Jackie Weaver & David Michod, Animal Kingdom

Jacki Weaver's work, primarily on the stage, has made her an icon in her native Australia, and led non-Oceanians to dub her Australia's Meryl Streep. Animal Kingdom, a rousing study of a Melbourne crime family from first-time filmmaker David Michod, cast Weaver as Smurf, the seemingly maternal matriarch who will turn homicidal when crossed. Michod's disturbing portrait of vigilante cops and crooks works thanks to a first-rate cast that includes Guy Pearce as an earnest detective, Joel Edgerton as a criminal associate, Ben Mendelsohn as the troupe's scariest elder and newcomer James Frecheville as the orphan brought into their unholy midst.

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