Conversion narrative

I admit to entering a screening of Beasts of the Southern Wild with not a little skepticism, but walked out feeling, as they say, genuinely transported. Here is the story of my road to Damascus moment (okay, that's kind of an overstatement), for MSN Movies. 

Comments

[bill]

I'm really looking forward to this. As with any genre, there are lots of different kinds of fantasy stories, and I'm more than ready for one of the other kinds to make itself heard. And I finally saw the trailer for this in front of MOONRISE KINGDOM, and I'm entirely on board.

[Cinemafunk]

I can't wait for this film. My local AMC has been showing previews and I'd be disappointed if it didn't come to town.

[haice]

Ah, that robot! Yeah, it's in my head too. It's the one episode where he thinks that he could be king of the little robots that screws him.

[Kurzleg]

I saw the trailer for this on iTunes, and even the trailer carries through a transportive quality. Also the heavy-on-brass score suggests an epic story. We'll see how these elements work over the full film, but I'm intrigued.

[Lex]

Looks like a good movie for white people who've never actually met a black person.

REALLY, it doesn't trouble ANYONE that the director is some white nerd who looks like Lawrence Monoson in LAST AMERICAN VIRGIN?

Would an ACTUAL Black Guy enjoy this? I mean, I hate Armond White, think he's a complete fucking con man.... but actually wouldn't mind hearing what a black guy actually thinks of this.

[Chris O.]

"It sounds cutesy to have a young girl mutter such thoughts as 'the fabric of the universe is gonna unravel,' but Zeitlin is such a canny craftsman that he's able to strike the mythmaking notes so they resonate rather than stink up the room."

I read this and instantly thought of Linda Manz's narrator in DAYS OF HEAVEN. Are there a lot of similarities there? The "contrapuntal narration" as Matt Zoller Seitz calls it?

[Bob Solo]

For once, Lex's thoughts are my own. The preview makes this thing look like towering horseshit. But I will try to go in with an open mind.

[doyles]

If you're looking for Precious she's not here...The entire film deals in modern myths. Hushpuppy is a mythological character living on a mythological (fictional) bayou. The situations and the places all have roots in various historical myths but in this film the ideas are given a new time and place and a different type of hero who is also on a voyage of self-discovery. I loved this film and if you go into it without being literal minded you may find that you like it too.