''Animals'' is a 2019

comedy-drama film Comedy drama, also known by the portmanteau ''dramedy'', is a genre of dramatic works that combines elements of comedy and drama. The modern, scripted-television examples tend to have more humorous bits than simple comic relief seen in a typical ...

directed by Sophie Hyde, starring Holliday Grainger and Alia Shawkat. It was screened in the Premieres category at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. An adaptation of

Emma Jane Unsworth Emma Jane Unsworth (born 1979) is a British writer from Bury, Greater Manchester. She writes short stories and has had three novels published; ''Hungry, the Stars and Everything'', '' Animals'' and ''Adults''. Unsworth is also a screenwriter o ...

's 2014 novel of the same name, the film follows best friends Laura and Tyler whose lifestyle comes under scrutiny just as Laura becomes engaged to a teetotaller.

Plot

Best friends Laura, a struggling writer working as a

barista A barista (; ; from the Italian/Spanish for "bartender") is a person, usually a coffeehouse employee, who prepares and serves espresso-based coffee drinks. Etymology and inflection The word ''barista'' comes from Italian where it means a male ...

, and her best friend and flatmate Tyler, an American woman who is estranged from her family, are both heavy partiers living in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of the Wicklow Mountains range. At the 2016 ...

. The early part of the film shows their close friendship in their late twenties as they consume large quantities of wine and drugs through the night, sometimes engaging in casual sex with a man but mostly just enjoying each other's company. Tyler is included in Laura's family gatherings, with a pregnant sister (who becomes mother to a baby daughter) playing a part in the plot and character development. Circumstances change when Laura meets and then gets engaged to concert pianist Jim, who shortly afterwards gives up alcohol. Laura continues her partying lifestyle with Tyler, but starts spending nights with Jim. Inevitably the dynamics of the various relationships change, and more so after they become friends with a poet, Marty, to whom Laura is attracted, and his circle of literary friends. Laura struggles to make progress with her novel throughout the film. Various events in each of their lives unfold, with questions about life, and especially women's roles, raised and explored both implicitly and explicitly. With the development of the women's friendship front and centre of the film, it does not take the route of a typical neat and happily resolved "Hollywood ending", but ends optimistically with Laura finding her creativity beginning to flow as she finds a way forward.

Cast

* Holliday Grainger as Laura * Alia Shawkat as Tyler * Fra Fee as Jim * Jamael Westman as Leo * Dermot Murphy as Marty * Amy Molloy as Jean * Kwaku Fortune as Julian * Olwen Fouéré as Maureen * Pat Shortt as Bill

Production

Hyde said that it was the book which drew her in and inspired her to make the film, giving voice to women's experiences in a way that she had not seen very often on screen and in a way that felt connected to her own experience. She and Unsworth worked collaboratively from early in the creative process. The film was made in and around

, whereas the book is set in

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

. Shawkat said she was drawn to the film owing to its being driven by women, and she was able to bring her life experience into her creation of the character. Both main actors agreed that the personal chemistry between the two worked well on set because they had hit it off in real life.

Release

After premiering at the

Sundance Film Festival The Sundance Film Festival (formerly Utah/US Film Festival, then US Film and Video Festival) is an annual film festival organized by the Sundance Institute. It is the largest independent film festival in the United States, with more than 46,6 ...

in early 2019, where it was well received, the film had its Australian premiere at a "pop-up" event at the Adelaide Film Festival on 5–6 April 2019. It screened at the Sundance London in June 2019 and opened in UK cinemas in August, attracting good reviews. It was released in Australia on 12 September 2019.

Reception

The film has an 87% "Fresh" rating on

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, based on 63 reviews, . ''Sundance'' said "Shawkat’s live-wire performance gives Tyler an anarchic comic edge that perfectly complements Grainger’s soulful turn as the conflicted and creatively blocked Laura". The '' Adelaide Review'' called it "a visually stunning and often surprising film". ''

IndieWire IndieWire (sometimes stylized as indieWIRE or Indiewire) is a film industry and review website that was established in 1996. The site's focus was predominantly independent film, although its coverage has grown to "to include all aspects of Holl ...

''’s Kate Erbland said that Grainger and Shawkat are wonderful together, and that the film "revels in the messiness of life, and the many love stories it can contain”. '' Variety''’s Guy Lodge hailed the comedy as a commercial leap forward and wrote of its "ideally matched stars" and said that it compared favourably with the "more superficially subversive female leads of comedies like ''Trainwreck''". ''

The Hollywood Reporter ''The Hollywood Reporter'' (''THR'') is an American digital and print magazine which focuses on the Hollywood film, television, and entertainment industries. It was founded in 1930 as a daily trade paper, and in 2010 switched to a weekly large ...

''’s Leslie Felperin found Unsworth’s script "insightful in its treatment of the complexity of female friendships". In the UK, ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide ...

s Benjamin Lee called the film "one that attendees should be breathlessly, excitedly discussing around town, urging everyone else to see immediately", and ''

Time Out Time-out, Time Out, or timeout may refer to: Time * Time-out (sport), in various sports, a break in play, called by a team * Television timeout, a break in sporting action so that a commercial break may be taken * Timeout (computing), an enginee ...

'' said it "should delight anyone who watches it".

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Animals 2019 films 2019 drama films Australian drama films 2010s English-language films English-language Irish films Irish drama films Films based on British novels Films shot in Ireland Films shot in Dublin (city) Films set in Dublin (city) 2010s female buddy films 2019 independent films