The Playlist:
Written and directed by Benh Zeitlin, whose short, "Glory at Sea," was shot through with purpose and promise, "Beasts of the Southern Wild" is as stirring and striking a film as you could wish for. Shot and set in a Louisiana community called The Bathtub, on the wrong side of the levees that stop the water from encroaching on civilization, it's at heart the story of a little girl, Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis) who lives with her father Wink (Dwight Henry). That synopsis does not do the film justice, though, as the story -- based on a play by Lucy Alibar -- incorporates a flood that not only drowns The Bathtub but also huge, prehistoric beasts -- Aurochs -- returning to life from the frozen icecaps and stalking, gigantically, towards Hushpuppy's world. It's a flawed comparison -- and indeed, any comparison for a work as completely and startlingly unique as this will be flawed -- but I kept imagining "Beasts of the Southern Wild" as a pagan, powerful, Godless (but not loveless or hopeless) variation on "The Tree of Life," where parents and children cope with the passage of time and the end of life in a series of moments built as much on visual poetry as character interactions.
Kingdom of the Planet of the Apes has just released, and there's a lot to unpack about it.
Based on Adele Parks' novel, director Jeff Fisher's The Image of You positions itself as a sexy thriller movie dripping with intrigue and family deception, but it's largely a non-event.
When a messiah is needed, does it matter how a planet gets one? That's what we'll discuss in our Dune Part Two Review!
This is going to be a limited release but I think I'm going to see if it's going to show somewhere in the area I live. I want to see this.