Berlinale 2016: Goat Review

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Based on the real life memoirs of Brad Land – David Gordon Green has co-penned a screenplay, alongside Mike Roberts and Andrew Neel, with the latter helming the project, in what is a distinctively personal, eye-opening affair. There’s an anecdotal, intimate nature to this adaptation, and while many filmmakers would have opted to adopt the perspective of the character (and perennial underdog) Will, instead we embody the author of the original prose, and the film is all the better for it.

We begin at a house party – drinks and drugs are flowing, girls are making out with each other, and guys – one of which is Brett (Nick Jonas), are standing by and watching. But not his brother Brad (Ben Schnetzer), sober and sensible, he decides to make his way home prematurely – and it’s there he is attached viciously by two thieves, who get away with his car, and any sense of courage he once had. Nursing a fractured cheekbone over the summer, Brad decides to go to college in the Autumn, with hopes of joining his brother’s fraternity.

Part of the tradition each freshman must face is ‘hazing’ whereby they are humiliated and harassed by the brotherhood, with the overall aim being that they are accepted into the collective. But neither Brad, nor his new roommate Will (Danny Flaherty) could prepare for what was in stall, as they are savagely and barbarically treated by the head of the fraternity Dixon (Jake Picking) pushing Brad – and his relationship with Brett – to the very limit.

Goat features very few ‘adults’, aside from a police officer and the college Dean, as a tale that is about juvenile, young men, and is amidst juvenile young men. Schnetzer is remarkable in the lead role, and following on from his turn in Pride, he’s shown an impressive sense of adaptability and range as an actor so early on in his career, as the two roles could not be further away from one another, comparable only in the performer’s distinctive subtlety. Meanwhile Jonas, renowned primarily for being one third of the successful US band The Jonas Brothers, has shown incredible maturity in the early stages of his career in cinema, with an accomplished turn.

Goat is an intense, punishing watch that shines a harsh light over a culture amongst fraternities that many will not have been aware of before indulging in this endeavour, that is a struggle to comprehend at times. We can gather the tone of this indelible feature from the opening sequence, as from the moment Brad is aggressively attacked the picture is unrelenting from thereon, making for a feature that while disquieting and uncompromising in its approach, is certainly a rewarding cinematic experience for the viewer.