Everyone's throwing around the phrase "toxic masculinity" lately, but I have yet to see very many artists exploring what exactly that is or what fuels it. "We the Animals" does just that. It shows us a mom and dad raising their three sons in desperate financial circumstances. Both parents experience extreme depression and despair in one form or another; to them, life is a trap they can't escape from. The boys are left on their own most of the time to figure out how both to literally survive (what are they going to eat?) and make sense of the world and their place in it. Two of them seem content to mimic their dad, whose way of dealing with feelings he can't articulate is to be physically and emotionally abusive to his wife, and to teach his sons to be "MEN," mostly to compensate for his own feelings of inadequacy as a husband and father. But the third and youngest seems troubled by what he observes, and doesn't seem comfortable with the aggression and dominance that the other two embrace. And his budding sexuality is drawing him more to boys than girls. Young as he is, he's mature enough to recognize that life is as much of a trap for him as it is for the adults. Will he be able to break free and soar?

"We the Animals" answers that question, sort of, beautifully and visually. This isn't a movie with a lot of dialogue; the characters wouldn't be able to articulate their thoughts and feelings anyway. Instead, it's a movie about emotions roiling under the surface of just about every character in the film, but in an atmosphere where they're not allowed to come to the surface. It's also a movie about the artistic impulse, and how art can be used to express feelings we sometimes can't express -- or aren't allowed to express -- in any other way.

This is the kind of movie I recommend to friends since it's not one many people have heard of.

Grade: A+

We The Animals is a drama about abuse, physical as well emotional abuse, about kids growing up and getting the wrong ideas about how life and relationships should be. It's also about selfishness, lack of parental control and kids growing up too fast. With those ingredients the movie had potential to be really good, but in the end it didn't match that potential. The acting wasn't bad though, that was actually a good thing about this movie. But the cinematography and camera work wasn't on top. Too much shaking camera shots, out of focus shots, and not the best work either whilst playing with the contrast between dark and light. That could all have been much better. The psychadelic drawings on the other hand were a nice touch to this movie. All in all it's not a bad movie but it just had so much more potential.

'WE THE ANIMALS': Four Stars (Out of Five)

A coming-of-age indie drama about three young boys dealing with an abusive but loving father, and a frustrated and depressed mother, while also trying to enjoy their childhood. The movie stars Evan Rosado, Isaiah Kristian, Josiah Gabriel, Raul Castillo and Sheila Vand. It was directed and co-written by documentary filmmaker Jeremiah Zagar, and it's based on the 2011 novel (of the same name) by Justin Torres. The film has received nearly unanimous positive reviews from critics, and it's playing in indie theaters now (like Portland). I really enjoyed how genuine and real the film seems (almost like you're watching an actual documentary),and I also really like the performances (especially Rosado and Castillo). It's also disturbing and hard to watch at times, but it's well worth it in my opinion.