[BLOG] Beasts of the Southern Wild

[AYBG]

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Directed by Benh Zeitlin
Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry and Levy Easterly

Plot: Faced with both her hot-tempered father's fading health and melting ice-caps that flood her ramshackle bayou community and unleash ancient aurochs, six-year-old Hushpuppy must learn the ways of courage and love.

IMDB

Get free tickets on the forum for Sunday 14th October 2012 via ShowFilmFirst

[Beate]

Here's a review for those not sure whether to see Frankenweenie or this on Sunday: http://networkedblogs.com/Dma3I

[canadian_turtle]

I saw this film as part of LFF tonight and was utterly disappointed by it. To be fair, I had incredibly high hopes after seeing the trailer and assumed it to be one of my favourite films of the year, but even without hyping it up in my head I really think this wasn't very good at all. Besides not being the fantasy film I expected from things what I read online it was just utterly incoherent with a non existent storyline. I honestly had no idea what was going on most of the time. I also don't remember seeing much of the "beasts" the film is titled after other than a lot of build up and a single "confrontation", unless I did close my eyes more than once without realising...

The only positives I can think of at the moment is that the film looked pretty and the main actress was really quite amazing. Other than that I have no idea what I just watched.

The private drinks reception beforehand (with the director and lead actress) was utterly fab though. Drank way too much champagne and also had delicious canapes that made me regret having dinner all-together. Yum! <3

No idea yet how to rate this film, will get back to y'all tomorrow when I am more awake (and sober).

[Ms Thrifty]

It doesn't sound entirely my type of film and my hopes aren't that high, but I'm still going to give it a chance, partly to satisfy my curiosity. After all, it's not as long as some and I'm going on to do something else afterwards, whereas if making a special trip, I might hesitate. And so far, no-one has mentioned the dread words "magic realism" or "lyrical"... some of my cues to give a film or play a wide berth. But I have given up on Ginger and Rosa.

[funthing29]

What an earth was this? Weird doesn't even begin to describe it. I am still rather befuddled by it.

I can appreciate the good acting from the young girl, impressive shots of nature and its destructive power but where was the story? It has some strong elements, but I really didn't enjoy this. 5/10.

I can see a lot of FMUKkers hating this film.

[Beate]

Hm. It's either this or Frankenweenie tomorrow and that doesn't sound like my cuppa tea either. Ack.

[Tiz]

Watched this at a packed Edinburgh Cameo this morning.

Must admit that after reading the IMDB synopsis I was expecting something a bit more ethereal - however, it was 95% drama and 5% fantasy. Some great character acting by the main leads.

[spoiler]I think the beasts represented the young girl's fears [/spoiler]

[stuartboy]

This was actually very good. I really enjoyed it - from a visual point of view, through good acting from a 6 year old, to a good story - welll told. I understood it and felt drawn in to the film - always a good sign. Yes there were "beasts" throughout, but they were likely metaphorical, as explained by the tattoo on the teacher's thigh (not as bizarre as it sounds!). Think they were oryx.

An exquisite film.

9/10

Edit: Oryx are African antelope. These were apparantly aurochs which were European ancestors of domestic cattle. (I'm sure those beasts were giant pigs though!)

[jojojoanne]

Greenwich Picturehouse was more or less full. I don't know what word to use, because I didn't necessarily 'enjoy' the film, but at the same time, it held my interest. Glad I went to see it. It was nice to see Beate and OH again.

[Beate]

They have a good usher too at Greenwich PH who showed the latecomers to the remaining seats. Nice to see jojojoanne, hottips and a fashionably late ZoeBanfield. We were told to be careful when sitting down as every seat had a little treat on it. I was expecting popcorn and all sorts of goodies but it turned out to be a handful of postcards and a badge.

As for the film, what c_t and funthing said really. The usher asked me on the way out what I thought of the film and when I said "A little weird to be honest" he sounded surprised. "A little weird?" Well, yeah. It was visually interesting but I didn't understand this world in the "bathtub" and how people can live like that, where little girls called "Hushpuppy" are wise beyond their years. Very strange community. All the scenes felt disjointed and weren't making much sense - a bit like a strange dream.

The guy next to us scarpered after a while - I can't blame him.

We were greeted by a video message of the director who said that we should give a review on the Guardian website to win some stuff, and the reviews that are already there are all gushing like crazy: http://www.guardian.co.uk/beasts-of-the ... RTXT4366I2

5/10