Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

USA; 93min

Drama, Fantasy

Director: Benh Zeitlin

Writers: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin

Stars: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly

Beasts of the Southern Wild is the story of a little girl, Hushpuppy, and her father, Wink who's getting sicker everyday, their life in the Bathtub, a community outside of modern civilization, a natural disaster in the form of floods that hit the Bathtub and the enforced independence of small Hushpuppy. Much of the story is left to free interpretation. What is a six-year girl's imagination and what it represents, and what is the reality is on the viewer to decide.

It's Benham Zeitlin directorial debut, with mostly amateur cast. With that in mind and relatively small budget ($ 1.8 million) performance in this film is surprisingly good, although the big critique goes to the camera. The main objective of low shaky camera was to show visual perspective of small Hushpuppy which is not bad idea, but some scenes are unwatchable due to shaky camera which combined with extreme slow action greatly reduces the interest of viewers.

The main part of cast is totally amateurish with acting debut of main stars, Quvenzhané Wallis and Dwight Henry in roles of Hushpuppy and Wink. Without the fact that they have never acted before their performance is amazing, and with knowing that this is their debut performance is almost unbelievable. They were so impressive at the auditions that they got roles despite little Quvenzhané was too young for the role of Hushpuppy with only 5 years while the searching age was 6-9 years, and Dwight Henry has agreed to the role only if the cast will rehearse with him at night while working in his bakery, that condition was fulfilled. Quvenzhané and Wallis will definitely become one of famous movie names. Although Henry argues that he will not start acting seriously, given the newfound fame that's hard to believe.

This year we'll see a new collaboration of Wallis and Henry in new project by Steve McQueen (Hunger, Shame) Twelve Years a Slave which will put them alongside great movie names like Brad Pitt and Michael Fassbender.

Visually movie works perfectly, and in that way it's special experience, especially with an excellent music backgorund. But the plot itself is mostly philosophical and interesting, though not too deep and very slow, and from time to time looks as insufficient for a feature film. It's full of metaphors that every viewer can interpret at his own way and there's no point in writing anything more about the plot.

Definitely worth a look, but with lower expectations and in rested state. Future work of every important member of this films team should be followed, from Zeitlin to Wallis. It seems that this is the beginning of several promising careers.

Beasts of the Souther Wild je priča o djevojčici Hushpuppy i njenom sve bolesnijem ocu Winku, njihovom životu u Bathtubu, zajednici koja živi van suvremene civilizacije, prirodnoj katastrofi u obliku poplave koja pogodi Bathtub te o prislinom osamostaljenju male Hushpuppy. Velik dio priče je ostavljen na slobodnu interpretaciju. Što je mašta šestogodišnje djevojčice i što predstavlja, a što stvarnost je na gledatelju da presudi.

Režiserski prvijenac Benh Zeitlina, sa pretežito amaterskom glumačkom postavom. S obzirom na to i relativno mali budžet (1,8mil $) sama izvedba filma je iznenađujuće dobra iako velika kritika ide na kameru. Glavni cilj kamere je bio prikazati perspektivu male Hushpuppy što nije sporno, dapaće, ali neke scene su negledljive zbog predrhtave kamere što u kombinaciji sa izrazitom sporošću radnje uvelike smanjuje interes gledatelja.

Glavni dio glumačke postave je potpuno amaterski, a Quvenzhané Wallis i Dwight Henry koji tumače Hushpuppy i Winka je ovo glumački prvijenac. I bez činjenice da nikada prije nisu glumili njihova izvedba je zadivljujuća, a s njom gotovo nevjerojatna. Inače, toliko su zadivili na audicijama da su malenu Quvenzhané primili za ulogu Hushpuppy sa svega 5 godina iako je starosna dob za nju bila 6-9 godina, a Dwight Henry je pristao na ulogu samo ako će glumačka ekipa s njim vježbati tijekom noći dok radi u svojoj pekarnici, jer preko dana zbog posla nema dovoljno vremena i taj uvjet mu je ispunjen. Quvenzhané Wallis će definitivno postati jedno od većih glumačkih imena, dok Henry pak tvrdi kako se neće ozbiljnije prepustiti glumi, no s obzirom na novostečenu slavu to je teško povjerovati.

Već ove godine nam dolazi novi film Wallis i Henrya i to u novom projektu Steve McQueena (Hunger, Shame) Twelve Years a Slave gdje će stati uz bok velikanima poput Brad Pitta i Michael Fassbendera.

Vizualno film djeluje izvrsno, te je kao takav posebno iskustvo, pogotovo uz izvrsnu glazbenu podlogu. No, sama radnja je pretežito filozofska i to iako interesantna ne pretjerano duboka i izrazito spora, te na trenutke djeluje kao nedovoljna za dugometražni film. Obiluje metaforama koje svaki gledatelj može interpretirati samovoljno te detaljnije o radnji nema previše smisla pričati.

Definitivno se isplati pogledati, ali sa nižim očekivanjima i u odmornom stanju, a svakog bitnijeg člana ekipe koja je radila film obavezno treba pratiti, od Zeitlin do Wallis. Čini se da je ovo početak nekoliko obečavajućih karijera.