Event
FILM
We the Animals
Us three. Us brothers. Us kings, inseparable. Three boys tear through their childhood, in the midst of their young parents’ volatile love that makes and unmakes the family many times over. While Manny and Joel grow into versions of their loving and unpredictable father, Ma seeks to shelter her youngest, Jonah, in the cocoon of home. More sensitive and conscious than his older siblings, Jonah increasingly embraces an imagined world all his own. With a screenplay by Dan Kitrosser and Jeremiah Zagar based on the celebrated Justin Torres novel, We the Animals is a visceral coming-of-age story propelled by layered performances from its astounding cast – including three talented, young first-time actors – and stunning animated sequences which bring Jonah’s torn inner world to life. Drawing from his documentary background, director Jeremiah Zagar creates an immersive portrait of working class family life and brotherhood.
"a classic coming-of age tale...near perfect"
"Every once in a while a movie grabs you, unsuspecting, and hustles its way into your heart."
"An impressionistic swirl of a film about masculinity, about abuse, about growing up queer, about chaotic family life, about the jumble of incidents and stirrings through which a child discovers a self."
"unfolds almost as a dream, albeit one that never shies away from the often hopeless reality of what it's like to grow up poor in America."
"For his first narrative feature, the documentarian Zagar displays a thrillingly sensitive eye for the curiosity and caution that exists in every young child's heart, and how it is so simple for the world to crush that."
