Logging

Film:  Beasts of the Southern Wild

I really enjoyed this film.  Very much deserves the praise.  It is a good palette cleanser from the mess of Margaret from the night before and an example of how the spirit of independent film in American still lives.  The film is about living.  I recognize the fight and the humanity in these people, whereas I don't recognize the characters in Margaret -- people who have conceded and surrendered even before the battle of life begins.  They are caught up in litigation and assigning blame to accidents and excusing small duties, whereas the characters in Beast face such gigantic obstacles of death, the modern world, eating, the destruction of their homes with verve and panache and courage.

Beasts is a good example of the notion that the audience does not know what it wants.  The movie doesn't pitch itself - a magical realist tale in post-Katrina New Orleans about a 5 year old who being taught to survive by her dying father.  Not my cup of tea.  But in watching it, I was immersed and enjoying myself.  One of the best debut films by an American filmmaker in awhile.