BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Release Date: 19 October 2012 (UK)
Director: Benh Zeitlin
Running Time: 93 Minutes
Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry
Screening Reviewed: UK Premiere
Reviewed by Kyle Pedley
Beasts of the Southern Wild is almost as difficult a movie to review as it is to satisfactorily define, brilliantly unconventional and original as it is. An earthy, observational take on life in ‘the bathtub’ (a self-sustaining community just off the edge of the map by way of South America), mixed with a powerful yet tender tale of a young girl forced to endure changing times, an absent mother and ailing father, over-arching ecological messages and warnings and the journey of some thought-extinct mythical beasts running parallel to everything thrown in for good measure. On paper it sounds an incongruent mess, but the level of conviction mixed with some beautifully imaginative storytelling and filmmaking, filtering it’s story as it does through the eyes of a six year old girl, allows reality, fantasy and imagination to constantly overspill and helps craft Beasts into one of the most beautiful, touching and inspired movies of the year.
