Animal Factory

Ron Decker (Edward Furlong) is a young man that is arrested for drug dealing and is sent to prison. Once there he has an hard time adapting to the life behind bars: however he is taken under the wing of Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), an older convict that helps him in practically everything he needs and lets him join his gang. Most of the movie is just Ron hanging out with Earl's gang, life in the penitentiary and the escape attempts leading to the final one.

At times the movie was grim but the actors' performances (Dafoe, Furlong, Danny Trejo, Tom Arnold in a rare villainous role, Mickey Rourke as a cross-dresser) were so good that out-weighted the film's shortcomings. Steve Buscemi is a fine actor but here as a director looks out of his element. While not outstanding, just an ok prison movie.

Steve Buscemi's first feature as director was Trees Lounge, an engaging drama about the bored, alcohol-drenched inhabitants of a small town, and their day-to-day interactions. For his second, Buscemi explores many of the same themes of aimlessness and having too much time on your hands, but changes the setting and tone entirely. Adapting Eddie Bunker's novel of the same name (the real- life ex-con also shares script writing duties with John Steppling), Animal Factory is about as unglamorous as prison drama gets. With a heightened sense of realism, violence and rape lurk at every turn, often happening so quickly that you barely have the chance to comprehend it. Buscemi and Bunker also find time to explore an engaging father-and-son relationship, albeit one taut with tension and distrust.

After receiving an incredibly harsh sentence for drug possession, young Ron Decker (Edward Furlong) is packed off to prison where his youthful looks quickly attracts unwanted attention. Proving himself to be completely ill-equipped to handle the danger he faces, he is taken in by the shaven-headed Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), who teaches him the ropes and how to spot a threat. A man of little physical prowess, Earl has risen to a position of authority by using his background in law to improve the living and working standards of his fellow inmates. Surrounded by his gang of trusted bruisers (including Danny Trejo, Mark Boone Junior, and The Wire's Chris Bauer), Earl promises to protect the vulnerable Ron. Pondering Earl's true intentions, Ron at first keeps the smiling convict at arm's length, until a bond is formed that just may help the young offender to make it out alive.

By shaping the drama in the most unsensational way imaginable, Buscemi adds the necessary grit to Bunker's knowing words, with many of Bunker's novels taking inspiration from his own time in the slammer. Performances impress across the board, as you would expect from an ensemble taking direction from such a seasoned pro (who also appears). In particular, there are memorable roles for Mickey Rourke, playing Furlong's motor-mouthed, transvestite cell-mate, and, of all people, Tom Arnold, who is unnervingly convincing as a predatory rapist with his eye on Ron. But the film belongs to its two leads. Dafoe brings extra layers to his somewhat sensitive gang leader, and Furlong, one of many promising young actors who emerged in the 90s to disappear into the ether, is particularly effective as the protagonist. Changing his behaviour to suit his surroundings, we see the prison sculpt him into the type of career criminal the system's suppose to prevent. While the matter-of-fact approach prevents it from generating any real momentum - despite an attempted prison-break climax - Animal Factory is quietly powerful in small moments.

As a fan of Steve Buscemi's underrated 'Trees Lounge', his acting, and of many of his co-stars in this movie, I eagerly anticipated watching 'Animal Factory'. I thought it was going to be a confronting and violent prison story, mainly because of the involvement of Edward Bunker ('Runaway Train', 'Reservoir Dogs'), who adapts his own novel (with the help of scriptwriter John Steppling, who also co-wrote the excellent '52 Pick-Up'). However, the movie was a lot more low key, character driven and less confrontational than I had expected. Even so, it's still very good.

Buscemi himself only has a small acting role in the movie (as does Bunker), the real stars being Willem Dafoe ('Light Sleeper', ) as a savvy long term convict, and Edward Furlong ('Pecker') as the young inmate who becomes his protege. Dafoe and Furlong are supported by an impressive cast of character actors, including Buscemi cronies Seymour Cassel ('Rushmore'), Mark Boone, Jr ('Memento') and the late Rockets Redglare ('Down By Law'), all 'Trees Lounge' veterans, ex-con tough guy Danny Trejo ('Heat'), John Heard ('After Hours'), and impressive cameos from Tom Arnold ('True Lies') as a psycho rapist, and Mickey Rourke ('Barfly') as a flamboyant transvestite. Rourke, one of the finest actors of his generation, will hopefully get his career back on track if the solid work he displays here and his notable cameo in 'The Pledge' is anything to go by.

'Animal Factory' is a first rate effort from Buscemi, who joins Sean Penn and Vincent Gallo as the most promising actors turned directors currently making American movies. More power to him, and I hope his next project makes it to the screen sometime soon. In today's current climate of cinematic mediocrity and childish blockbusters we need more film makers like them with passion, intelligence and integrity.

Over the years there have been made many prison movies,but I dont think many of them really reflect how terrible a prison is.I think this movie shows it in a more realistic way than many other movies.The movie tells us that you got to have connections within the prison to survive and that friends are everything.This movie is the portrait of a young boy who ends up in a prison,and luckily he gets introduced with one of the leaders among the white inmates and therefor has a chance. In the roles you'll find Willem Dafoe (which does a wonderful job in this movie) and Edward Furlong who also is very good.As some other inmates you'll find Danny Trejo who always looks really tough and scary and Mickey Rourke in totally new role that I never thought would work for him.See the movie and find out what I am talking about.

With it being an election year, the pressure is on when a privileged white kid is found with a considerable amount of drugs and the judge sends him down for five years. With his boyish good looks and youth Ron Decker is a clear mark for rapists and gangs. However, early in his time he gets connected to the head of one of the gangs, Earl Copen, who takes him under his wing and looks after him.

Being a big fan of Oz, the trailer for this film drew me simply because the similarities to this series was a draw to me. Despite the big names attached to this film I can only assume it did limited business in the US as it seemed to take years to reach the UK. Despite this wait I was still interested in seeing it and got it on dvd recently. The film is more realistic than the hyper brutal Oz, as it focuses on real characters without ignored the reality of rape and gangs. The dramas of prison life are on the screen and are dramatic, but the script has a few problems.

It is never satisfactorily explained why Copen takes Decker under his wing. Why does this hardened, bitter lifer take to this new fish over any other one? The answer isn't ever made clear and is barely hinted at; after a while the film seems to want to just get past this whole issue and move on with the story. This it does well and the story is interesting and involving (except that whole niggle), at least until a terribly unsatisfying cop-out ending which really left me feeling disappointed in the whole thing.

The cast are excellent though and are mostly used well. Dafoe is good and manages to keep his character likeable. My only complaint about his performance is that I didn't get the feeling that his Copen was hard or bitter enough to really convince me that he had spent his whole life in prison, he was too nice and too considerate. Furlong is better because he has a simpler role, he plays his gradual transformation well. The support cast features a lot of smaller roles, some from familiar support roles playing standard felons such as Trejo, Cassel and La Botz. Outside of these, Rourke and Arnold both stand out playing very different roles that are as effective as they are brief.

Buscemi has a small role but his main contribution here is as director. He directs with a refreshing honesty, he isn't overly stylish and he doesn't over egg dramatic cake in the same way as the maker of Oz will generally have quite a brutal feel to most of the scenes. He could have done with making some of the scenes a bit more dramatic but it works fine as it is.

Overall this is an OK film but never a really good one. The dramatics of a prison story are there to be had but the script doesn't use them that well, eventually falling into a rather clichéd escape plot that only serves to take away from the reality of the film and the characters. It starts well and has promise but Bunker's script seems to get lost past the halfway mark and sadly ends with a climax than only serves to disappoint.