Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Beasts of the southern wild stars young Quvenzhané Wallis in her debut role as ‘Hushpuppy’. A 6 year old who lives with her father (Dwight Henry) in a place they call ‘The Bathtub’. A place where the people love the land as much as they love each other. Unfortunately the land doesn’t love them back when a hurricane heads their way.

This film is co-written and directed by Benh Zeitlin, a man with no real credits to his name making this his first full length feature film, and it’s not a bad way to start off with it being nominated for two oscars respectively. However unfortunately despite all the charm this film clearly possesses, it was never enough to bring me in, I felt that this film dragged by the end and there are a few reasons why.

I never cared for any of the characters. Despite the brilliant performance by young Wallis as Hushpuppy, I never felt like a relationship was formed between her and the audience. Everything felt forced, and this was even worse for the other characters like her father, who is played fine by Henry. The whole way through the film was practically telling us how to feel and what to think about him, there was no breathing space to think for ourselves which is thanks to the screenplay written by Behn Zeitlin and Lucy Alibar. It meant the film quickly bored me, and there was no coming back from there.

The directing choices in the film also felt jarring for me. There was an abundance of shaky cam, if used properly this can be effective but it only succeeded in making me annoyed and dizzy. Despite this the cinematography by Ben Richardson is undoubtedly stunning, especially for it’s little budget of $2m. However unfortunately this is never enough to drag me into a film and enjoying it throughout.

Overall I feel this is a film which will separate many people. You may love it, you may hate it. It wasn’t nominated 2 oscars for nothing after all. However what the film was trying to tell or do never quite hit me. Resulting in a not so enjoyable viewing experience.