From the NY Times:
"Hushpuppy, the 6-year-old heroine of “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” has a smile to charm fish out of the water and a scowl so fierce it can stop monsters in their tracks. The movie, a passionate and unruly explosion of Americana, directed by Benh Zeitlin, winks at skepticism, laughs at sober analysis and stares down criticism. Made on a shoestring by a resourceful New Orleans-based collective, it is animated by the same spirit of freedom it sets out to celebrate. If, as the Fourth of July approaches, you find yourself craving an antidote to anger and cynicism, a bracing reminder of the meaning of independence, and a helping of homegrown art to go with your hamburgers and watermelon, then this may be just what you need."
http://movies.nytimes.com/2012/06/27/movies/beasts-of-the-southern-wild-directed-by-benh-zeitlin.html?nl=movies&emc=mua2_20120629
Wow - that's quite a review:
"This movie is a blast of sheer, improbable joy, a boisterous, thrilling action movie with a protagonist who can hold her own alongside Katniss Everdeen, Princess Merida and the other brave young heroines of 2012. There are loose threads you can pull at — sometimes the wide-eyed wonder slides toward willful naïveté, and there are moments of distracting formal sloppiness — but the garment will not come unraveled. A lot of thinking has gone into “Beasts of the Southern Wild,” about themes as well as methods, about the significance of the story as well as its shape. And it is certainly rich enough to invite and repay a healthy measure of critical thought.
But its impact, its glory, is sensory rather than cerebral. Let me try out an analogy. Discovering this movie is like stumbling into a bar and encountering a band you’ve never heard of playing a kind of music that you can’t quite identify."
So get out there and see it this weekend -- support your local indie filmmakers!
Interview with writer/director:
http://www.firstshowing.net/2012/interview-beasts-of-the-southern-wild-writerdirector-benh-zeitlin/?uid=bbd720550e295932d39cbed46e2fb924b38b1129
Trailer here:
http://gointothestory.blcklst.com/2012/06/written-interview-beasts-of-the-southern-wild.html
Website for the collective that made it:
"Court 13 is a grassroots, independent filmmaking army – a collective of madcap artists and animators of junk that seek to tell huge stories out of small parts. Tales spring from groups of real people on the margins, and adaptation to screen demands that we live the extremes of the story, not just tell about them. Court 13 values “do it yourself” not as a matter of financial circumstance but as a spiritual requirement; each film poses huge, painstaking challenges that defy the gods, nature, and just plain common sense. But hopefully from the wreckage comes treasure–a movie for the masses, borne of love and pain, that makes you feel like a kid again. We make films about communities, as a community. We listen to Sam Cooke, can beat you in racquetball, and beast on Sriracha sauce by the gallon. Our captain is Jimmy Lee Moore, and our newest officer is a pig named Hushpuppy. And New Orleans is our home."
http://www.court13.com/about/
Opens this week! Support indie filmmakers!
Just saw this. Very impressive what they did with a modest budget and non-pro actors. Lovely and original but it didn't blow me away.... Still well worth seeing...
http://uptownmessenger.com/2012/07/people-places-of-beasts-of-the-southern-wild-enthrall-prytania-audience/#more-21925
just today i purchased the latest edition of filmcomment magazine b/c this was the cover story.
good storytelling does not equal being blown away. i just want to be engaged in and intrigued by the story.
