7. Beasts of the Southern Wild
Newcomer Benh Zeitlin's first film Beasts of the Southern Wild has already garnered considerable success, earning the young director the Camera d'Or at Cannes, the film industry's version of the Rookie of the Year award. In Beasts, Zeitlin recounts the trials of a 6-year-old girl named Hushpuppy who lives in a region of Louisiana known as the Bathtub. Hushpuppy has a tumultuous relationship with her father, Wink, who is a drunkard, irresponsible, and in a poor state of health. The film makes a not-subtle commentary on the hazards of global climate change, which reach their zenith when a storm comes, flooding the Bathtub behind the levee. Whereas most of the town has left, Wink stubbornly insists on staying, refusing to abandon his home. A lot of people will make a big deal about a director using non-professional actors. Gus Van Sant and the French legend Robert Bresson built their careers on using amateur actors in their films. But when you use non-professional actors and they
feel amateurish... it just doesn't work. And no, I don't mean the young Quvenzhane Wallis, who shines in this film, but Dwight Henry as her father Wink. Before even looking it up, it was obvious that Henry is an inexperienced actor. While Wallis manages to encapsulate the strong and spirited Hushpuppy in a way that at times seems so real one might think this is a document of her own life rather than a performance, the moments of Henry screaming in excitement, drunkenly ambling or gradually declining due to a cardiac condition all feel distractingly false. But like I said, the spot where this film excels the most is in Wallis' performance. Now the youngest person to be nominated for Best Actress at only age 9 (though even younger when the film was made), Wallis injects the film with such soul and personality that it nearly erases some of the other lesser performances and other scattered moments of overbearing melodrama.
Why It Will Win: This film is 2012's indie darling, a bandwagon that the Academy way want to jump on in an order to seem hip.
Why It Won't Win: The Academy know they're not hip.