Beasts of the Southern Wild

I almost always find myself cheering on any independent films that get nominated for best picture.  Beasts of the Southern Wild is that dark horse indie film that has come so far.  This is the first feature film directed by Behn Zeitlin (nominated for best director!), and it was made on a budget of only 1.3 million dollars and only had a crew of sixty-five people in a coastal town in Louisiana.  It has won numerous awards from various film festivals around the world, including Sundance and Cannes.  And now it rightly sits forever as one of the best of the year, competing for four awards at the Oscars, including Best Picture

The story takes place in a disappearing bit land at the southernmost part of Louisiana called The Bathtub.  There is a quick explanation, all from the perspective of six year old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), that the ice is melting and causing the water to rise up.  The land folks up north have built a levy cutting off everyone down in The Bathtub and society seems to have crumbled into one last mardi gras.  Alcohol flows as much as the crawfish and the nights are lit up by fireworks.  Hushpuppy thinks they’ve got it best, but all that will change when the water rises.

Hushpuppy seems to know she doesn’t have an easy life.  Her mother swam away and now she uses an old Michael Jordan jersey to make-believe she is around.  Her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), is trying to protect Hushpuppy as their world becomes more threatened, but his poor health is catching up to him.  He has a short fused temper that can be startling, but he and Hushpuppy have some good moments together in his makeshift boat made from the bed of a truck.  Most of the time, Hushpuppy is on her own, in this dirty, chaotic, unstructured world.  Watching her light the stove could give some parents nightmares, but at least she put on that helmet first.  

Quvenzhané Wallis’s performance as Hushpuppy made her the youngest person ever nominated for best actress, at only nine years old.  I’m not sure exactly how old Wallis was while filming, but in the film, it doesn’t look like she could be any older than six.  It’s amazing how this little girl can look so angry, stoic and naturally wild at times.  What I believe earned Wallis this nomination was the way her character is the focus of the film and how she carries that focus so well.  While I doubt she will win (the Academy seems to favor the more seasoned), I look forward to the amazing possibilities of Wallis’s career.

Beasts seems to have a beautifully existential core.  Even at Hushpuppy’s young age, she is thinking about preserving her life’s story for scientists to discover in the future and students will learn about her.  Granted, at one point she is recording her story in crayon drawings on the inside of a cardboard box while the house is on fire, but that’s not the point.  She has a surprisingly wise understanding that she is just a small piece in a big universe and that all the pieces have to fit together to make everything work.  Ask another child about the universe and you might only get a Lego Star Wars commercial.  

Beasts is such a beautifully raw, yet strangely magical film.  We get a gritty, yet hopeful story of strong, lackluster people willing to stay and die with their disappearing home, with a feeling of fantasy and folklore mixed in.  Really, it’s hard to put into words how wonderful and refreshing this film is, you just have to see it.  Believe me, it’s like no film you have ever seen before.  

“When it all goes quiet behind my eyes, I see everything that made me flying around in invisible pieces.”

Reservoir Dogs

Quentin Tarantino’s first film, Reservoir Dogs, was a little indie film that made a lot of noise at Cannes and Sundance in 1992.  With a few guys, thoughtful camera work and one hell of a screenplay, he created his first feature film, which has become an iconic piece of independent film and when talking about Tarantino.  Sadly, the Academy gave Reservoir Dogs no recognition

The nonlinear story begins with a group of men sharing conversation over breakfast.  We get a sense of the guys, their casual conversations over the idea behind Madonna’s Like a Virgin give us a sense of vulgarity, and their discussion on tipping shows that at least some of them have a heart.

Then it cuts to the aftermath of the heist.  Mr. Orange (Tim Roth) is writhing around, shot in the gut and bleeding all over the backseat of a car as Mr. White (Harvey Keitel) drives.  It seems the police were tipped off.  Only question left is, who is the rat?

Chapter by chapter, the story is pieced together.  There are flashbacks, appropriately titled by character, revealing how each member of the heist knows the leader, Joe Cabot (Lawrence Tierney).  Eventually, we see the plan, each man receiving their colored code name, and how the heist went horribly wrong.

The most memorable scenes, however, are in the present.  At their hideout, some junky garage with a broken toilet in one corner and plastic wrapped caskets standing up on end in the other, Mr. Orange is slowly bleeding to death on a ramp.  Mr. White is trying to comfort him, Mr. Pink (Steve Buscemi) is becoming suspicious of everyone.  When Mr. Blonde (Michael Madsen) enters, sipping a soda like he was just out for a walk, tensions rise.  He unnecessarily shot civilians, now everyone thinks he’s a psychopath.  Only time will tell how just how violent Blonde can be.

That brings up the infamous Stuck in the Middle With You scene.  If you have never seen Reservoir Dogs, stop reading, you do not want this to be spoiled at all.  Mr. Blonde takes any idea on being casually psychotic and pushes it further than happy imaginations can go.  His dance to the song is gleefully diabolical and builds up the tension perfectly.  The camera cuts away, and we hear the screaming as Blonde goes in with his razor and when we’re brought back, we’re horrified at what he has done.  Then the camera follows him, to his car and back, and reveals at the last minute what he has brought back.  Immediately, we see his plan and if his little amputation sent our stomachs churning, we cannot even imagine how gruesome his next act could be.

Reservoir Dogs is an essential when studying Tarantino films.  Though it was his first film, his style is clearly defined here and he has kept true to it ever since.  The violence is startling.  The dialogue is vulgar, but phenomenal.  The soundtrack rocks and is unforgetable.  And the order in which the story is presented, perfectly escalates to the tipping point.  It’s an unforgettable ride, Tarantino’s first and one of his best.

“Why am I Mr. Pink?”

Kiss of the Spider Woman

In a South American prison, Luis and Valentin are cellmates.  Luis (William Hurt) is a flamboyant homosexual, incarcerated for immoral behavior who finds escape in retelling romantic tales he saw in old movies.  Valentin (Raul Julia) is a restless political prisoner who believes he’s still alive only because he hasn’t given the guards any information yet.  While Valentin is focused on his present situation, he is annoyed by Luis constantly off in the fantasy world of his movies, but after Valentin experiences the kindness Luis is capable of the two connect more.  But there are huge twists in this web.

Hurt portrays Luis right on the thin blurry boarder of absolutely creepy and completely wonderful.  Luis is the kind of homosexual completely in touch with his feminine side, so much that in frustration he admits to wishing to be female.  He takes the descriptions in his movie so such great heights Valentin asks him, “Is this propaganda or porn?”  When Valentin is so sick and in pain that he loses all control of his bodily functions, Luis shows only kindness and compassion.  He helps Valentin clean up while never letting his tone show anything negative.  That level of compassion is astounding and makes Hurt’s performance worthy of Best Actor

The movie world that Luis creates is a breath of fresh air from the gritty prison cell.  The whole film world is rose colored with a foggy, airbrushed nostalgia feel.  The ladies are fair, beautiful and dressed in the finest fashions, which Luis narrates in detail.  The transitions from prison cell to classic movie are very well done.  Often times, it cuts back into the cell, showing Luis narrating and acting or Valentin chiming in, but it never feels choppy.  The flow between the settings feels natural and never jarring.  And the audience needs that escape as well as Luis, rather than having the whole movie were to take place in a tiny prison cell.

I must recommend Kiss of the Spider Woman to everyone, though I understand it is not everyone’s taste in film.  The themes are harsh or controversial to some, the reality of the situation is grim and depressing.  But for two vastly different people to come together under these dire circumstances is wonderful and the tangent film story plays along bringing beauty to the film.

“The nicest thing about feeling happy is that you think you’ll never be unhappy again.”