Director Steve Buscemi
Notable Cast: Willem
Dafoe, Edward Furlong, Danny Trejo, Mark Boone Junior, Seymour Cassel, Mickey
Rourke, Tom Arnold, John Heard
Animal Factory is
one of those films that has crossed my path while researching films a handful
of times, but I’ve never really bothered to dig into the whos, whys, and whats
about the film in any serious regard. If I had, I would have seen that the film
contains perhaps one of the most peculiar cast listings ever gathered on film.
Directed by cult actor Steve Buscemi, Animal
Factory takes its robust cast and goes for a slow burn and realistic story
that’s more concerned with the characters and their interactions than a truly
thrilling plot or dynamic narrative. At its core character drama, the film
succeeds, but when it comes to being something that rises above that one foundational
element it refuses to be nearly as entertaining or as dramatically effective
with its narrative and story as it might have with the talents involved. It’s a
film that certainly has its merits as a dramatic piece of cinema, but the more
that it sits with me the more it feels like it could have been so much more.