Beasts of the Southern Wild: Guncotton's best movie of 2012

If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me what my favourite movie of 2012 was, I probably wouldn't have to convince my local cinema that I'm legitimate enough to get free tickets.  I typically end up giving some stock answer about how I didn't come close to seeing every movie in 2012, which is true. I mean I love movies, but no one wants to spend every weekend in a movie theatre, especially when you're an amateur. The real answer of course to why I have delayed the declaration of my favourite film is much more complicated than that. The fact is that I am extremely fickle when it comes to films I watch and greatly enjoy. From August right up until new year's I was telling anyone that would listen that Looper was my favourite movie of the year, with Life of Pi being a close second. Then, like any good democrat, I flip-flopped and Life of Pi was my horse. However, after watching Beasts of the Southern Wild, I can honestly say that I have found a movie that will always be my favourite from 2012. 

Beasts of the Southern Wild, simply put, is the little movie that could. Set in the squalor of a Louisiana bayou lovingly called "The Bathtub" by it's residents, Beasts of the Southern Wild follows the story of a precocious little girl named Hushpuppy, who lives with her hot-tempered and passionate father, Wink.  What is important to realise is that this film is based off of a one act play (entitled Juicy and delicious), and so basically the two characters I just mentioned are basically it. 

In fact, nearly all of the movie is driven by Hushpuppy, played by the one and only Quvenzhané Wallis. 

 What a name, and what a performance.  Kwuh-ven-zhu-nay. The now nine-year old Oscar nominee was only six during the making of the film, and was only five when she auditioned, lying about her age and then beating out thousands of others for a role that I cannot imagine being given to anyone else. It is this wonderful child that narrates the film, telling us all about the world she lives in. This is the unbridled world of a child with much to be sad about; a mother who left the area long ago, a father that is slowly but surely dying , right along with her beloved "Bathtub", largely ignored and then harrowingly misunderstood by the "dry-landers"- you and I. But Hushpuppy isn't sad but strong, encouraged by her father, who realises that his daughter must soon learn to survive without him.

The film is powerful without ever really ever trying to be at any point. Hushpuppy guides us through "The Bathtub" and its inhabitants, the majority of which are all played by local actors and amateurs. The Bathtub itself is wonderfully constructed- all the people partaking in large block parties known as "holidays", and we're presented with a strength of community that is meant to teach us something about our own. Hushpuppy feels sorry for us, saying we clearly don't have enough holidays. The people of The Bathtub are no fools- they see the rising waters of a warmer world, the salt water that accompanies storms and kills animals, but they are resolute to carry on with their way of life with grit and determination, something that Wink works hard to instill in our Hushpuppy, albeit in non-conventional ways. 

There is almost nothing I hate more than movie reviewers who say things like "I fell out of my seat laughing", because those are things almost no one actually does during a movie. Crying especially seems to be something that you are encouraged to say you did if you watched a film that made you feel at all emotional. But something about Beasts of the Southern Wild made me vulnerable; watching Hushpuppy's attitude towards her father's illness took me back to my own childhood. Memories of throwing mini-tantrums in Grandad's living room while he laughed heartily at my indignation before coughing in a way only someone who has smoked for more than thirty years can. Memories of putting my head to his chest and feeling the steady beat of life, not knowing then that it would be that mighty heart that would be his end. But perhaps I have mislead you ; Beasts of the Southern Wild is not sad so much as it is triumphant and defiant. In the closing scene Hushpuppy reminds us that she and her story are going nowhere, and when you're being played by someone named Quvenzhané Wallis, that's not a bad assumption to make. 

Gangster Squad: The Untouchables 2 (they added a black dude)

Ryan Gosling just might be one of my favourite actors. Three years ago, such a thought would have been laughable and yet  2011 saw me change my position on him entirely. Gosling's performances in Crazy Stupid Love, The Ides of March and Drive were fantastic- the latter being my favourite film of 2011 by far. Naturally, when I saw the first advertisements for Gangster Squad I was incredibly excited. Since the combination of Emma Stone and Gosling was fantastic in Crazy Stupid Love I could only imagine how good it would be in a movie starring such remarkable actors as Sean Penn, Josh Brolin and Nick Nolte. And yet, I was to be disappointed.

Gangster Squad is one of those movies people that profess to love time-period pieces will flock to see. Set in late 1940's Los Angeles , Gangster Squad is the story of a bunch of cops that decide to take on the ruling mob boss in an off-the-books, "fight fire with fire" operation. The participants in this group include but are not limited to a morally unshakable leader with a wife and child on the way, an older contemporary wise in the ways of the world and the gun, a nerdy guy , and token minority cops (hispanic and black oh my!!). If this sounds at all familiar, it's because it really is; Gangster Squad's characters and premise are eerily similar  to the those found in the 1987 film The Untouchables starring Kevin Costner and Sean Connery. In fact, there are only a couple main differences between the two films, one being the setting (The Untouchables being set in prohibition era Chicago) and another other being the overall quality.

The Untouchables

The Gangster Squad

Gangster Squad's main problems seem to occur at its beginning , where it's stars don't seem to be very settled in. In the opening scene,  former boxer turned mob boss Mickey Cohen (played by Sean Penn), presides over a scene in which a rather gruesome end befalls one of his enemies. And yet, I found myself not flinching a muscle at the gory spectacle because Sean Penn didn't seem to be able to decide whether he was supposed to be doing an impression of Scarface or Rocky. After ten minutes I was distraught, as even my boy Ryan Gosling seemed out of wack, making his portrayal of the ulta-slick  Sergeant Jerry Wooters feel weirdly forced and unnatural for a man that  in such a situation only has to play himself . Gone was the natural swagger and casual arrogance that had captured my attention in Drive. It was like watching a good tennis player being forced to play against a novice; finding those loopy balls surprisingly hard to hit. Legend proclaims that out of a fear that he would never be taken seriously with his natural Canadian accent, a teenage Gosling mimicked the talking style of Marlon Brando in order to enhance his career. And yet, in the opening half hour of Gangster Squad, he seems to overdo his own voice- making it strangely high only to bring it back to it's normal sound midway through the movie. The list of actors that struggle with their roles in the first part of the film goes on and on, but Josh Brolin carries the movie in the meantime, with an excellent performance as the indomitable Sergeant O'Mara, the leader of the group.

Ironically, it is through Brolin's performance that the film's faults are really exposed, as his is the only character that is ever really fleshed out in any way, making the rest of the film feel shallow. Now don't misunderstand me, the movie got a lot better, and somewhere between the introduction of a complicated love triangle and a surprising death (similar to one in The Untouchables), the rest of the  cast seems to wake up. Ryan Gosling seems to finally start acting after said events, drawing laughs in parts that were probably not even intended to be funny. Even Sean Penn eventually decides he is doing his best impression of an evil Rocky and starts to excel, however the damage is already done and the film never really recovers. Underneath the well choreographed chases, swanky sets, and numerous stars, Gangster Squad manages to feel empty and vapid.  The whole thing is meant to be somewhat cheesy for good measure, but the cast never quite commits to the idea, perhaps bridled by the worst dialogue I have seen in a movie since the fifth installment in the Fast and Furious series.

 My problems with Gangster Squad aren't stemming from its predictability, as most  movies result in fairly predictable outcomes. However, I have a serious problem with movies that can never answer the most simple question in "who cares?". I have searched in vain to answer this question when it comes to this movie for almost two days, with all of its best moments and concepts having come from The Untouchables which is by no means a perfect movie in its own regard. Ryan Gosling sliding across a marble floor in the middle of a chaotic firefight to get ammo, the bad guy and help his partner? Highly reminiscent of The Untouchables' iconic train station scene. There are plenty of fantastic movies that steal concepts, but the difference is ultimately that they do so in new and extraordinary ways. Time and time again, Gangster Squad substitutes originality and substance for style, relying on it's setting so heavily it is hard to find the actual movie.

Hey Girl...you're better than this movie. 

The more I think about the film, the more I would compare it to a rough draft of a high school paper. The work is not without good moments, but a sea of red ink covers it; the poor-word choice and lack of description showing me the creator simply did not edit or review his/her work. It is perhaps that arrogance that is most hurtful about this film to me but will go unnoticed by the majority of people that see it. The parties responsible clearly think we are not worth the effort, and that we are stupid enough to accept an unfinished article that could have been so much more had there been just a little more time put into it. And to add even more fuel to the fire, they used content from a past successful  paper not thinking we would notice and it still wasn't great. Honestly people, would you pass such a student?