Beasts of the Southern Wild

I'm probably going to offend a lot of people with this review, as so many (not least the good people at Sundance where it was initially aired) have been utterly transfixed by the beauty and talent on offer in the film. In fact, writing this review so long after the actual release is almost embarrassing, as I'm bound to be left with more than a little egg on my face given that it currently holds one of the spots in the Oscar Best Picture line up, and a raft of other nominations besides. But truthfully, while it may have done it for others, Beasts of the Southern Wild just didn't seem to resonate with me.

Truth be told, there is an enormous amount of beauty in the film. With the exception of the director's over-tendency to pull focus mid-scene (or just not focus on the action at all) there are an extraordinary number of visually arresting stills. Most of them are courtesy of the now infamous Quvenzhané Wallis, a previously unknown little girl without whom (the director quite rightly has asserted) the film couldn't have been made, and who has now entered the history books as the youngest person ever to hold a Best Actress nomination at the Oscars. No mean feat at the age of 9 (or perhaps more incredibly, 6 when the film was shot).



The legend of Top Gear's amphibious cars transfers to the big screen.

Whatever I may have thought of the film, Quvenzhané Wallis' talent is undeniable. Her performance is impeccable throughout, making the award nomination no great surprise. That said, I did have a personal struggle to find any of the characters particularly likable until near the end, but more a feature of the story than the acting itself. Elsewhere, the movie seems to crowbar in a wide variety of additional themes and metaphors, some of which feel more ill-fitting than others. The rampaging Aurochs, an ancient bull-type creature, freed by the melting ice caps (as a part of the slightly odd backdrop of climate change) do feel like a strange inclusion to a story about community and finding identity at a young age, but the ongoing heartbeat motif is perhaps the most draining. While obvious as to it's meaning, it did begin to feel rather rammed down your throat by the end, for no particular emotional benefit. The overall moral message fell foul of the same plight, and although a very worthy and touching notion (we're all a small part of one bigger whole) it did feel rather over-worked by the end.