American Animals

Dir: Bart Layton

2018

****

Bart Layton’s American Animals reminded me of his 2012 film The Impostor but with an element of Capturing the Friedmans and American Splendor. It’s a great antidote to the usual formulaic documentary that mixes talking head interviews and reconstructions. American Animals features both but occasionally the real people jump into the film and interact with the actors playing them, discussing memories of each event and how they differ between the key players. I remember in a scene from American Splendor, Paul Giamatti is interrupted by Harvey Pekar – the real life character he is playing in the film – because the real Pekar suggests that the scene isn’t realistic and didn’t quite happen in the way they were suggesting. It was very much in keeping with the world of Harvey Pekar but I had not seen it before of since until now. It’s a very effective way of producing both a intriguing documentary and a suspenseful thriller. The story takes place in 2003 in Lexington, Kentucky. Spencer Reinhard is an art student who feels his life has no meaning, that he needs something exciting, even if tragic, to happen in his life to inspire greater artistry. He believes that all great artists in history have had a pain to draw their inspiration from. Warren Lipka is a rebellious student on an athletic scholarship, though he does not care much for sports and is only pursuing the education to please his family. After Spencer is given a tour of Transylvania University library's rare book collection, the two friends begin to plan to steal an extremely valuable edition of John James Audubon's The Birds of America and a couple of first editions written by Charles Darwin. The pair travel to New York to make contact with a possible buyer – the real Warren and Spencer separately musing how neither can remember what really happened and whether they were now only remembering what the other had told them. After securing a contact, Warren travels to Amsterdam to meet some black market buyers who express interest in buying the books. One of them is played by the great Udo Kier, which made me very happy. Upon returning to the US, Warren informs Spencer that they could make millions of dollars, much to their excitement. Realising that pulling off the heist will require more people, they enlist the help of childhood friends Erik Borsuk and Chas Allen. Borsuk is a loner, very intelligent, with aspirations of one day joining the FBI. Allen is wealthy and can-do, approached only for his money and fast car. Borsuk provides the logistics of the operation and Allen becomes the getaway driver. They all take time to prepare, learning that the only person guarding the books is the special collections librarian, Betty Jean Gooch. On the day of the robbery, they disguise themselves as elderly gentlemen, and enter the library. After noticing that there are too many people in the special collections library, they quickly abort the heist and retreat. Three of the conspirators want to end the attempt altogether, but Warren calls the library asking for a private appointment the next day. They decide to drop the elaborate old-age disguises. While Spencer acts as a lookout outside the building, Warren and Eric enter the library dressed as young businessmen. Warren clumsily tases the special collections librarian and makes Eric help tie her up and gag her, even though he had promised to take care of it himself. They take the rare books and blunder to an exit. In a panic, they drop and have to leave behind the biggest prizes, two enormous Audubon books comprising "The Birds of America." All four manage to escape with two of the rarer books. They take the books to Christie's auction house in New York to get the authentication of value that Warren had said the Dutch buyers required. Spencer is told he has to come back sometime the next day and leaves his cell phone number with an auction assistant. In the van outside, Chas berates everyone for their stupidity, and they return to Lexington with the books. Shortly after, Spencer realizes that the police will be able to trace them from emails they used in setting up the heist as well as his cell phone number. The thieves show signs of great stress as they try to lie low: Warren attempts to shoplift from a grocery store; Spencer gets into a car accident; and Eric starts a bar fight. Inevitably, the FBI raid all four of their homes and arrest them. The four men serve over seven years in federal prison. Director Bart Layton contacted the four men in prison and the developing friendship turned into the movie with each man – and librarian Betty Jean Gooch – agreeing to the film and to feature in it as themselves. I would say that the conclusion is a little bit of an anti-climax given the hype and intensity of the film but while Layton’s 2012 film The Impostor was left excruciatingly ambiguous, American Animals was something of a sensible relief in that it gives the real-life robbers an opportunity to express their regret for attempting the heist, assaulting Betty Jean Gooch and noting how much pain they have put their families through. We are left a snippet of mystery – did Warren actually go to Amsterdam, but the overall message is that crime doesn’t pay and while heist movies are cool, they’re ridiculous and stupid in real life.