Aurochs in the Bathtub

Beasts of the Southern Wild

Crit

For the record, the aurochs was bovine, not porcine. But that's my only complaint about this odd, unpredictable film about an island downriver of New Orleans that was (and is) neglected far more than the city when the waters came (and come). One person with whom I saw it--who liked it a great deal--complained that director Benh Zeitlin made too much use of six-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), and that may be a fair cop, but you can also understand why.

The whole cast--not a professional actor in the group, I believe--performs remarkably, none better than Dwight Henry as Hushpuppy's father, Wink. Per IMDb, Henry "owns and runs the Buttermilk Drop Bakery and Cafe in the Seventh Ward."