Review of Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) by Screenplayhouse — 26 Nov 2012

I'm seeing some people struggle with the many peculiar yet delightful choices in this surprisingly solid film. The first thing any viewer should realize is that this film fights desperately to avoid cliche -- and succeeds. For instance, it's not always clear if the starring young lady is a girl. Most writer/directors would make the mistake of making her the sweetest little thing this side of sunshine. And her Dad the most endearing man you've ever met. I don't want to spoil, but as you'll learn -- that's not even close. The director does this (I believe) to avoid the dated liberal notion of angelic black folk in cinema -- a painful art house cliche. The movie must make a baker's dozen of such surprise choices -- including the lead's mother in spades.

Another choice in this film is presenting countless mysteries that aren't nice and neatly tied up. One is where our star lives in comparison to her Dad. We see it but we don't know why. In poor writing this is known as a loose end. In great writing -- as in BEASTS -- it captures our curiosity without being detrimental to the story. The resulting effect is a terribly realistic story where not everything ties up nice and neat with a bow -- like in the Hollywood movie world. Terribly realistic despite being a fable of sorts.

Speaking of fables, I've seen the preview for highly rated LIFE OF PI. I fear that everything that is raunchy and wonderful in BEASTS will be CGI glossed and Disney-fabled in PI. That is: PI may make viewers feel more comfortable -- but great movies aren't suppsed to be over-stuffed couches.

The mark of a great movie is if you can and will view it again at some point. BEASTS is one of those movies. It reminds me a little of SLUMDOG MILLIONAIRE, even though it has little in common with it -- except for the totally 'fresh' feeling of the story and it's masterful execution. This may not be the year's best picture, but it would be crime to quality cinema if it wasn't nominated.