Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) User Reviews

Beasts of the Southern Wild is occasionally great but too uneven to be considered exemplary.

[Caterpillar_City · 6/10 · 22 December 2012]

I'm not sure why Beasts of the Southern wild has connected with critics so much. This is a low-budget film directed by Benh Zeitlin in his debut feature. Movies like this typically find a strong critical reception, but are forgotten come award season in favor of bigger movies from more accomplished people -- this happened to Duncan Jones' excellent Moon in 2009. Sure, Beasts is visually creative, original, and a prime example of how ambition and imagination can overcome a small budget, but movie has some serious problems that can't be ignored. I don't blame the filmmakers intents, clearly a lot of work and heart went in the making of this movie; however, the characterization and storytelling are amateurish.

Beasts has three good things going for it: the score, performances, and the setting. The musical score is truly exceptional, and it might be my favorite of the year. A lot of the film's beauty and style comes from the excellent sound design and music. Much has been made of young Quvenzhané Wallis' performance and rightfully so. This is an incredibly strong performance for somebody so young. The rest of the actors are solid as well. The performances aren't showy but incredibly naturalist and convincing. The setting of the movie, a forgotten area of the southern bayou territory, is wonderfully realized and provides dozens of incredible shots.

Before I get into the problems with narrative, I have to mention the poor use of hand-held photography. I really do not understand where independent filmmakers got the idea that having shaky cam automatically makes their movie somehow more artsy, but Beasts is yet another movie that poorly utilizes the technique, though nothing here is as bad as in Melancholia. Handeld camera-work can work well in the hands of somebody who knows what they are doing -- check out Breaking Bad to see this style perfected. The setting of the film provides many awe-inspiring vistas and landscapes, but the camera can't stop moving long enough for the viewer to fully digest and admire the image, which is truly a shame.

The characterization in Beasts is the weakest area of the film. Though Hushpuppy is a wonderful character and perfectly portrayed by Wallis, the supporting cast isn't up to the same standard. First, I have to question the purpose of writing somebody so young as the main character. I suppose the goal was to see a harsh reality through the eyes of somebody young and innocent, but it is at odds with the movies message: one's culture and family are all important (I'm simplifying the main theme, but I don't want to get into a discussion of the movie's misguided attempt to criticize modern society and civilization, which is embarrassingly handled and even includes stock footage of glaciers breaking apart. Global warming!). However, Hushpuppy is too young to comprehend her own situation. She lives in crushing poverty, her father is an abusive drunk, and her friends and family put her own wellness at risk for the sake of preserving their cancerous lifestyle. The filmmakers want us to stand up and cheer at these people's will to fight the influence of modern society, but I can't help to look in horror as this child is abused and put in constant danger for no real reason. For this reason, any moral ambiguity is left out. Hushpuppy isn't old enough to question her situation. If she was capable to debating about whether to stay in her manner of living or move to a more modern culture and ultimately chose to stay, then the film would have supplied its character with a strong arc. However, Hushpuppy stays because she simply doesn't know any better. This is a problem because our main character is not capable to supplying any dramatic tension or conflict.

Every person in the community, aside from Hushpuppy, is one-dimensional and often an empty husk brought to life simply with southern stereotypes. I don't care about any of them, and I was hoping Hushpuppy could escape this life and find a place where her thoughtfulness and intelligence could be fostered. However, the filmmakers don't see how incredibly contradictory their own film is. Perhaps if this society's way of living was properly explored and the audience given a reason to understand why these people love their way of living so much, then we could sympathize with their plight.

Beasts of the Southern Wild feels like a mishmash of ideas handled better in other films. A young girl dealing with hardship through imagination was better realized in Pan's Labyrinth. A forgotten area of America where young people are trapped is a concept explored in the superior Winter's Bone, partly because that movie doesn't romanticize suffering and poverty, but portrays it in a honest and real way. As a celebration of the United States' unique Southern culture, Treme makes Beasts look like a high school research paper. I'm not saying that Beasts of the Southern Wild has to be the best at what it does, expectations that unreasonable will only lead to disappointment, but I do expect the filmmakers to delivery a story that is consistent with its thematic goals. Beasts fails in this, and the movie is hard to care about and the characters impossible to empathize with.

What it lacks in story structure it makes up for in mise-en scene--great stuff!

[secondtake · 7/10 · 11 January 2013]

Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

An engrossing, vigorous, fanciful, primal movie set in Southern Louisiana in time of flood and strife. It's about the power of people to survive. It's a celebration of animal behavior. It's about community and loneliness. There are echoes of ourselves in all these people in their craziness or compassion, or their uneducated wisdom (or lack of wisdom which then depends on luck and instinct).

In short it's quite a ride, and the leading character is a little girl who now is up for an Academy Award nomination for best actress, with the only question about that being the weirdly simple and true question--how much is she acting, how much is she just being herself with amazing transparency on the camera? Well, the same could be said of lots of adult actors who are really just themselves over and over, and so you really can watch "Beasts" for the stellar and heartwarming effort by Quvenzhané Wallis.

There are other performances startling for their gritty (or downright filthy) realism, including the girl's father. But these start to intermix and blend into a larger effort involving the elements of wind and rain and flood, unbridled partying, moments of tender caring including some folk wisdom by the teacher and healer of the group, and so on in an up and down, topsy turvy mix.

You can love this movie just for its insider look at a culture that you hardly knew possible in the United States any more, or even in any third world country for its primitivism. It is in fact rather based on truth though ramped up and made sensational and into a kind of fairy tale. There are (in reality) some islands that have communities struggling on the fringes along the complex coastline of Louisiana, and some of them have almost no development, and correspondingly little education and health care. The film was shot on an actual island like this, though it given a fictional name (nicknamed the Bathtub by the characters).

You can also love this movie for its metaphors. If there is misunderstanding and cruelty between father and daughter, there is also a base instinct to stick together and survive. If there is a sense of independence there is also a dependency on neighbors and outsiders. If the world seems out of whack and insane you still find ways to make part of it reasonable, by either makeshift construction or by changing your outlook. And there are those giant boar animals menacing the main character in some kind of dream. This is really about survival in ways that go beyond physical comfort and food.

There is a problem, especially for people who appreciate more sophisticated movies for their plots and their filmmaking savvy, with the generally meandering narrative. The movie is not without ups and downs and an evolving sense of drama. But it depends more on its scene and its characterizations than on what happens with them. Things happen but they don't particularly develop, in the usual sense. You'll be spellbound and maybe even frightened (or according to some reviews, disgusted) by many of the scenes, but you might also start to wonder what it's all leading to. That's the narrative instinct in all of us for a development toward some kind of climax or turning point, and it's not compelling.

So just be immersed. Admire the fact these are amateurs and independents. Click back a few expectations and be surprised by some of the content for its immediacy. Unique and riveting.

A phenomenal child actor and solid story are generating well deserved word of mouth; you are going to hear a lot about this film from your friends

[chaz-28 · 7/10 · 8 July 2012]

Beasts of the Southern Wild is shot through the eyes of a six year old. To Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis), the islands of southern Louisiana are a magical place filled with lucky people who do not have to live like cowards behind the levees and only get one holiday a year. Hushpuppy's voice-over reveals the island folk rarely need an excuse to have a party or take another holiday. If this film were shot through the more perceptive eyes of an adult, the audience I bet would get a much different take on things. Extreme poverty, alcoholism, and child neglect are just the first few overt issues which come to mind. It was a very wise move for the filmmakers to stick with the child protagonist. Magical realism is far more acceptable and preferable to an audience than what could arguably be termed child cruelty.

Hushpuppy and her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), live in an area called 'The Bathtub'. It is not protected by the New Orleans levee system, people scuttle around from place to place by haphazardly crafted boats, and everyone expects that some day, the melting polar ice caps will submerge their homes and only the strong will survive. It turns out that some day in Beasts of the Southern Wild is now. When Hushpuppy first hears the thunder of the coming storm, she believes it to the be the sound of melting glaciers falling off of Antarctica. It is never mentioned by name; however, the storm appears to be Hurricane Katrina. Since the main part of her father's and his friends' days consist of drinking, there are no preparations for the coming calamity, just praise for the brave souls staying behind for what they claim will be a little wet weather and catcalls to those fleeing behind the levees. Where is mama in all of this? The idea of mama to Hushpuppy is and old, dirty basketball jersey she carries around with her and sometimes talks to. Every now and then, Hushpuppy thinks she sees mama when she glimpses a far away lighthouse or watches an approaching helicopter. Whether mama is dead or has just run off is another unexplained phenomenon kept by daddy.

After the storm, Hushpuppy and daddy float around in their make shift boat which is the back of an old pickup truck with a struggling outboard hanging on behind it. They meet up with a few other survivors who immediately start engaging in activities they do best, drinking. However, this was not your regular storm. The water is not receding, the animals, even the fish, are dying, and whatever sickness daddy had to start with is starting to pick up speed. Throughout the ensuing scenes to remedy their dreadful situation, Hushpuppy keeps the audience involved with her prescient voice-over. A notable example is her comparison of getting old and sick outside of the levee wall versus inside of it. Outside there is savagery; the young will eat the old and move on. Inside, they plug you into the wall (ventilators). Whenever daddy feels he has been a particularly lousy father, he teaches Hushpuppy to do something such as catch a catfish her bare hands and be sure to give it a good punch when she gets it into the boat. There is also an odd side story involving long extent carnivores called aurochs. They represent the savage beasts who kill and eat anything and everything. The allegory is not readily apparent and its payoff is understated at best.

This description sounds starkly bleak, which the subject matter surely is, but the film is very well put together. The scenery looks like it would after biblical destruction, the actors appear to all be locals and have the accents to prove it, and the music is incorporated effectively. The very young actress playing Hushpuppy is phenomenal. Perhaps a few years from now she will realize just how deep her character is written and how only a very minority of child actors could have possible pulled it off. Her father, while not necessarily a sympathetic character, was well cast and while is not particularly an ignorant man, is certainly a man set in his ways determined his progeny will follow in the local footsteps. Having respect for and maintaining the traditions of your place of birth is one thing, but more than likely, Hushpuppy is being set up for a life of substance abuse and unsteady employment. However, that is jumping ahead. Beasts of the Southern Wild is about a very specific time and place with thoughts only of the next meal, not tomorrow, and definitely not next month.

The camaraderie between our heroes and the locals is fun to watch and seeing how they make the best of a horrible situation is quite creative when you see it as Hushpuppy does. There is a high probability this film will continue to progress with strong word of mouth, end up on several Top 10 lists, and be in line for some Oscar nominations. The film is certainly worthy of the word of mouth it is getting because audiences have really not seen anything like this before, but the automatic Top 10 inclusion is a bit far-fetched. It is winning awards for cinematography, but the hand held camera borders on annoying at times. If there is a party, the audience intuitively understands it is fun. Does the camera have to wildly spin around as well? When someone is running, must the camera bounce up and down too? See Beasts of the Southern Wild for the story, the locations, and the child actor. You will tell your friends about it the next day.

Over-rated, over-hyped, formless, plot less, trite .. and I still liked it

[davylevine · 6/10 · 26 November 2012]

As I said, I thought the film is over-rated, over-hyped, formless, basically plot less, and trite. The father is a mean drunk (who still loves his kid), and the kid is a solemn and wise six year-old. Two stereotypes, wouldn't you say? They live in The Bathtub, a shattered but colorful community on the gulf side of the levee. The community is comprised of other drunk people who also love and care about Hushpuppy, the young girl. Hushpuppy is quite precocious, interested in things that don't usually concern girls of her age: the after-life, ecology, such eternal questions as the meaning of life. She of course loves her mean drunk father and all the furred and feathered creatures that live in their little farmlet. There is an air about the film that is surreal. The characters in their madness are a bit like the characters in Mad Max. They are all over-sized and eminently watchable in their enthusiastic inebriation. But I wished for a few moments of lucidity, where people just talk to each other without ranting and raving. The overall impression that I got is one of sadness. There is very little joy -- other than that which comes from the bottle -- in their lives. This said, I enjoyed the movie. It is very watchable, but in a guilty sort of way. Their lives are painful. It is set in a part of the world that we don't normally see, with people we would generally avoid. Technically it is very well done. The visuals are great. I would recommend seeing it but not attending too much to the surrounding hype.

magical, thought-provoking, very, very watchable

[oldgirl · 9/10 · 26 July 2012]

I can understand how most people view this film within the context of Hurricane Katrina. But even as a former denizen of the Gulf coast who sat out Alicia, Claudette, Allen, Rita, and Ike, I view this film in a much, much larger context. It goes beyond stereotype and into archetype -- the denizens of the Bathtub aren't poor drunks at the mercy of the environment, they are The People of the world they inhabit. Hushpuppy doesn't have a drunk father, she has a Father, with many of the faults and strengths of the immortal epic heroes -- anger, pride, genuine love and concern. Hushpuppy herself isn't just a little girl, she is The Child -- the purveyor of a magic which is real, intimately connected with her world, imaginatively linked with All Things. The outside world is a place of Things and Machines, of paperwork and rules -- and is never actually named, you see, because that would diminish it. Everything in this film exists within the realm of archetype, and if you watch it with that in mind, its multiple messages take on cosmic significance. Beautifully shot, beautifully acted -- it's going to take a few more days for the entire thing to completely sink in. Outstanding!

great

[Kirpianuscus · 24 April 2017]

the first temptation is to compare it with other films about same theme. and you discover it is unique. unique because it is a fantastic translation of the refuges and visions and creativity and courage of an unique age. than for an extraordinary child actor. not the last, for the feel to be part of film. to see the landscapes, to touch the things, to be near the courageous girl, to hope save the situation of the poor father. it is a dream and a fairy tale and a seductive pledge to see, for other side, the life. it reminds the drawings of children, always more serious and realistic than you imagine its. and this small detail, the tension, the powerful flavor of freedom impose "Beasts of the Southern Wild" as something real special. maybe an experience. maybe vehicle to memories. maybe total show. maybe rediscover of territories living inside us.

A Different Kind of Americana

[3xHCCH · 6/10 · 9 December 2012]

This is not an easy movie to watch. It is a story of a father and his precocious daughter caught in a tough life in Louisiana's poverty-stricken bayou area called "The Bathtub." When a big storm (Hurricane Katrina?) devastates their community, their already upside-down life goes into a further tumble.

The lead actors here are not really professional actors. The father Wink is Dwight Henry, a baker by trade. The daughter Hushpuppy is 5- year old Quvenzhane Wallis. There really seemed to be no acting in this film. Everything had gripping reality, as if they were actual proud residents of that miserable community. Ms. Wallis, now 8 years old, is high on the list of being nominated for a Best Actress Oscar, and I would not be surprised if she will be.

I cannot say I liked this film. I do not exactly find it uplifting or inspiring. It is just a reality check for everyone who forgets that people actually live in such abject conditions in America. This is the unknown America devoid of high-tech conveniences of life, and we see it here in the eyes of a jaded child. Hushpuppy's vivid visions of collapsing icecaps and rampaging aurochs, as how she visualizes the fury of the storm, may not exactly make viewing this film any easier, but her raw emotion is all out there for us to feel.

"When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces."

[Loving_Silence · 10/10 · 28 July 2012]

What can I say about Beasts of the Southern Wild, that hasn't already been said. It's the most magical and imaginative film of the year, so far. In Benh Zeitlin's Beasts of the Southern Wild, the wild things are in a place known as the Bathtub, a remote stretch of the Louisiana bayou profoundly cut off from the rest of modern civilization. Beasts of Southern Wild is an unique vision that sweeps viewers away with energy, attitude and a full, vibrant, sense of life. Containing outstanding performances, great cinematography, and a fantastic score, the film is just so engrossing.

Hushpuppy feels her connection not only to nature and animals, but also to the prehistoric era, represented throughout the film by her interest in cave drawings and—more fancifully—prehistoric beasts called aurochs that have been released from the ice caps and make their way toward the Bathtub…at least in Hushpuppy's mind. The difference between what's real and what lives in the imagination of our six-year-old heroine is not always clear, but it's all delivered with a beautifully assured sense of wonder.

Beasts of the Southern Wild unfolds through Hushpuppy's eyes, and it's a sight to behold: sometimes wondrous, often disordered and dysfunctional. It's hard not to see the film through a political lens even if you're apolitical. But there's no stridency here: Fantastical moments and a fantastic script manage to juggle so much with grace. As Hushpuppy says, "The entire world depends on everything fitting together just right." But her world is one where wealth and squalor co-exist all too easily, the discrepancy painfully obvious (even though we don't really see the other world), the puzzle pieces not equal in weight or importance. Yet the hardscrabble people of Bathtub still find a way to channel their joy, even though they've been forgotten.

It's all the more impressive that such a confident and resourceful film comes from a first-timer; writer-director Benh Zeitlin previously impressed Sundance audiences with the Hurricane Katrina inspired short "Glory at Sea." He collaborated on the screenplay for "Beasts" with Lucy Alibar and worked with a cast and crew of mostly non-professionals (both Wallis and Henry make genuinely astonishing screen debuts). That freshness may very well be key to the film's creative success. There's a feeling of genuine enthusiasm and ingenuity in their work here, as if everyone involved was truly discovering the power and potential of filmmaking for the first time.

Over-hyped and overrated

[bruce-moreorless · 6/10 · 17 September 2012]

I was looking forward to Beasts and for the first few joyous minutes of the film (before the title came up) I thought the hype just might be justified. If only. Once the title image faded the film went into a slow fade as well, with only one little lift in a bar-room scene towards the end. I left feeling sucked in once again by critic group-think and the over-enthusiasm of cinematic innocents.

I don't want to be overcritical of this film. It does have some points of mystery and intrigue. It does have some good performances. And it does showcase the talents of director Benh Zeitlin. But it just isn't what it's been cracked up to be.

Above all, it isn't a fable about climate change, despite the heavy- handed script. The storm, and the ice melts and the aurochs are symbols for I don't know what. In fact, if you know how the aurochs were created these creatures seem silly beyond belief - cute and ridiculous rather than relentless and threatening as they were no doubt intended to be.

Truth be told, I don't know what this film is about. It could be a parable about the dangers of alcohol, because most of the main adult characters seem to be drunk all the time. It could be a story about the lifestyle of bayou dwellers, though if I lived in those swampy backwaters I would be pretty annoyed by how I was being portrayed in this film. It could be a tale about the importance of community, except most the residents of the Bathtub seem to light out before the storm hits, leaving just the most stubborn, or stupid, or inebriated to regroup in an orgy of squalor, appalling personal hygiene and disgusting table habits. It could be all of these things, or none. But one thing it isn't is exceptional.

Needs Another Viewing

[Hitchcoc · 9/10 · 8 June 2013]

This is such an original piece of work, I believe I need to view it again. Unlike some of the naysayers that have given this almost no worth, despite the fact that it doesn't have a conventional plot, I was mesmerized from the beginning. First of all, this is dreamscape and fantasy. It's the mind of a remarkable little girl as she butts heads with her fears and her awful lot in life. The river people are just that. They are survivors. They are so out of the ordinary, one can dismiss them. I challenge anyone who has not had to be a part of such a world not to judge so harshly. Katrina brought these people to the surface literally and figuratively. This is an example of the objective correlative which is what visual filmmaking is all about. As for the acting, it seemed at times that no-one was really acting, as if they were actually people of the river. I look forward to another viewing.

Once there was a Hushpuppy...

[Horst_In_Translation · 6/10 · 22 December 2014]

and it became the youngest Academy Award nominee for her marvelous performance here. Thumbs up for Quvenzhané Wallis in Benh Zeitlin's first feature film. This was one of the big winners once the nominations were announced. Apart from Wallis and a screenplay nod, the film also managed to get in for Best Picture and Zeitlin as director over notable competition from Bigelow, Nolan, Affleck and Hooper. To me the film almost felt like a documentary about the little girl's life and interactions with people, mostly her father, played competently by Dwight Henry. Maybe this was also as Hushpuppy did not speak much in the film itself, but narrated it. These people are maybe the most interesting thing about the film. They have their very own mentality, unique ways of life and survival constantly battling dangerous water. The early firework scene with Hushpuppy running is one of the most memorable shots.

Another thing I found interesting was the way how these people interacted with nature, with water of course, but also with plants and animals. The film's audio effects are nothing short of great from start to finish: ringing bells, sparkling fire, wild water and many more. As I witnessed a flood not too long ago, this film also had a bit of a different impact than the first time I watched it. The relationship between Hushpuppy and her father is pretty memorable. Even if he is rough, slaps her at one point (well, she burnt down the house) and scares her at another, he is a loving father who only wants the best for his daughter. He is very rough, but also very caring. I remember one scene where he tells her that she will be the king of the Bathtub one day. Pay attention how he does not say queen. He really isn't about her being a playful little girl, but more a practical human being. Her hair fits that characterization nicely too. When they are at the hospital later on, she looks like a girl, but obviously she won't act like one.

After the introduction to Hushpuppy's world, the film is basically all about the fights of the people. But at the same time, it is also about how the strength of their community helps them to cope with these issues. One fight is against the water. One is against those who want them to go away. And the last one is against sickness. And even if this one is lost, the ending is very hopeful and uplifting after the truly sad farewell scene thanks to Hushpuppy's final words and the music when the closing credits roll in. It's also interesting that there is really no bad people in this movie, only people who act like they are supposed to or in order to have what (they think) is best for them, even the hospital employees who mostly want to help, even if the group around Hushpuppy doesn't really see it and refuses their help, especially Hushpuppy's dad. I also really liked the song that played when little Hushpuppy was dancing with the waitress. The lyrics fit their dialog perfectly.

"Beasts of the Sounthern Wild" is a good film with more strengths than weaknesses and lots of interesting metaphors (the auroxen in particular) and I recommend watching it.

Original is the first word that springs to mind

[somf · 10/10 · 7 June 2012]

You have never seen anything quite like "Beasts of the Southern Wild". It is a film that will have you thinking about the love between a father and a daughter, about appreciating what you have in life and our ability to adapt to whatever comes at us. Quvenzhané Wallis is certain to beat Anna Paquin and Tatum O'Neal out as the youngest best actress nominee in history. Best original Screenplay is also almost a certainty. Go in with an open mind and enjoy this unique film that plays almost like a documentary and yet is full of fantasy elements as well. This is a don't miss.

If I have one quibble with the film it is the hand-held camera technique that at least in the early scenes is particularly annoying. It usually takes so much from my enjoyment of the film. I get it though, it gives it a more realistic feel and in this film it may have added to the overall experience. Still bugs me though.

Another plus at the screening tonight in Denver was a long Q and A with the talented director/screenwriter Benh Zeitlin, Dwight Henry who played the father Wink, and Quvenzhané Wallis. Lovely people all, and I hope to see their work in many films to come.

A film about community

[briancham1994 · 7/10 · 6 August 2020]

This film follows a young girl named Hush Puppy who lives in an impoverished community in the American Deep South. They have all the problems you'd expect but there are so many connections and are happy the way things are. We see a dichotomy between the inner world of humanity and the outer world of bureaucracy.

The Noble Savage motif is played out!

[blackprojectionist · 2/10 · 1 December 2012]

I don't know why folks keep asking me what I think about "Beasts of the Southern Wild,"by Ben Zeitlin. I guess it's because I'm Black, and I watch a lot of movies... I'm a projectionist. Well, first off, let me say that there wouldn't have been a movie without Quvenzhané Wallis. Quvenzhané plays "Hushpuppy," and she made it for me. I'm definitely looking forward to more greatness from her. But the film... in the first five minutes, I turned to my lady and said, "This isn't a Black Director..." Bottom line, I shouldn't be tripping on what race the Director is, I should be enjoying the film. I found the film joyless. The lens was one of objectifying the other, in this case the noble savage scenario. Listen, plenty of folks really dug the film, from President Obama to Oprah... For me, I'm just not crazy about the novelty of poverty, for the enjoyment of an audience. Watching a cast completely covered in filth, a community bound by their devotion to living off the grid, scavenging. A father feeds his daughter dog food., calls her a man, a boy, a beast. It's crazy. There's a conspiratorial feeling of taking part in the abuse of Hushpuppy. Somehow, I'm sitting there endorsing these toxins entering the subconsciousness of Quvenzhané, the audience, the President, Oprah... Maybe because I myself endured some trauma being poor, growing up. For this reason, I may be sensitive to the representation of poverty in film. How is the audience reaction's reaction? Oftentimes exploitation of class, culture, race is about feeling superior... "Oh how quaint..."

What is the hype about?

[Gordon-11 · 5 February 2013]

This film tells the story of a girl whose life is turned upside down by a flood in her village.

"Beasts of the Southern Wild" looks like a fairytale or fantasy adventure from the poster, but in fact the film cannot be further from it. The plot is impossible to follow, as it is just a random collection of scenes that are poorly bridged together. For example, how did the girls get from the prostitution rig to a beach all of a sudden? Things are so poorly explained in the film, that I did not understand a thing. The film also shows a lot of irresponsible parenting, and I dread to think whether this has adversely affected the little girl actress. And as for the beasts mentioned in the title, I do wonder if it is referring to the scanty animals we see, or to the father and his friends. I was thoroughly bored by "Beasts of the Southern Wild", and I appeal to all to avoid this film.

A welcome relief

[pjpoconnell · 7/10 · 30 July 2012]

I saw "Beasts of the Southern Wild" In it, poor whites and blacks struggle to survive in a hardscrabble hamlet--"hardscrabble" barely describes the place--on the Louisiana coast, caught between the expanding chemical plants and oil refineries of the mainland on the one hand and the storms of the Gulf of the Gulf of Mexico on the other. The story is seen through the eyes of--and told in the voice of--a six-year-old black girl being raised by her ailing and alcoholic father. Through her radical innocence, child's imaginativeness, and innate intelligence, the girl strives to deal with premature experiences, familial chaos, menacing outside forces, and natural disasters. The film is somewhat similar to those of Terrence Malick ("Days of Heaven," "Tree of Life") in that it is a kind of beautifully photographed documentary infused with "magical realism." The settings and production design are amazing, and the soundtrack--composed by the director/co-writer from jazz, classical, and soundscape elements--is wonderful. The performance by Q. Wallis as the girl is phenomenal. "performance" isn't even the right word. "Embodiment" would be better, and not just because Wallis is a six-year-old girl. If you watch her facial expressions change, you will see that they are perfectly attuned to whatever scene she is in. Her father is also played well--by a man from the area who rehearsed after working his night stint as a baker. Interestingly, the film is also simultaneously a parable that can appeal to both left and right. Corporate power is not viewed positively, and there is a global warming element. But government bureaucracy of the "we're here to help" kind is also viewed unfavorably, and the film is "colorblind." The characters, though poor, do not see themselves as "victims" and are not depicted that way; race is not an issue; and both blacks and whites stand in solidarity to save the way of life of their"messy," very messy, community. Altogether, this low-budget, independent film is a welcome break from the CGI, 3-D, comic-book superheroes, and violent action of the dominant Hollywood universe.

The word is: Magic Realism

[ignominia-1 · 9/10 · 9 January 2013]

What is so difficult to understand? If we suspend belief for Spiderman, The Hulk and King Kong why can't we believe in this story?

I wonder whether some viewers are so addicted to the rhythm of plot driven movies to render them unable to appreciate a story like this, a story that sees the world through the eyes of a child who knows nothing of what we know. If you are one of those, go read somewhere else. I am not going to give you a synapse but my humble opinion on its meaning and possibly its intent. Or more surely, what I got out of it.

The beauty of this movie lies in Hushpuppy, a child young enough to be nonjudgmental, and her vision of life and its inhabitants. She has her own wisdom and is, like all children, taking things quite literally.

At first the hand-held camera-work and insufficient light-fill to illuminate the deep shades gave me the impression that this was a documentary style movie, a story reporting the lives of a group of people living off the grid in some southern state of the United States. But when I understood that the "Beasts" of the title was not a judgment of the movie's humans and their poverty, their ignorance, their unsophistication- but only an alternate noun for "animals" which the protagonists calls both her pets and humans alike, I started seeing the movie for what it really is: A dream, a fantasy, an imaginary story that merged with the contemporary awareness of global warming, and so a low tech sci-fi prediction of how the world may soon become.

With that key I read most character's actions: the father figure who needs to train his child to survive, inciting her "to show her guns" and be self assured; the woman who teaches children the use of herbs to cure, the meaning of magic and mythology; the tolerance of the other adults for what, in a parallel reality, would definitively been child abuse. All this is righteously done to prepare the children to survive in a world that was(is?) going from merely hard to impossible.

Wink's seemingly unsentimental and insensitive behavior towards the little wee child makes then perfect sense and thus his letting go when she can keep at bay, the Aurochs (a metaphor for her still childlike imagination) and her ability to step out of that world and into that of an adult ("I've got to take care of mine now") is the proof that she had grown up enough to survive on her own.

Looking back to it, this movie is a miracle as improbable as that of La Vita é Bella, where Benigni infused humor in a story about the Holocaust without becoming offensive or demeaning. Beasts of a Southern Wild is able to merge a child's world with that of an adult; to make us see how the effects of global warming will challenge the lives of many; it is a comment and a reminder of Katrina, its victims and consequences; finally it is a poetic way of describing the world and its inhabitants, escaping the ugliness and despair of certain realities by converting it into hope, survival and beauty.

Southern Trip Adviser

[AfroPixFlix · 6/10 · 15 April 2014]

Traveling to Louisiana, and I don't mean N'Awlins, is like taking a trip outside the country. But it IS the country, and that's what makes it so utterly compelling a place to visit. The food and language are unique and so are the sensibilities. BEASTS is a splendid junket for people who want to wade in the swampland and appreciate for a brief spell of time the hardships and conviviality of the people in the Bathtub, which many will recall from the heartbreaking videos post-Katrina. There's a stubbornness and mysticism that seeps through the film. Unfortunately, the mysticism could have been less stark and graphic here, and by that I mean the "beasts" that are roused from ice. I won't spoil it, so see the film and you'll understand what I mean. The CGI comes off as cheesy, even from a child's perspective (which you're invited to take throughout the film). AfroPixFlix took a jaunt to the Big Easy right after seeing this and felt the need to feed this beast only six afro forks. And you? Bon appetite!

Movie with beautiful moments, worth a watch!

[mardalsfossen01 · 8/10 · 5 December 2018]

First and foremost - to the people who gave 1 or 2 stars:

The movie does not deserve this few stars, don't be silly. The only reason you give 1 or 2 stars is to make the overall rating go lower and to get people to read your review.

Now to the movie:

It tells a very unique magical story while the fantasy part isn't as big as you could assume from the cover. It's more about the little girl Hushpuppy and her dad who live a simple life. There are some beautiful moments and if you give the movie a chance and actually watch it, there's not much to regret since it will take you on a journey worth seeing.

Honestly a Little Overrated...

[fellow456 · 7/10 · 10 March 2013]

Why you shouldn't see it:

If you have a hard time relating to poor people or people who can't speak English, you might struggle with Beasts of the Southern Wild. I'm not talking about "poor people" as in they can only afford a feature phone instead of a smart phone, and I don't mean "poor people" as in they are forced to shop almost exclusively at Wal-mart. I'm talking about poor people in the sense that they haven't even heard of feature phones or Wal-mart. And I'm not talking about people who can't speak English because they were taught some other language as tykes; I'm talking about people who can't speak English because they are physically incapable of getting words of English out through their horribly creole lips.

The setting of this film is in a place called The Bathtub, which is a fictional... "neighborhood"? just outside the levees that protect New Orleans from flooding. These people live in a surreal sort of world where they seem to not only survive but thrive on their natural surroundings and the trash of civilization. Their lifestyle is actually fairly reminiscent of many takes on post- apocalyptic story lines. So really, anyone reading this review should have access to a computer and, therefore, be light years ahead of the good people of this movie and be largely unable to relate. Or so I assume.

I've stated before that I'm pretty good at watching movie trailers, and I'll still stand by that claim. But every once in a while, my skills will fail me, and various other factors will lead to my expectations of a movie being fairly different from the movie itself. This is one of those occasions. Specifically, the trailer and synopsis for Beasts lead one to believe that it is a much more fantastical film than it ends up being. With the exception of one part of the story, nearly every bit of it ends up being pretty firmly grounded in (a somewhat harsh) reality. It didn't help my opinion of the movie much that I thought the acting of 9-year-old Quvenzhane Wallis didn't strike me as any better than "decent" for a girl of her age, despite all of the rave reviews I had heard to the contrary.

Why you should see it:

While I don't anticipate any one of you being able to empathize all that strongly with the living squalor in which the protagonist of this film finds herself, I do imagine some of you can relate to her loss of a parent. Though I hope for your sake that you can't relate to her losing a parent and then having to deal with the other parent becoming seriously ill.

The metaphorical nature of the storytelling upon which Beasts is built is fairly evocative, with the world of a little girl literally coming apart while she has to deal with her father's illness. I can only imagine what it would be like to go through such a situation, but I don't believe it would be much different from how it is portrayed in the movie. In figurative terms, at least. I rather doubt that if I had, at any point, lost my parents, it would have been in the shambles that these people consider their homes.

In Short:

Beasts of the Southern Wild is as straightforward a coming of age tale as you can get while still involving the backward people of the Louisiana Bayou and mythological prehistoric beasts. The metaphor is effective, if not terribly complex, and it results in a quaint tale of a little girl's struggle with her particular lot in life. I rated it a 7 out of 10 for its successes despite its relative simplicity, and will recommend it as worth watching once, though I don't expect it to leave any powerfully lasting impressions.

Exceptions to the recommendation: if thick accents lead would lead you to turning on subtitles if only you didn't hate reading your movies; if you suffer from hydrophobia; if you suffer from cryptozoophobia; if you suffer from parthenophobia; or, more simply, if you prefer your women (particularly your pre-pubescent women) to be of the more passive variety; people who struggle enough with the parents who haven't left them.

Rare Masterpiece

[garb-5 · 10/10 · 22 June 2012]

Blew away a screening room of industry professionals at the Producers' Guild New York. Far more interesting than the publicity and most published reviews. It's intensely visual, in a way that I associate with visual masterpieces like Avatar.

It's a world of 9 year old girl Hushpuppies and her neighbors and friends in a Louisiana Bayou. They are poor in a way most of us never have to face, incredibly spirited, and far more complicated characters than commonly met in film. They are constantly surprising us in what they do, where they go, and what their world looks like.

Quvenzhané Wallis is only nine years old, never acted before, and gives a performance worthy of an Oscar. She's never acted before, but Benh Zeitlin drew an amazing performance from her. The actors all come alive, as does the world they are filmed in.

the aurochs are also remarkable.

Enjoyable and Unique

[proud_luddite · 7/10 · 26 September 2020]

Seen through the eyes of a young black girl (well played by Quvenzhané Wallis), a community in an island south of the Louisiana mainland struggles to get by. The seafood is plentiful but there is trouble after rainstorms as they are on the "wet" side of the levee.

There were times it was difficult to know which part of the story was real and which was part of the girl's imagination. Once this became more clear, this was an enjoyable and very unique film.

Some of the highlights include the intense relationship between the girl and her father; the trouble the community has with mainland authorities; and the community working together in its impoverished daily struggles while still being able to find good times now and then.

The directing by Benh Zeitlin is mystical and dreamy - quite appropriate for the subject matter. - dbamateurcritic

Once there was a Hushpuppy...

[amanda-413-452347 · 9/10 · 3 July 2012]

The film is one of those rare examples of every element being extraordinary. The acting, the directing, the script, the music is all superb and blend together to create the magical world of the bathtub. The film looks and sounds amazing. Everything is so beautifully shot, with a crispness and a warmth. The score is used sparingly and is never manipulative. This may be one of those movies that everyone raves about but gets overlooked come Oscar season because it doesn't have a big enough name attached to it or pandered to the Academy enough, but it could easily be nominated for at leave four or five awards. http://amandalovesmovies.com/2012/07/02/beasts-of-the-southern-wild/

Certainly unusual

[Wistfull · 7/10 · 31 March 2022]

Somehow it doesn't feel fair to regard this as a film among other films - there's something very unique in the atmosphere and the visuals. There's a kind of trash-filled beauty in the locations, and a sense of vibrant life in the characters.

That said, the camerawork gave me motion sickness. But that might just be a me-problem.

It's quite saddening to watch a film about survival in a climate crisis a decade later, and see how we've learned nothing from it.

Apparently bell hooks wrote about this film back in the day, and criticized Hushpuppy for being yet another reincarnation of the Strong Black Woman -trope. I can kinda see that, as imagining this film with a small white girl as a lead does feel a bit off.

A Smug Slice of Self Satisfied Sanctimony

[adam-murphy-irl · 1/10 · 17 January 2013]

I heard a lot about this movie on IMDb a few months ago and its recent Oscar nominations peaked my interest. So I decided to give it a go and, not only was it a disappointment, I was actually p*ssed off after watching it. In some ways, I'm flabbergasted that this film has received so much praise. But I can also see how it very much fits a formula of what certain critics and film buffs usually want to spew praise over. 'Into The Wild' being another great example of this. 'Beasts of the Southern Wild' (BotSW) is one of those movies that comes along now and then and manages to pull a great hoodwink on a lot of the movie going public. A hoodwink in that it seems from the majority of the reviews that the content of this movie and the messages that it leaves you with seem to have been largely ignored by most people. Those messages being that things such as child abuse, alcoholism and casual prostitution are fine as long as they're done against a backdrop of tweeness.

There is so much wrong with this movie, it's hard to know where to start, but I'll give it a go

1. The Acting: Apart from the girl who plays Hushpuppy, the acting in this film is pretty poor. I guess some of the actors aren't helped by the roles that they're playing: nearly all of the adults that we see for the majority of the film are either layabout drunkards or prostitutes.

2. The Dialogue: When it's not incoherent nonsense being babbled in a thick Cajun accent by some drunkard, it's some pseudo-intellectual, twee, sub-Forrest Gump twaddle being philosophised by a 6-year old. "When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces". Urgh…

3. The Story: BotSW drags out for 90 mins, yet the story itself that's actually hidden within the movie would be told in a third of that time. Oh, yes, but that's right, it's not the destination that matters right? It's the journey? And what a tedious journey it is for all concerned.

4. The Cinematography: As other reviewers have pointed out, the hand-held camera work is taken to the extreme on BotSW, to the point that you're almost nauseous by the end of the movie.

5. The Moral Messages of the Film: This is by far the biggest problem that I have with this movie and why I'm somewhat shocked that it has received so much praise. There are many number of issues that I have with this.

The Parent / Child Dynamic: Hushpuppy's father is an unemployed, somewhat unhinged drunkard. He has apparently made no effort to provide a life for his child, as they live in a shack that looks like it has been assembled from foraged and discarded junk. He drinks almost constantly, he beats his daughter, screams at her regularly, he finds out he has a serious terminal illness and yet he makes no plans to provide a life for his daughter after he passes away. Yet, rarely does the director or the story suggest that Wink isn't a good father. His death isn't portrayed as Hushpuppy being freed from a man who may little to no attempt to father her when on earth. Rather it's more portrayed as poor old Wink being freed from the illness ravaging his body.

The Actions of the Protagonists: As other reviewers have pointed out, they make absolutely no sense. Rather than seek help from the mainland after the storm, the main characters decide to try and blow a hole in the levy with an improvised bomb. The suggestion being that rather than lower themselves to accepting aid from "the outside" they are willing to endanger lives of people directly on the other side of the levy and destroy it through their criminal actions. Wink consistently refuses any assistance for his apparent Leukaemia and makes no attempt to provide a life for Hushpuppy after he dies, short of leaving her in the care of a man with an even worse drinking problem than he has.

Them vs. Us: any help offered by kind people from the outside in the aftermath of the storm is consistently treated with utter distain by the main characters. Their rejection of outside assistance is never explored past the shallow suggestion that they are outsiders / not from the Bathtub / don't understand our way of life.