"The texture of "Beasts" is so completely mussed and roiled that you get drawn into the raucous excitement of the bayou's hand-to-mouth existence. The rought atmosphere is intensely sympathetic; the movie may be prophetic as well. "Beasts" is set in a remote location, and people in the lower bayous were probably always poor. Yet it's hard not to see "Beasts" as an expression of post-affluent America. And here's the surprise: the grinding Great Recession may never offer up a movie as happy, or inspired by poetry and dream, as this one." Read more at the New Yorker.
Beasts of the Southern Wild -The Prague Post
The plot is almost secondary to the cohesive network of very naturalistic overtones onscreen, though the events are certainly significant. Around the time of a hurricane, which may or may not be Katrina, on a bayou around New Orleans called "The Bathtub," Hushpuppy and Wink do their best to survive the daily turmoil of living in poverty. As Hushpuppy's mother is no longer with them, the girl speaks to her mother's clothes, which seem to speak back in very unsentimental tones.
The film contains one of the most tension-laden hurricane scenes this reviewer has ever seen. Short though it is, the film's hurricane scene, mostly relying on the soundtrack and a constant rush of water from the ceiling of Hushpuppy's and Wink's makeshift shack in the forest, packs a punch and reminds us of the profound effect a strong soundtrack can have on the audience.
Read more at The Prague Post.
Beasts of the Southern Wild - Roger Ebert
You can make "Beasts of the Southern Wild" into an allegory of anything you want. It is far too detailed and specific to fit easily into general terms. The Bathtub is this place in this time, and how can it "stand for" anything else? This film is a remarkable creation, imagining a self-reliant community without the safety nets of the industrialized world. Someday they will run out of gasoline for their outboard motors, and then they will do — well, whatever people did before they needed gasoline.
Read more at Rogerebert.com
The Post Lab's Interview with Ben Richardson
Cinematography Geeks! The Post Lab interviewed our very own Ben Richardson about film stock, labs, workflow, and how exactly he went about shooting Beasts of the Southern Wild.
What were some of the visual references that inspired the look of the film? There’s a 1970’s short documentary called Dry Wood, by Les Blank, that had a lot of the palette we were looking for. It’s a real run and gun documentary from the 70s, and I think it was even shot on reversal stock. A lot of the qualities of the Bathtub are present in this documentary. It was one of the most perfect encapsulations of a cinematic version of the world we were trying to create. A key touchstone for the camera aesthetic was the short film shot from a children’s perspective called Jerrycan, by Julius Avery. Obviously after we watched these films a few times and understood what we were getting from them, I preferred to stop specifically trying to make references to them and went back to responding to the world that I was seeing in front of me.
Read in full at the Post Lab.
Standard Culture interviews Benh Zeitlin
What is it about Louisiana that appeals to you so strongly? I think there’s a difference in what people value here. It’s not a place that’s ambitious. You know people here for six years and still have no idea what their job is. Your personal value isn’t based on that. People here are judged on their joy. It’s like, How much joy do you have? There’s a real freedom and fearlessness and a kind of relief from superficial success. There’s an enlightened notion that all that stuff just isn’t that important, because every commodity has been taken away from people so many times. There’s an appreciation for things that are actually important. It may appear downtrodden—it’s certainly not a rich town and doesn’t have that kind of first-world technology and progress feel when you’re here—but I don’t think people would consider themselves downtrodden. I think people consider themselves a little bit freer.
Do you drink? There was a point in the movie when we were wondering if things would be different if they just drank a tiny bit less.
I do, yes. Proudly. It’s a party culture. You could look at it as a movie about a bunch of alcoholics living in the woods, sure, but that would be inaccurate. It’s like, if the culture were more ambitious and didn’t appreciate partying would it be more successful by the terms of New York City? Yes. But those aren’t the terms down here. The terms are: How much are you enjoying your life? How much are you celebrating your culture and your friends and your people? People celebrate by dancing and drinking and that’s the culture. People can look down on that but that’s bringing a different cultural lens.
The Standard Hotel's Standard Culture interviewed Benh Zeitlin about New York, the future, and Louisiana party culture. Read it all here.