Raúl Castillo and Evan Rosado in “We the Animals" at the Figge Art Museum -- February 15.
Thursday, February 15, 6:30 p.m.
Figge Art Museum, 225 West Second Street, Davenport IA
Lauded by the Washington Blade as a "visceral yet lyrical film" and by The Movie Isle as "a strange ride, but in the best possible way," writer/director Jeremiah Zagar's coming-of-age drama We the Animals enjoys a February 15 screening at Davenport's Figge Art Museum, this critically hailed work the recipient of the Sundance NEXT Innovator Award and a nominee for five 2019 Independent Spirit Awards.
Based on Justin Torres' semi-autobiographical novel of the same name., We the Animals finds 10-year-old Jonah (Evan Rosado) and his boisterous older brothers Manny (Isaiah Kristian) and Joel (Josiah Gabriel) navigating through childhood and their parents' volatile relationship. Trapped in a seemingly never-ending cycle of poverty, passion, abuse, and compromise amidst a mixed-race family in upstate New York, Jonah must contend with both his volatile father and his emerging homosexuality in this film that was shot on grainy 16mm and includes colored-pencil animated sequences. Cinematographer Zak Mulligan said "there was a lot of effort to create [a] feeling of intimacy," and noted that much of the film was shot at child's-eye-height. The actors who played the brothers and parents even lived together during production so they would feel like a real family.
Upon its release, critics compared We the Animals to The Tree of Life and Best Picture Oscar winner Moonlight, and variously called it impressionistic, intimate, and evocative. On the review aggregator Web site Rotten Tomatoes, the movie holds an approval rating of 92 percent "freshness," while the site's critical consensus reads, "Dreamlike and haunting, We the Animals approaches the coming-of-age odyssey with a uniquely documentarian eye. On Metacritic, which assigns a rating to reviews, the film has a weighted average score of 83 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim." And at RogerEbert.com, reviewer Monica Castillo stated, "This movie is so gorgeous, it even makes drone footage look ethereal rather than pedestrian."
We the Animals will be screened in the John Deere Auditorium on February 15, admission to the 6:30 p.m. screening is free, and more information is available by calling (563)326-7804 and visiting FiggeArtMuseum.org.
