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Exit
all cynics at Sundance, where it
won the Grand Jury Prize, and at
Cannes, where the International
Federation of Film Critics named
it best picture in the Un Certain
Regard division.
Fox Searchlight won the bidding
war at Sundance, and it’s reasonable to think that the studio
responsible for guiding such “difficult” films as The Tree of Life and
Black Swan into Oscar contention
be able to chart a winning path
for this one. But before you pencil in Beasts of the Southern Wild
on your Oscar ballot, it’s worth
noting that winning, in this case,
doesn’t necessarily mean taking
home actual statuettes. Barring
an epic collective fail from Steven Spielberg, P.T. Anderson, Baz
Luhrmann, Quentin Tarantino and
Tom Hooper — all of whom have
films coming out in the latter part
of this year — the Beasts team is
likely to remain seated when the
envelopes are opened.
Make no mistake, though: it’s
a sizable victory for a low-budget
film, by a filmmaker this inexperienced, featuring actors this
unheard of, to have this much
momentum before it’s even been
released. And who really knows
what will happen? If recent Best
BEASTS
HUFFINGTON
MM.dd.yy
From top
to bottom:
Wallis as
Hushpuppy;
Henry as
Wink; Wallis
on set with
Zeitlin.
Picture winners like The Hurt
Locker and The Artist have proved
anything, it’s that the levees Hollywood has erected around its beloved awards are still vulnerable
to underdogs riding tidal
waves of goodwill.