Movie Review: We the Animals

We the Animals *** ½ / *****

Directed by: Jeremiah Zagar   

Written by: Jeremiah Zagar and Daniel Kitrosser based on the novel by Justin Torres.

Starring: Sheila Vand (Ma), Raúl Castillo (Paps), Evan Rosado (Jonah), Josiah Gabriel (Joel), Isaiah Kristian (Manny). 

 

We the Animals is a film from the point-of-view of a 10-year boy, watching his parents’ volatile relationship play out in front of him. The 10-year-old is Jonah (Eva Rosado), and he is the youngest of three boys – who almost look like three different versions of the same kid a few years apart in age than brothers. They have the same haircut – shaved, not quite bald – are often walking around shirtless. Their father (Raul Castillo) is Puerto Rican, their mother (Sheila Vand) is Italian – the met when they both lived in Brooklyn, although now they live in Upstate New York. Over the course of a few months, these three boys – but especially Jonah – will go through some changes, some confusing times – some related to their parents, some more interior.

 

At first, things seem nice in the family. Paps can be fun and charming – he spends times with his kids, cooking breakfast, teaching them salsa dancing, etc. His relationship with Ma is still passionate to say the least – when things are good, they are all over each other. It comes then as a little bit of a shock when Paps lashing out violently at Ma – leaving her battered and bruised. He goes away for a while, but is then back – and all is forgiven. Only gradually do we realize that this is part of a long standing pattern – one we’ll see play out time and again throughout the course of the movie.

 

The two older boys never really developed in any meaningful way – except that Jonah views them as normal, and he isn’t. He is starting to have sexual feelings – but doesn’t really understand them. He pours those – and every other confused feeling he has – into his pencil crayon sketches, that occasionally the movie will bring to life in animated sequences. Jonah is likely gay – he certainly obsesses over an older boy with long blonde hair enough – but it’s never really clear if he really knows what that means.

 

The film was directed by Jeremiah Zager, making his feature debut after years of working in documentary films, as both a director and editor. His style here though brings to mind early David Gordon Green – think George Washington – and maybe even Terrence Malick. He certainly uses voiceover like Malick does, but not always in the best ways. The film is usually at its best the quieter that it is – when its observing these brothers, especially Jonah, and observing how they observe their parents. The movie, which was shot on film, is beautiful to look at and its best creates a dreamlike atmosphere. In many ways, this is a standard look back at childhood – it was based on Justin Torres’ semi-autobiographical novel – but it’s not one heavily tinted with nostalgia. The camera sees the abuse going on, even if Jonah has trouble articulating what he sees.

 

Which is one reason why the two performances by Castillo and Vand are so key to the movie working. They have a real chemistry together. Castillo understands how a guy like Paps operates – someone who can be a decent loving guy much of the time, but just has that angry, violent temper that makes him snap repeatedly. He’s a mean, scary guy – but his family cannot help but love him. Vand is quieter, but equally good, as Ma. She has shown up in several movies – movies that I’ve liked her in, like the lead in The Girl Walks Home Alone at Night for instance – and yet I didn’t realize it was her until the film ended. On one hand, she is very sympathetic of course – but she is far from a perfect parent either.

 

We the Animals is a film that shows that Zagar’s future should be in films like this – which is better than the documentary work of his I have seen. He has an eye for this type of filmmaking, and the film is sensitive, well-made and well-acted. Some things are laid on too thick – the score for instance – but for the most part, We the Animals is a very good, small movie.

Movie Review: In a Dream

In a Dream ***
Directed By: Jeremiah Zagar.

There have been a lot of documentaries in the past few years that focus on one person’s family. A family member with a movie camera documents the trials and tribulations that his family is going through at the time, the movie gets into a few film festivals, a limited theatrical release and then straight to DVD where no one ever picks it up again. The whole thing reminds of that episode of The Simpsons when Lisa goes to Sundance. While In a Dream follows that same formula, it is more fascinating than most of those documentaries. For one, director Jeremiah Zagar seems to have a natural eye for moviemaking, but more importantly, his family is actually interesting enough to sustain a documentary that people other than his family would want to what.

Jeremiah’s father is Isaiah Zagar, who for the past four decades has been covers his Philadelphia neighborhood with his huge mosaic murals – over 50,000 square feet of mosaics have been done (apparently, the city of Philadelphia allows him to do this, although the movie never really explains it). He pours his life into his art – which is very personal – and centers around his family. He has had a history of mental problems, including a suicide attempt years ago, but doing his art seems to keep him grounded and sane. His wife, Julia, helps in this regard as well, as does his two sons – Zeke and Jeremiah.

The first act of the movie seems to find Isaiah and Julia in happy times. They have made it through more than 40 years together, they have two sons – one is married and has a song of his own and is making a success for himself in real estate, and the other went off to college and is now making this documentary.

But then things fall apart. Zeke, who they was happy married and successful, gets divorced and moves back in with his parents. Worse, he is “self medicating”, and will probably need help at some point to get over his addiction. Isaiah’s mosaics seem to start changing as well. Usually focusing on his family, and his wife who he adores, they seem to have turned inward and are becoming more and more about himself and his troubled psyche. When Zeke finally asks for help with his addiction, and wants to be driven to a rehab centre, Isaiah blurts out that he has been having an affair with his assistant. Things immediately get much worse.

When I watch documentaries like this, I often wonder if the process of making the film made things better or worse. Does having the camera there make people more honest than they otherwise would be, or do they feel like puppets being used by the documentarian – in this case a member of their own family. In this case, it seems to be the former. This family does not seem to hold back much, and you get the impression that without the camera there, perhaps they would not be talking about these things at all. At least with the camera, things are being said.

In a Dream is not a great documentary, but it is a good one. It finds interesting subjects to document, and the film is about more than just a family in crisis. It is about the line between art and reality, sanity and insanity, and how art can save or destroy you – as can a marriage. In short, In a Dream is better than most documentaries about a family, because it is about more than just the family. A lot more.