Animal Factory [DVD]

Amazon.com 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 Product Description From acclaimed director and actor Steve Buscemi comes a gritty portrayal of life behind bars and a community of convicts who live by one code: survival. On the inside the rules are brutal and the stakes are high. When first time felon Ron Decker (Edward Furlong; American History X, T2) is sentencedto two years in a decaying prison, he is quickly introduced to a world where violence is the only way of life. After witnessing a riot, Ron is soon taken under the wing of Earl Copen (Willem Dafoe; Platoon, The English Patient), a veteran convict who has manipulated the system to his every advantage, earning the respect of the toughest cons and the favor of the crooked guards. But sometimes even respect in a community of convicts can hold you prisoner. Now, Ron will soon discover that life in the "ANIMAL FACTORY" is not about rehabilitation, it's about survival.