Film Beasts of the Southern Wild - Sundance Favourite

[lordcookie]

Synopsis: In a forgotten but defiant bayou community cut off from the rest of the world by a sprawling levee, a six-year-old girl exists on the brink of orphanhood. Buoyed by her childish optimism and extraordinary imagination, she believes that the natural world is in balance with the universe until a fierce storm changes her reality. Desperate to repair the structure of her world in order to save her ailing father and sinking home, this tiny hero must learn to survive unstoppable catastrophes of epic proportions.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nD2lkkHD5s

This received rave reviews at Sundance earlier in the year and I've eagerly been waiting for the trailer to appear. It is getting a June release in the US but not sure when it is supposed to make it to these shores.

[Chopsocky]

Saw this on holiday in NY. It's basically "the Road" if global warming happened instead of nuclear fallout. Hush Puppy is very cute and does a great job of holding your attention and basically playing a child growing up in the swamplands. I was unable to sympathize much with Wink's character due to not understanding his actions or what illness he had.

One thing which was very disorientating for me is that the entire thing seemed to be filmed in 'shaky cam' which I think is very distracting (not as bad as the Blair WP but still headache inducing). It should have been used more sparingly. There is a nice scene during the storm where the rain is lashing down and it really does seem like you're in the middle of a hurricane. The giant aurochs also made me think of what a live action "Princess Mononoke could be like." Overall maybe one to watch again in the future.

[Roboplegic Wrongcock]

Saw this at the Sarajevo film festival about two weeks ago and got to meet the director Benh Zeitlin. Absolutely fantastic film.

It invites you into Hushpuppy world and you find yourself going along with it. Even better none of the cast are actors which makes things even more extraordinary.

Will definitely be seeing it again when it finally gets a release date over here.

[ZOK]

Saw this yesterday. Really brilliant movie, and certainly going to stick Zeitlin on the map. Not sure about Chopsocky's shaky cam comments, certainly that's how it was done, but personally I found it completely immersive and it didn't even feel noticeable. A great SF movie really, although it will no doubt be classed more as an excercise in Magic Realism.

Definitely one to watch on the large screen too, I'd imagine it loses quite a bit of power on telly.

[Captain Novaforce]

Saw a section on this on the culture show, definitely going to see it.

[ZOK]

Probably not worth it, Chris Tookey awarded it a total of No Stars: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/reviews/article-2219911/Beasts-Of-The-Southern-Wild-What-washout-wet-film-is.html

[jonamok]

Well he's put me well off this. The lines he quotes are indeed pish, and if it's even half as contrived as it sounds, I'll be thanking the illustrious Mail correspondent for saving me 2 hours.

Of course, it could be awesome, and he could just be a cynical old right-wing hack.

Decisions...

[Mentazm]

Going to see this tomo eve I think. Hyped.