Beasts of the Southern Wild (2012)

Drama, Fantasy

Director: Benh Zeitlin
Writers: Lucy Alibar, Benh Zeitlin
Starring: Quvenzhané Wallis, Dwight Henry, Levy Easterly, Lowell Landes

"I gotta take care of mine."

Life in a devastated bayou community on the brink of disappearance, as seen through the eyes of a plucky and adventurous six-year-old girl.

Little Hushpuppy leads her existence in the "Bathtub" - an isolated plateau separated by the mainland by a sprawling levee in the Louisiana bayou. When a Katrina-esque storm raises the waters, her adored father, Daddy, is suddenly stricken with illness, and fierce pre-historic creatures awaken from their frozen graves to come charging across the planet, Hushpuppy sees the natural order of everything she holds dear collapsing around her.

This instantly lovable, amazingly accomplished low-budget feature film debut by director Benh Zeitlin, that boasts fantastic performances by young Quvenzhane Wallis (who at the age of 9, became the youngest Best Actress Oscar nominee in history), but also by non-actor Dwight Henry, as her father, will simultaneously break, mend, and uplift your heart.

Plot summary from IMDb: Hushpuppy, an intrepid six-year-old girl, lives with her father, Wink, in the Bathtub, a southern Delta community at the edge of the world. Wink's tough love prepares her for the unraveling of the universe; for a time when he's no longer there to protect her. When Wink contracts a mysterious illness, nature flies out of whack, temperatures rise, and the ice caps melt, unleashing an army of prehistoric creatures called aurochs. With the waters rising, the aurochs coming, and Wink's health fading, Hushpuppy goes in search of her lost mother.

Awards: Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 96 wins & 111 nominations.
Runtime: 93 min
PG-13