Animal Factory

Actor-turned-director Steve Buscemi follows up on his restrained 1996 directorial debut Trees Lounge (1996) with this gritty, understated prison drama. Twenty-one-year-old suburban kid Ron (Edward Furlong) got busted for dealing drugs and slapped with an especially severe jail sentence. Though he ...more

Steve Buscemi's follow-up to his rightfully acclaimed 1996 film Trees Lounge is The Shawshank Redemption without the Stephen King twistiness, but an effective, potent prison picture all the same. Buscemi directs with assurance, and leads Willem Dafoe and Edward Furlong wonderfully convey aggression and compassion with equal measure, elevating the film to a higher level than the standard prison flick. One of the movie's strengths is its offbeat casting, including Mickey Rourke as a cross-dressing ...more