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For some, the allure of a cinematic heist is undeniably captivating, yet the line between the silver screen and reality is often blurred. Bart Layton’s “American Animals” captures this dichotomy, as it follows two young men who get high while watching rented heist movies, notably Stanley Kubrick’s “The Killing.” This only fuels their ambition to execute an audacious art theft.
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These would-be criminals even adopt color-coded codenames inspired by Quentin Tarantino’s “Reservoir Dogs,” a choice that highlights the film’s theme of fantasy versus reality. This 2018 crime drama, though underappreciated, delivers an intriguing narrative, now available for streaming on Tubi. It’s a gripping, true crime tale that delves into the minds of its young protagonists.
In a secure room at Transylvania University’s library in Lexington, Kentucky, lies a collection of rare books, including John J. Audubon’s “Birds of America,” a 19th-century masterpiece valued at $12 million. Spencer Reinhard (Barry Keoghan), Warren Lipka (Evan Peters), Eric Borsuk (Jared Abrahamson), and Chas Allen (Blake Jenner) each bring unique personalities to their plan to steal these treasures. While it sounds like a fictional story, “American Animals” is a reenactment of real events, with the actual perpetrators contributing their own accounts.
Bart Layton, a British filmmaker, redefines the docudrama genre with “American Animals,” blending reality and dramatization. The film features the real-life Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk, and Chas Allen narrating their story alongside actors portraying them. Layton previously employed this technique in his acclaimed 2012 documentary thriller, “The Imposter,” which tells the unbelievable tale of con artist Frédéric Bourdin, who deceived a Texan family into believing he was their missing son.
Celebrated for his innovative use of reenactments to enhance storytelling, Layton pushes boundaries further in his second feature. “American Animals” merges documentary and drama, with the real-life figures influencing the film’s direction. One compelling scene has Lipka interacting with actor Evan Peters, questioning the origins of their ill-fated plan. This seamless blend of fact and fiction makes “American Animals” a uniquely engaging watch.
American Animals blends narrative filmmaking and documentary testimonials
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British filmmaker Bart Layton transforms what the docudrama can look like with “American Animals,” in which the real Spencer Reinhard, Warren Lipka, Eric Borsuk and Chas Allen recount their story alongside their screen counterparts acting it out. It’s not unlike what Layton did with his critically acclaimed 2012 documentary thriller “The Imposter.” That film chronicles the insane story of how sociopathic con man Frédéric Bourdin convinced a Texan family that he was Nicholas Barclay, a kid who mysteriously vanished when he was 13 years old.Â
Layton was lauded for crafting an engrossing documentary that utilized re-enactments to accentuate the story’s strange nature, but his sophomore feature behind the camera takes it a few steps further. “American Animals” is the result of a documentary account and its Hollywood adaptation essentially bleeding into one another. The four boys often inform how the film plays out, with one of the more interesting merges being Lipka speaking to “American Horror Story” star Evan Peters within the movie as to whether or not it was his idea that kicked this whole thing off.Â
The most effective scene is a haunting image of Reinhard watching his fictional duplicate (Keoghan) drive by on his way to making the mistake that would upend his life. While large swaths of the story are pretty cut and dried, the foursome remember certain details differently, creating a symphony of unreliable narrators that makes it appear as if they’re hacking the film in progress. But for all of the ways in which they influence “American Animals,” Layton never quite lets them off the hook.
American Animals confronts the messy consequences of heist movies
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Early in “American Animals,” an “Ocean’s Eleven”-inspired fantasy envisions the crew waltzing into the secured room in suits and ties as they acquire the books without breaking a sweat, scored to Junkie XL’s 2002 remix of “A Little Less Conversation.” In the real heist that “American Animals” ultimately builds towards, however, the “movie” portion doesn’t come to save these four privileged idiots from the bed they’ve decided to lie in. Layton spends the first half putting you in their simplistic mindset, while the second half deconstructs the excitement of being in your own heist movie.
It’s upsetting to watch, not only because getting these books out isn’t as easy as they believed it would be, but because of how they subdue librarian Betty Jean Gooch (Ann Dowd). There’s a lingering uneasiness in the planning process for the human element at play. Evan Peters’ Warren keeps pushing the conversation off, while Jared Abrahamson’s Eric seeks to eliminate his role in her neutralization entirely. It only makes their inevitable confrontation that much more uncomfortable.
The four real-life participants of the 2004 “Transy Book Heist” talk about crossing that line. Layton does an excellent job of showing the many opportunities of escape that were afforded to them and how they carried on anyway. Their screw-ups and poor planning would be hilarious if it weren’t so embarrassing. Layton may seek to understand the rationale behind these well-off kids doing something so reckless, yet never veers away from holding them publicly accountable. It’s a real hidden gem of a heist movie that truly deserves to be recognized among the genre’s best.