Animal Factory (2000)

Steve Buscemi subtly refines the prison drama in his second film, a rich character piece set in a ramshackle state penitentiary. Edward Furlong is a glum, drug-dealing, middle-class bad boy suddenly drop-kicked into a world in which his sneering defiance just makes him more attractive prey to hardened convicts. Willem Dafoe, a career felon who runs the prison's contraband network, takes the kid under his wing and his protection. He's obviously attracted to the pretty boy and that sexual tension buzzes throughout the film, but their friendship, which is much more complicated, becomes the center of the film.

Buscemi allows the story to trickle along, downplaying the usual prison clichés to delve into the often murky relationships between prisoners, the predatory pecking order, and the undercurrent of racial divisions. He suggests everything in glances, threats, and tensions that only rarely erupt into violence. The film lacks a strong narrative line, but Buscemi's sensitivity to his characters and his sharp ensemble direction provide generous compensation. Dafoe is brilliant as the smiling smooth operator, his shaved head and jagged-toothed grin suggesting both a threatening confidence, and Furlong ably registers the fear of his sheer defenselessness in this dangerous world. Tom Arnold shines as a terrifying bully and Mickey Rourke is almost unrecognizable as Furlong's cross-dressing cellmate with a honeyed Southern lilt and makeup that would make Tammy Faye Bakker proud. --Sean Axmaker Amazon.com

STEVE BUSCEMI, OPUS 2

***1/2 2000. Based on Edward Bunker's Animal Factory: A Novel and directed by Steve Buscemi. Ron Decker is 21 years old and has just been condemned to a 5 years prison term for having dealt drugs. He is noticed by an older convict, Earl Copen, who decides to protect him. Good prison movie with excellent actors: Willem Dafoe, Edward Furlong and an hardly recognizable Mickey Rourke as Jan the transvestite. The most interesting theme of the film is the strange friendship growing between Dafoe and Furlong, not sexual but rather paternal and protective. Recommended. July 19, 2008

Well acted character study film

This is not a "story" film. It is more of a commentary on the age old question of "does the criminal make the system or does the system make the criminal." It opens up the discussion and questioning of our entire penal system. Would Edward Furlong's character have become a hardened hate filled individual had he been left peddling his dime bags of weed? Was he more dangerous before or after? What would Defoe have been like had he been rehabilitated rather than incarcerated? Again, I tell you, this is not your "Hollywood" story with a definitive beginning, arc and climax, and then tie up neatly at the ending. This is more of a snapshot of prison life and a look at how it changes it's inmates, removing all that makes them human. I found the acting to be brilliant, though motivation was not always clear... similar to real life. You can only guess why the characters behave the way they do. I didn't find the dialogue to be brilliant or painfully bad... sort of middle of the road and realistic. I don't think this is a movie you will watch on repeat, but it is worth the watch if you like prison films or any of the title actors. March 21, 2008

Superb Acting

This is an excellent movie based on the Edward Bunker book of the same name. The plot revolves around a young man committed to prison who is taken under the wing of an older convict. The film portrays prison life in all its banality and violence as well as the values and psychology of the prisoners and the relationships, both good and evil, that form among them.
Every actor, including Edward Bunker himself, did a fine job with Steve Buscemi as both actor and director. However, the revelation here is Mickey Rourke playing a transexual inmate. His portrayal of toughness and sadness, female in a very male body was absolutely superb. His voice, his mannerisms all were totally authentic. His scenes alone made this movie worth watching. As someone who has worked with convicts, addicts, and transexuals for many years I was astounded at the accuracy of the movie and of Rourke's portrayal in particular. February 18, 2008

Fine, underrated Buscemi film.

Animal Factory (Steve Buscemi, 2000)

Steve Buscemi is best known as an actor, thanks in no small part to him being a staple in Quentin Tarantino films, but you know the old line-- everyone in Hollywood wants to direct. Buscemi has actually done his share of it, but the movies that result tend to be minor affairs that get little distribution outside the arthouse scene. That's kind of depressing, especially when it comes to a movie like Animal Factory, with a wealth of acting talent and a script to back it up.

Ron Decker (American History X's Edward Furlong) gets busted for selling dope, and under the strict new laws, is sent to prison for five years on a felony rap. Once in the joint, Decker gets to know Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe), a lifer who is, as Morgan Freeman's character calls himself in The Shawshank Redemption, "the guy who knows how to get things." Decker and Copen form an odd, complex relationship that's viewed by those outside the prison walls with some alarm.

Furlong, Dafoe, and Danny Trejo, who plays Dafoe's best friend, are only the tip of the acting iceberg in this movie; a host of other fine actors have parts ranging from supporting to bit, including Buscemi himself, Mickey Rourke, John Heard, Tom Arnold, Larry Fessenden, Seymour Cassel, and a host of others; were there not so much focus on Furlong and Dafoe, this would have easily been billable as an ensemble-cast movie, and to an extent it plays like that anyway; there's too much of a main story here for a straight ensemble film, though. (Rourke, especially, is notable here, in his best performance since Angel Heart.) Either way you look at it, this is a strong movie chock full of good performances; the subject matter, and the rather jaundiced way of looking at it, may make some squeamish, but the caliber of the performances here should be enough to overcome that. Animal Factory is a good'un. You want to see it. ****
July 18, 2007

OK if your cable is....

OK film if your cable or dish is off line.

Why did Tom Arnold get top billing? Wish he'd have stayed home during the production of this movie. June 26, 2007

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