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Animals
****
Dir: Sophie Hyde
Starring: Alia Shawkat, Holliday Grainger
(UK, 15, 1hr 46mins)
A wild friendship between two hedonistic, creative women is put to the test in this vibrant comedy drama with a stellar turn from the excellent Holliday Grainger. Based on Emma Jane Unsworth’s book, transplanted from Manchester to Dublin, Grainger plays Laura, a would-be writer, struggling to achieve her dreams, distracted by best friend Tyler (Alia Shawkat).
They’ve been best friends for a decade and have spent that time in a whirl of sex, drugs and hedonism. When the spectre of romance rears its head with piano player Jim (Fra Fee), Tyler and Laura’s relationship is forced to change.
Animals offers no lazy admonishment or finger-wagging; these are real characters with believable messiness. Grainger anchors her character’s subtle changes with alacrity and nuance as well as being very funny. She and Shawkat make a great team, at times unlikeable but always fascinating to watch, the film showing the darker shades of friendship amidst the fun and the genuine compromises that are made when another person becomes important to a tight-knit duo.
Director Sophie Hyde gives Grainger and Shawkat the space to explore their characters’ lives; we become observers, inveigled in them taking MDMA, trying to get off with someone called Chicken Sandwich and having a bad night at a party. The film relies heavily on the chemistry of its stars and they deliver handsomely.
Shawkat’s Tyler is happier with her lot as a barista, isn’t driven by the same forces as Grainger, rattled into adulthood by her sister having a baby; she wants to remain a singleton with no ties. What is obvious is how much they love each other and although change will come, nothing will alter that.
Out now in cinemas
words Keiron Self