Played by Quvenzhané Wallis, an untrained sprite who holds the camera’s attention with a charismatic poise that might make grown-up movie stars weep in envy, Hushpuppy is an American original, a rambunctious blend of individualism and fellow feeling. In other words, she is the inheritor of a proud literary and artistic tradition, following along a crooked path traveled by Huckleberry Finn, Scout Finch, Eloise (of the Plaza), Elliott (from “E.T.”) and other brave, wild, imaginary children. These young heroes allow us, vicariously, to assert our innocence and to accept our inevitable disillusionment when the world falls short of our ideals and expectations. Read the entire article at NYTimes.
Untamed, Extraordinary, Exquisite 'Beasts' - Wall Street Journal
In this season of serial letdowns, so many movies provoke the same sense of sour bemusement. Why did they ever get made? Didn't anyone know how bad they were from the start? Then there is "Beasts of the Southern Wild," which provokes wonderment pure and simple. How did it ever get made? Did the people who financed and created it know how magical and piercingly beautiful it would be? They couldn't have known at the outset. Benh Zeitlin's debut feature evokes life in a surpassingly strange corner of Louisiana through the ecstatic spirit of a 6-year-old black girl named Hushpuppy. There's no trace of calculation, only artistic ambitions and hopes that have come to fruition in the year's finest film thus far. Read the whole thing here.
Beasts of the Southern Wild: Welcome to Earth - The Atlantic Wire
"Really a mysterious, modern Whitman poem in film form, Beasts of the Southern Wild is a strange and stirring emotional and spiritual odyssey. When the movie's score, co-written by Brooklyn-based producer Dan Romer and Zeitlin, really gets going, soaring to orchestral heights as it runs alongside Hushpuppy through this liminal land between heaven and hell, the experience is enrapturing, the kind of swoon and swell we don't often get from tiny indies with serious themes. A billowing meditation on nature and existence, Beasts of the Southern Wild reminds us not just of the unlimited possibilities of outsider cinema, but of something true and intrinsic within ourselves. It will make you want to run outside and yell joyously at the sky." Read the complete article at The Atlantic Wire.
Inside the Beasts Score
Dan Romer (L) and Benh Zeitlin (R), co-composers of the Beasts of the Southern Wild score. Film and music have always been intertwined for Zeitlin, who spent his teenage years as the singer for a grunge band. "All through high school, every Friday we'd go to my friend Bob's house and make a movie, and on Saturday, we'd have band practice," he said, adding with a laugh, "Music and movies is the way we'd entertain ourselves, for lack of having girlfriends or drug problems."
Benh Zeitlin spoke to Vulture about making music for film. Read it on Vulture.
Beasts of the Southern Food
video via Fox Searchlight
"Q: What was your favorite part of working on the film?"
"Quvenzané: Whenever the seafood came."
In the Bathtub, as with the rest of the South, food is a big deal! Cooking and eating are as much about about community, love and celebration as sustenance. From the crawfish boils to Hushpuppy's name to Dwight's being discovered as a result of running the Buttermilk Drop Bakery right across from the Court 13 production offices, food is at the core of Beasts.
image via the Amateur Gourmet
Beasts writer Lucy Alibar spoke to the Amateur Gourmet about the role that food played in both her upbringing and the film.
So you named the main character Hushpuppy. Is there anything about an actual hush puppy that speaks to her character or was it just a fun name?
“Beasts of the Southern Wild” is based on a play I wrote called “Juicy and Delicious,” following these two characters as they face the end of the known world. Hushpuppy’s dad talks about how after Hushpuppy was born, he and Hushpuppy’s mom couldn’t think of a name, so they called their baby “Big Fat Baby”. And then Hushpuppy’s mamma suggests the name “Hushpuppy”, because “a hushpuppy is a small, warm, stupid, good little thing.”
Read the whole thing here.