Beasts of the Southern Wild

Beasts of the Southern Wild
(2012) [Trailer]
Director: Benh Zeitlin (IMDB)

I saw the trailer for this film a few weeks back and immediately wanted to check it out. It seemed a bit strange and kinda out there but also right up my alley. I've talked about my alley before on this blog, it's a fucked up place.

Synopsis: Hushpuppy and her father Wink live on a distressed island called the Bathtub. Wink's health starts to deteriorate but they also have to deal with floods, ancient wildebeests, and getting kicked off the Bathtub.

This is one hell of a movie and it currently sits as number 1 for my best of 2012 (however... we still have The Master, Django Unchained, Dark Knight Rises, and The Hobbit to come.) I will start by saying I can honestly think of no movie that looks or feels like this film. It's a total original which is rare in Hollyweird nowadays. By no means is it perfect, but what little flaws are there are over shadowed by everything else that's great. The set pieces are fantastic, they have this weird run down vibe about them that I love. The cinematography and score are on top of their game. The performances of both Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry are incredible, especially considering they are first timers. This movie dances between fairy tale and the real world so gracefully that you almost weren't sure what was going to come next... something realistic or a giant pig beast. The plot tends to jump around a little, but nothing too hard to wrap your head around. It's very whimsical and done in a way that some could say is pretentious... those people are idiots. I'm kidding, everyone has their own opinion, it's just their opinion is wrong.

Check this out... a big recommendation coming from your boy Curtis Talls. It's in limited release currently, so it may be hard to find, hopefully it'll go wide soon.