directed by:
James Murray written by: James Murray genre: Thriller |
“He who makes a beast of himself is free from the pain of being a man.” I suppose we still have to be mindful of the fact that trading one evil for another wouldn’t exactly be a good thing, right? I might very well be one of the people here on Earth who would absolutely agree there is a lot of pain associated with our very existence, but at the same time, I have to recognize that not all beasts are created equal, either. The truth in that statement above from “Animus” really depends on what kind of beast you’d end up being, or what you would do with said beastliness - otherwise you’d really just be swapping out one form of pain for another, wouldn’t you? It’s food for thought, I suppose. I think the real crux of that quote relies on the perception that being human implies we have some sort of consciousness that recognizes the pain that comes with existence, whereas we assume being a beast would not. “Herd animals have an innate moral order,” the film explains, which somewhat implies that any rogue outlier from a group would not. In this particular scenario, the rogue outlier is Subject A-652.
We meet Subject A-652 about a quarter of the way into “Animus,” officially at least. You’ll see him very briefly before that, in a dark alley, laying a beating on some random dude outside a building through some security footage. A-652 doesn’t want to say a whole lot to his current government captors and psychiatric evaluators at first, but eventually, some details begin to come out. “None of this will matter to you,” says A-652 as he shares his side of the story and insights into the way he perceives the world around him. Like all things that aren’t human, beasts or otherwise, we do our best to analyze them in a sincere effort to help build our understanding of them, albeit the fact that we’re still limited by our own human perception. Essentially, we can’t really ask about what we don’t know anything about, because we wouldn’t have a clue as to how to go about asking the right questions to get that kind of information. “Don’t pretend to be my counsellor,” warns Subject A-652 – “I know myself far deeper than you, doctor.” Lots of things are going right here for Writer/Director James Murray. The look of this film is completely stellar…it’s dark, it’s gritty, it looks like it’s from the underground and shrouded in secrecy, much like the very scenario A-652 finds himself in. Subject A-652, played perfectly by Fenn Leon, comes across with such an impressively restrained, calm, and unintimidating persona as he answers questions from Psych 2B, who is played equally brilliantly by Chris Hardy. What you’ll love about Leon’s performance is his Lecter-esque cold detachment. He appears to be unthreatening, but when you’re watching him survey his surroundings, you get to see things from his perspective and the intense scrutiny that a hunter views its prey from every angle. Murray got exceptional performances out of both Leon & Hardy, and the two of them essentially carry the full weight of this entire film when it comes to its main cast. Beyond that, though, “Animus” does an excellent job of incorporating its use of effects into this film without being too invasive with them, which is a feat in itself considering that many of those effects have all the hallmarks of AI renderings in real-time. Murray’s found an excellent way to use them in scenes between scenes that help explain the story from A-652’s perspective, and communicate what this film is really trying to express to the viewers watching. It’s very effective, cleverly used, and yet still not something the film had to lean on too hard in order to make its most significant points. All that is largely achieved by the dialogue that Murray has written so well, and the characters he created to bring it to the screen. The cat-and-mouse script is whip-smart and truly has you questioning which character is which. It’s a genuinely fascinating watch as the tension continues to build through Murray’s flawless use of pace and patience in telling this story. Like, it literally gets to the point where when Subject A-652 asks for some water, you immediately question that request and begin going through a whole laundry list of possible scenarios in your mind as to how merely giving him something to drink could go terribly wrong. Murray is absolutely aware of how we’re feeling at this specific moment in watching “Animus,” which is a clear indication of the extraordinary connection between a director & his audience, and he leans right into the tension with surgical precision. A-652 gently but menacingly crushes his cup as he consumes the drink, and never breaks eye contact with Psych 2B before dropping the empty vessel to the floor. Do you realize how hard it would be to make the simple act of drinking water seem life-threatening? That’s the true genius of Murray at work; he really deserves a ton of credit for “Animus” is so vividly compelling and relentlessly dangerous. He’s created a film that we can’t look away from, even though it’s largely based around the dialogue of two main characters taking place in what’s basically an empty basement with a water cooler, a camera, and a couple of other government thugs standing at the ready.
But what about the lambs, Clarice? Razor sharp as ever, Subject A-652 starts to pick apart his captors. The sinking feeling that none of this is going to work out well in the end…that sense of dread about what might come next, never leaves us as we watch. I loved the way that Murray was able to combine old pictures and footage with new technology in such a seamless way that has us appreciating how both of these elements can be used to tell the full story in great detail. I also loved how James was able to take this microcosm of society in what’s happening with Subject A-652, and back that all out to a much larger view of the world itself, which pretty much ends up holding the mirror to us all, daring us to take a look. Are we really any better than this brute we see before us? Or are we lying to ourselves in thinking that we might somehow be better than him? If we’re indeed part of this “innate moral order” that Psych 2B references earlier on, then aren’t we also bound to bear responsibility for the inhumane decisions it would make, too? Either we’re all innocent and staying true to our natural instincts, or none of us are. Does this Psychological Thriller get a little grim and gruesome before it’s all over? Sure! The final twists you’ll see in the last quarter of “Animus” put a solid spin on the direction you might have thought that this story was going in, practically making the animalistic comparisons a whole lot more real than many of you might be comfortable with…so buckle up and be ready for that... and more minor spoilers ahead. “Humans are the only animal we should fear, doctor,” says Subject A-652 with ice-cold menacing venom in his every word…but there are no lies detected - he ain’t wrong as far as I can tell. The final line from Psych 2B in his interactions with A-652 is powerfully thought-provoking and lands with the impact it’s intended to. As guards are taking him away, Psych 2B says, “You know…the dog was protecting someone,” referring back to the story of his own German shepherd that he had shared with A-652. That line immediately hits you like a smack in the face & you instantly wonder if the priorities & instincts of Subject A-652 are really all that different. We can’t just simply presume that because we’re asking questions, we ever get the full story, right? I am going to go with a strong four stars out of five here…maybe even higher, but certainly no lower than that rating. The acting is stellar, the direction is outstanding, and the script is brilliant, even if it still feels like “Animus” leaves you with a few questions lingering by the time it’s all over. That’s entirely intentional from what I can tell – you’re supposed to be thinking about this long after it’s finished, but if that isn’t the true mark that any Psychological Thriller is aiming for, I don’t know what else it could be. |
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