Would-be writer Laura (Holliday Grainger) and her roommate beauty Tyler (Alia Shawkat) share a messy Dublin apartment with a voracious appetite for booze, molly and one-night stands. However, when Laura falls for Jim (Fra Fee), a charming but straitlaced classical pianist, Tyler worries the party may soon be over. Based on Emma Jane Unsworth’s 2014 novel of the same name, Animals tells the bittersweet story of two friends growing up and drifting apart. Sophie Hyde, whose debut feature 52 Tuesdays won the Best Director Award at the 2014 Sundance Film Festival, takes a refreshingly calm look at this fraught friendship, following Laura and Tyler as they experience their hedonistic highs and soul-searching lows. Shawkat’s live-action performance gives Tyler an anarchic comic edge that perfectly complements Grainger’s soulful turn as the conflicted and creatively blocked Laura. The duo are supported by a stellar cast including Dermot Murphy as a dreamy, drug-addled suitor and Amy Molloy as Greg’s weary but loving sister.