Oscar-down #1: Beasts of the Southern Wild

(Will counts down his favorite Best Picture noms! #9, #8, #7, #6, #5, #4, #3, #2)

#1: Beasts of the Southern Wild

Why it should be lower:
   Maybe some people don't like adorable children??? Also, a few of the film's episodic interludes don't stand up as strongly as the rest. The FEMA section is a bit too blunt, the journey to the floating bar too odd. 

Why it doesn't matter:
   With his feature, director Benh Zeitlin has created an extraordinary film. Story-wise Beasts of the Southern Wild is not especially unique: the ravaging of the Bathtub is intertwined with the more personal sickness and impending loss of Hushpuppy's father in a way that is effective if not innovative. But execution is everything, and the style and zeal with which Zeitlin approaches his material feels strikingly original. The Bathtub is a world completely alien to my own experience and yet it emerges here fully realized, showing the setting's squalor but also the vibrancy and camaraderie that keeps the community tied to it. Beasts is visually gorgeous whether its depicting devastation or celebration. On top of that, the movie has a wonderful fable-like quality about it that blends the magic and the mundane to create a beautiful lyrical flow. Plus: aurochs!!! I'm not even sure Ice Age had aurochs.

Well, not the Fox one anyway

   And I haven't even gotten to Quvenzhané Wallis yet. To say that the young girl steals the film would be an understatement: she is Beasts' heart and soul. In a role that requires her to be both childlike and mature beyond her years, Wallis' Hushpuppy shines with an infectious enthusiasm for life. She is effortlessly charming, and as the audience views the Bathtub through her eyes the youth's fundamental optimism and joy inevitably rubs off on them. But what makes Wallis so special is how she manages to let her fierce sense of resolve constantly peek through her more lighthearted exterior. Hushpuppy is defiant to the end, first in the face of losing the Bathtub and later in refusing to be set adrift by her father's passing. It's a performance that comes out of nowhere to be both captivating and inspiring. The only problem with how good Wallis is is that it has overshadowed the other powerful work done by Dwight Henry. Another 'non-actor', he plays Hushpuppy's father as a harsh and uncompromising patriarch, but one we can empathize with as a man desperate to prepare his daughter for the hardships ahead in the best (if flawed) way he can. Together the two have a fantastic dynamic, one full of real pain and love.

   Beasts of the Southern Wild is heartwarming and heartbreaking, breathtaking and intimate. It is not a perfect film and at points is rough around the edges. But going to seeing it was as moving experience as I had at the theater last year, and while it is highly unlikely to win next Sunday, it deserves all of the recognition it can get.