BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD

[Vic Sage]

Saw it the other night. noticed there wasn't a thread or a poll. Considering its up for some Oscars, we should discuss, no?

[Guest themetfairy]

I saw it over the summer, and was not enamored of it. It's too nonlinear/symbolic for my taste.

[Guest sharpie]

I liked it. The kid was really good as was her father. Didn't know when to quit, however, and seemed to keep reaching into the same bag of tricks.

[Vic Sage]

BEASTS is a slice of southern-fried magical realism... almost a fairy tale, really, about a make-believe place facing a mystical storm, told from a child's eye view. The problem isn't that the film's plot is "non-linear", its that the plot is so thin, unfocused, meandering and scattershot that it's difficult to engage with it. Instead, the film relies on imagery and symbolism to shoulder the load... and what a load it is. But while it's no PAN'S LABYRINTH or WHERE THE WILD THINGS ARE (though its evocative of both), the film is still quite beautiful and poetic, and the performances of the child "hushpuppy" and her father, Wink (both amateur actors) carry the day. His efforts to make her strong enough to survive alone after he dies, and her fierce determination to love him despite his abusive behavior, and their profound connection to the swampy wasteland they call home, all combined to move me in the end, despite myself.

Toward the end, *** SPOILER ALERT *** the ancient aurochs (giant prehistoric wild boars) that had escaped the melting ice caps and had been making their way south throughout the story, finally arrive to confront the community. Hushpuppy calmly stares the head auroch down, remarking that she thinks he is kind of her friend (they are both beasts of a nearly extinct species), but she has to �take care of her own." The aurochs turn and walk away. Hushpuppy returns to her dying father, a strong warrior ready to lead her tribe, as it were. *** END SPOILER *** Now how you feel about such a scene (its trite heavy-handedness vs its deft myth-making) may determine your overall impression of the film.

As for me, while i can certainly understand objections of those who see this as a mass of "magical negro" cliches and a kind of white condescension to the spiritual superiority of the po' country black folk, I think the film is well meant and beautifully crafted, and it has its own unique power despite its storytelling deficiencies. And i never turn my nose up at a good myth-maker.

while its too flawed to be great, its too good to be easily dismissed.

[RealityChuck]

Liked the film a lot. Quvenzhan� Wallis was just an amazing performer and I like seeing this sort of film from time to time -- a series of emotionally strong incidents that don't need a lot of plot to be fascinating (It reminded me in many ways of Louis Malle's brilliant Black Moon). Very European in sensibility, actually, instead of the typical America plot-driven story.

[Guest themetfairy]

It's interesting that you find it more European in sensibility, in light of the fact that it fared so much better with Oscar nominations than with the Golden Globes.

[RealityChuck]

The Golden Globes is given out by too small a group to be representative of anything. There are probably no more than 50 people who vote on them, and they all lean toward Hollywood blockbusters.

In any case, Black Moon is probably the most analogous film to this one, though there is also a lot of influence from Days of Heaven (Linda Manz's role as narrator is similar to Hushpuppy's, though Manz is more observer than protagonist).

European films (or, more accurately, non-Hollywood-influenced films) lean toward character and incident, and are not driven by plot.

[Edgy MD]

Yeah, I figured the Golden Globes are a board of foreigners happy to be here, who celebrate American stuff.

Jim Lehrer once said that you could tell American spies from the European ones because the Americans all smoked Galouiises, while the Europeans smoked Marlboros. Sometimes the outsiders are more jingoist than the natives.