"Beasts of the Southern Wild"

David W. Richardson

Chapelgrove Films
"Beasts of the Southern Wild" nominated for the Best Picture Oscar??? REALLY????

I mean, it was a decent film. Certainly different. But the best picture of the year???? Good Lord, it must have been a HORRIBLE year for movies!

I wonder how many people truly know how Oscar picks are chosen. The people who vote don't even have to have SEEN the films they're voting for! Which makes an Oscar pretty worthless, in my opinion. It also explains how films like "Beasts of the Southern Wild" get nominated for awards.
 
I liked the film ok, but def not best picture material. I also feel like there's a bit of cheating shooting a film outside of New Orleans since the production design is pretty much already done for you! Loved the look of this picture at least, and the little girl did put in a very solid performance.
 
Solid, yes -- but Best Actress-worthy? Not even a little bit.

It was a very interesting movie, and I give them a lot of credit for it. But in my opinion, it didn't deserve any of the 4 nominations it got.
 
I am actually ok with it being Best Pic nominated. If it was still only 5 nominees, then it definitely wouldn't have gotten in. But it was the independent darling of the year, won a few major awards at Cannes, and is a huge crowd favorite so I get the nomination. I think the more controversial nomination was Wallace getting in for Best Actress.

However it is highly unlikely it will win any of it's nominations. But still, good for Benh Zeitlin, he's suddenly now one of the most important filmmakers out there.
 
The trailer was great. The original short worked better. But as a feature, I feel the whimsical voice over and young girl was not enough to carry a feature length film. Also, the film jumped the shark when the busted through the wall and ended up at the hospital. Then it turned into some scooby do caper.
 
I thought it deserved all the nominations it got, as surprising as they were. It was very much a film of contradictions. Amateurish and well-done at the same time. Focus was soft a lot and there was a fair bit of shaky, blurry handheld but all that was held together by an incredible score. It was funny and tragic simultaneously. It wasn't polished but it was totally sincere.
 
Yeah, it really didn't knock me out. I found it repetitive and didactic. It was a great world and lovely in some aspects but I don't get how this is a best picture either. I'm not good at figuring out what makes some indies so highly valued. I get indy greats like Frozen River and Winter's Bone because they are great stories. I did not think this was such a great story

It is hard business to make a good movie. So many things need to work so hats off to Beasts for engendering so much interest and love
 
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