Beasts of the Southern Wild is a film unlike any other I can think of. The closest I can think of would be AGUIRRE WRATH OF GOD, and some of Terry Gilliam's films, particularly ADVENTURES OF BARON MUNCHAUSEN and TIDELAND. Yet there is an organic quality, a sense of place, that makes it unique. And Quevenzhane Wallis is a much more assured 6-year old actress than Sarah Polley was. The cinematography is excellent, the score is kept carefully under wraps until it bursts triumphantly into full volume during the final credits (something I wish more directors make note of). And any complaints that aurochs didn't look like giant wild boars miss the point of the movie: the aurochs that inhabit Hushpuppy's imagination are the aurochs that are tattooed on Miss Bathsheba's thighs: as with everything else in the Bathtub, they are works of salvage. Like the works of Herzog and Gilliam, this film represents a triumph of the imagination.
Review of Beasts of the Southern Wild
