Don't Miss Beasts Of The Southern Wild

When my friend Richard Corliss likes a movie, I take notice. He is the film critic for Time magazine, but that's not why his opinion matters. He's an old friend from my days in the Museum of Modern Art Film Department, and he is one of the smartest guys I know on the subject of the cinema.

So when I saw his glowing blurb about a movie with an impossible title: Beasts of the Southern Wild, I made a mental note to go see it. I had no idea what it was about.

Quvenzhané Wallis

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Hushpuppy - She will make shrimp boots trend

Quvenzhané Wallis

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Hushpuppy - She will make shrimp boots trend

Last week Alberto and I actually stood on a movie line at the Prytania Theater in New Orleans to see Beasts. As a New Yorker, I am used to standing on movie lines in New York, but never in twelve years of being in New Orleans have I seen or stood on a movie line (and at 2PM)!

As I learned that day from Alberto, Beasts was shot in Louisiana. There have been lines for every showing since it opened. The premiere was held at the newly reborn Joy Theater on Canal Street, risen from the rot of Katrina which finished destroying it after years of neglect.

The opening of Beasts of the Southern Wild at The Joy Theater - the two stars, the director and the writer

A star is born - A little girl from Houma, Louisiana at the Cannes Film Festival who I'm sure is Oscar bound

Beasts of the Southern Wild is an amazing beautiful movie. Shot by a New Yorker who moved to New Orleans in 2006 (another New New!), and starring two local non actors, a baker and a little girl from Houma.

It was shot on 16mm film (not digital), for under two million dollars (which is chump change in Hollywood terms), with a local crew of 70 odd people working in the part of Louisiana that is washing away as the wetlands erode from global warming and hurricane damages.

On the set - Director and Star

The movie is lovely to look at, a throwback to the art of making an independent film. A young Terrence Malick came to mind from his glory days when he made Days of Heaven. There is also a Mad Max-Steampunk vibe, but with a wild wonderful Louisiana twist. An old Kirk Douglas-Tony Curtis movie called The Vikings also came to mind.

A car boat for the getting around on the fringe

The story is about a little girl and her father, and a community of people who live way off the grid and way beyond the fringe. It is magical, unique, and worth seeing. Even if you're not from Louisiana, you can join in the way this film celebrates life.

A father daughter story destined to become a classic

I'm still on my road trip on a photo shoot with Sara Essex Bradley. As we drive across the state of Louisiana I come to love it more and more.

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