American Animals

American Animals opens with the statement "This is not Based on a True Story," the words "not based on" then fading away to instead reveal that "This is a True Story." These first few seconds provide a delicious hint at so much of what makes this film special; this audacious claim that what we are witnessing is one hundred percent the truth is a wonderful presage to the jaw-dropping ingenuity and balls to the wall approach taken by director Bart Layton in his first feature film (outside documentary work). It is a masterclass in how to adapt a true story in a truly captivating and often confrontational style, with the film soon setting out to contradict its initial statement and question our acceptance of what we are told.  

The film explores the real story of four college students (played by a terrific quartet of young actors Barry Keoghan, Evan Peters, Blake Jenner and Jared Abrahamson, with Keoghan proving to be the anchor of the film in a magnificently grounded performance) who, in 2004, hatched a plan to break in to the "Special Collection" section of the Transylvania University library. The core target of this planned heist was an edition of John James Audubon's "The Birds of America," one of the world's rarest and most valuable books. 

As we witness the four coming up with their plan in haphazard fashion, fuelled by copious amounts of booze and weed, it is often hard to believe any of this is even real. In fact the four sometimes feels like they jumped right out of a John Hughes high school caper, with their acid-tongued banter and disrespect for all authority (though I don't remember Ferris Bueller ever plotting a heist or wielding a tazer).  

But what sets American Animals apart from the mound of typically over-exaggerated and hyperbolic adaptions of true stories is that the film purposefully blurs the line between fact and fiction, directly showing us that, yes, what we are witnessing did really happen. In fact, the film doesn't just blur the line but does away with it altogether, weaving into the action the real counterparts to our on screen characters. So we are presented with, in the words of the film, "the real Spencer Reinhard," (Keoghan's character) "the real Warren Lipka" (Peters' character) etc, a bold move by Layton that serves to banish any initial doubts we may have had over the validity of the story.

However, what we soon see is Layton flipping this idea on its head, instead using the real people to begin chipping away at what we were told was the real story. Thus a key early moment in the film shows "the real" Spencer and Warren contradict themselves over when they first discussed the heist. Spencer claims they discussed it at a gas station. Warren claims they discussed it at a campus party. So how does Layton address this? Well he shows us both scenes, masterfully stitching them together into a sequence that exemplifies the incredible editing and increasingly ambiguous approach of the film. 

It is with this scene too that the film starts questioning us. It exposes the unreliability of our narrators, asking us why we should believe anything they say if they can't even agree with each other. And this idea resurfaces time and again throughout, turning the spotlight on to our willing obedience to accept what we are told without question; just one example of the pure genius of American Animals and its fascinating, often subtle, message.

This may all sound like a pretty heavy affair but American Animals is anything but. It is a darkly comic film, one that is often so shockingly funny you feel guilty for laughing when you consider who you are laughing along with. An electric script and masterful editing make this a fast-moving thriller that never fails to captivate, pulling no punches as it draws you further and further in. 

For example, one particularly brilliant sequence shows the four picturing themselves pulling off the heist in slick, Oceans Eleven fashion, suits impeccably sharp, the action seamlessly choreographed. Of course, the real heist that we end up seeing is anything but slick, grounding the film for a powerful and often shocking climax, one that makes you question pretty much everything about these characters and their motivations.  

American Animals is one of those films that is so outlandish, so shocking that is easy to be incredulous about whether any of the story is really true. But Layton is there to remind us of the shocking truth, perfectly balancing fiction and reality in an enthralling, white-knuckle ride that never lets up. But then again, who knows who's really telling the truth about this bizarre story? Who knows indeed.