-prison drama with fine as well as
surprising performances across the board.
Closer in kin to Don Siegel’s
Riot in Cell Block 11 than The Shawshank Redemption, Animal Factory is that rare prison
picture less concerned with longterm goals than simply presenting the daily
struggle to survive the life with danger lurking in plain daylight around every
corner. In other words, time simply
disappears in this world for the prisoners as one never knows when they line up
for roll call which moment will be their last.
Buscemi’s direction isn’t
particularly technically skilled but it’s serviceable and largely an arena for
his actors to show off their abilities. Much
of the film is shot on location within real prison grounds, though the most
alien aspect of the piece will undoubtedly by actor/musician John Lurie’s jazz/avant-garde
soundtrack. Having heard Lurie’s offbeat
music to his already offbeat television show Fishing with John, hearing it set to a prison drama was and still
is unusual but I digress.
Dafoe as
always steals the show and brings a formidable command and danger to Copen who,
underneath his violent exterior, still has something resembling a heart with
compassion. Furlong, if you saw his
skinhead in American History X, more
or less plays the same overconfident youth unaware of the danger to himself in
a system ready to eat unassuming youths like him alive. Among the film’s genuine
surprises are Mickey Rourke as, get ready for it, a transvestite donning makeup
and painted fingernails, working against his tough guy image later seen in The Wrestler. The biggest surprise of course goes to Tom
Arnold as a particularly brutal inmate who sets his salacious sights on Furlong’s
arrival. Ordinarily a comic actor,
Arnold doesn’t overplay the part and exudes a real sense of previously unseen
menace, making his turn all the more startling.
Though the ending closes on
something of a quieter note than I was expecting, I was captivated by Animal Factory, a film which illustrates
even demonic figures like Earl Copen still have the capacity for compassion and
that often the prison system itself may in fact be contributing to violent
crime rather than deterring it. While
not as brutal or unflinching as some of the other prison dramas that have come
and gone, Buscemi’s Animal Factory as
it stands is a welcome contribution to the subgenre which tries to imbue human
warmth to characters who at face value are all but bereft of.
What’s more, Dafoe’s
performance navigating Furlong’s character and ourselves through the prison is
wholly compelling and remains proof positive Dafoe is one of the truly great
actors of our generation. From playing
Jesus in The Last Temptation of Christ
to Bobby Peru in Wild at Heart, the
man can do anything including but not limited to convincing viewers that a dangerous
and frequently violent prisoner like Earl Copen can and often do have a heart.
Score:
- Andrew Kotwicki