As the summer of foolish releasing continues, I carry on with the precedent set last week and ignore the crappy films hitting screens Friday to focus instead on the slew of great stuff that will arrive -- and be largely ignored, thanks to the ridiculous number of options and level of competition -- on August 13th.  This week it's time for a look at Sundance winner Animal Kingdom.

Anybody who has kept an eye on world cinema for the past few years will tell you that Australia is pretty much where it's at these days if what you're looking for is smart, edgy fare. The nation has been a prime destination for major Hollywood productions for a good while now and the locals have clearly been paying attention, learning what works and what doesn't, and then putting their own distinctive spin on it.

At the centre of the coming Australian wave are the Edgerton Brothers and their Blue Tongue film collective. You may not think you know the Edgertons but you do. Brother Nash is one of the most in-demand stunt men in America and has worked behind the scenes on films like the Star Wars prequels, The Matrix films, Superman Returns and more. He's also establishing himself as a very solid writer and director in his own right. As for Joel, he's more the actor of the two. That's him on the right in the photo above. If he looks familiar it's probably because you saw him as Uncle Ben in The Phantom Menace or the crazy serial killer in Acolytes and you'll soon be seeing him in the lead of the Thing prequel. As the driving forces behind Blue Tongue, the Edgertons have been gathering talent for a while now and whatever they're feeding these guys it's clearly working as two Blue Tongue features were included in competition at the 2010 edition of Sundance, one of which - Animal Kingdom - took home the biggest prize.

And let it be said right here, just to be clear: Animal Kingdom bloody well deserved that prize and deserves to win many more besides. Don't let the fact that it's receiving only a small theatrical release fool you -- this is one of the sharpest, hardest and all around best debut films to hit for a while, one that has won first time feature writer-director David Michôd comparisons to Scorsese. This is a very, very good film and absolutely required viewing for anyone who fancies themselves a fan of a solid crime thriller.

James Frecheville is J, the only son of a junkie mom who ODs in the opening frames. Left to his own devices, J's only option is to call his grandmother -- the matriarch of the extended family that his mother cut them off from years ago. And the question you should be asking yourself at this point is what could be so bad about a family that a junkie would feel the need to get out and cut them off, but mostly you're just happy that J has someone to take care of him.

But that feeling changes quickly.

Though the Cody's are a close-knit clan they're far from a healthy family unit. A clan of crooks, all of them, with schemes ranging from drugs to armed robbery and a ruthless, blood thirsty police force closing in on them, this is hardly an improvement for J. The boy is thrust into an environment where he has to earn the approval of thugs and robbers, which means increasing entanglement in their schemes and when one of their own gets shot, sending the others into a cycle of paranoia, well then J just wants out.

Rooted by Michôd's stellar script and assured directing style, then built up by performance after stellar performance, this entire piece is just impeccably cast -- Animal Kingdom builds into a simmering treatise on greed and misplaced loyalty. Edgerton is very strong in his part, as is Guy Pearce as the opportunistic cop who recognizes J is his means to bring the family down, but the real stars are Ben Mendelsohn as dangerously off-balance ringleader Andrew and Jackie Weaver as grandma Janine, a woman who first plays as a doting mother too willing to overlook her sons' failings before revealing herself as the true root of the rot that has overtaken them all.

If you like strong character work mixed into your thrills I guarantee you that you will not see better than Animal Kingdom on the big screen this year.  With the style of release it's getting it will probably appear on the 13th only to disappear on the 20th, so move quickly.