Beasts of the Southern Wild

Sometimes movies make me cry. I'm not afraid to say it, because film is an art, and sometimes that art induces tears. Sometimes the movie is like Up and it's just sad, sometimes it's like The Muppets and it's just touching. Whatever way the film goes, if it makes me cry, I'm crying for a good reason. And, films that make me cry usually end up on my best of the year lists, like Toy Story 3. Beasts of the Southern Wild made me cry because it's just so beautiful. Hushpuppy (Quvenzhane Wallis) lives with her dad Wink (Dwight Henry) in The Bathtub, a forgotten bayou community made of trash and empty bottles of liquor. Hushpuppy spends her days listening to animals' heartbeats, wondering where her mom went, and going through her dad's school of hard knocks. But when Wink contracts a mysterious and deadly illness, Hushpuppy's world falls apart. The icecaps melt, The Bathtub floods, prehistoric monsters called Aurochs get unfrozen, and Hushpuppy has to put the universe back together. Beasts of the Southern Wild was written and directed by people who had never produced a feature film, and stars actors with no other credits and no experience. Dwight Henry was a baker in the location's town before being cast. Yet this film is one of the most philosophically and aesthetically gorgeous films of the past twenty years, at least since 2009's Where the Wild Things Are. There isn't much of a story, but its narrative is perfectly structured. The characters aren't superheroes or very quirky, but they are fascinating to watch. This is a truly beautiful film, and I've never really seen anything else like it. Everything about this film astounded me. From the mind-boggling cinematography and directing to the beautiful music. Then there's the acting, which is amazing. Never before did I think the performances of a six-year-old girl and a baker with no prior experience would immediately strike me as Oscar-worthy. Things change. Quvenzhane Wallis is a force of nature as Hushpuppy, and Dwight Henry is so captivating as Wink, I felt like he was really there. I felt embraced by Beasts of the Southern Wild, in the same way I feel embraced by a sunrise. This film brought up emotions I haven't felt watching a movie in a while. It's a mixed bag that just wants to burst out of me in an explosion o energy that leads me to running down the beach. There's some sadness, some fear, and some confusion, but it all turns into joy. I felt this watching Where the Wild Things Are. I feel it when I hear Gorillaz' "On Melancholy Hill," Arcade Fire's "Wake Up," and Jonsi's "Go Do." I feel it because I've experienced something extraordinary here, and I think you should too.