Review of Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012) by Akash S — 14 Feb 2013

Gorgeously framed and filmed, with a stunning performance from its five-year-old lead actress, it's hard not to appreciate this short peek into the trials and celebrations of "The Bathtub," a community that exists on the wrong side of Louisiana's levees.

The existence this society leads, and their determination to maintain it, varies from dazzling to upsetting to unfamiliar. The landscapes provided by their living quarters, a hodgepodge of dilapidated machinery and augmented nature, are beautifully photogenic in an extraterrestrial sense.

And while I'm sure some of those aspects were exaggerated, as were the bland, sterile confines of the film's brief stay in more "civilized" confines, the contrast between the two is remarkable and thoughtful, as intended.

Although it can be self-indulgent and drawn out at times, the film is a real sight to behold and quite moving when it wants to be. Worth watching for its artistic merits alone, and to better understand and appreciate a unique branch of American culture that's nearly extinct.