CINEREACH LTD
Exit
dom and terror that implies.
The protagonist, a six-year-old
girl named Hushpuppy (Wallis),
lives in circumstances that would
alarm even the most committed
free-range parents. She resides in
a trailer elevated above the floodprone ground, alone but for the
company of her “pets” — a snorting, clucking gang of pigs, chickens and other farm animals with
whom she shares her meals. Her
mother is long gone, and her father, Wink (Dwight Henry), lives
MOVIES
in his own ramshackle abode,
close by enough that Hushpuppy
can hear him ring his makeshift
dinner bell when “feedin’ time”
comes around.
If that sounds grim, it’s not
— not really. Wink, Hushpuppy
and the other residents of The
Bathtub — a lush, lawless bayou
set beyond the levees of a New
Orleans-like city — wouldn’t trade
their lives of Dionysian self-exile
for anything as mundane as heat
or hot wate r. They do what they
want, live how they like, and celebrate more holidays than anybody
else. “We got the prettiest place
HUFFINGTON
06.24.12
Wallis, 8,
could be the
youngest
Oscar
nominee
ever for her
performance
in the film.