Beasts of the Southern Wild

[Robert Maxwell]

Didn't see a thread on this, so here's one.

I saw this yesterday. I thought it was good, though not as good as the praise made it out to be. The lead actress and the actor playing her father were excellent.

Some general comments (spoiler-free, for the most part):

* After spending most of the film in the Bathtub, it was jarring to have a couple acts spent outside of it. The "alienness" of the outside world was played well, I thought. One of the movie's highlights.
* Hushpuppy's confrontation with the Aurochs: I get what they were going for, but it didn't quite work for me. I'm not sure why. I think that, by the time we got to it, the way it played out just seemed perfunctory.
* It was nice to see a portrayal of poverty that wasn't complete misery. A common problem with films about people who are very poor is that their poverty ends up being all the film focuses on. The people of the Bathtub were rough around the edges and didn't have a lot of material wealth, but for the most part, they were happy. I'm glad it wasn't "poverty porn," which is normally what you get in that type of setting.

I'm interested in hearing anyone else's thoughts on this, if you saw it. I do recommend it, even though it's not perfect.