Capone's Art-House Round-Up with BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD and the Duplass Brothers' THE DO-DECA-PENTATHLON!!!

Hey, folks. Capone in Chicago here, with a few films that are making their way into art houses or coming out in limited release around America this week (maybe even taking up one whole screen at a multiplex near you). Do your part to support these films, or at least the good ones…


BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD
Between the almost universally positive reviews that sprung forth from its Sundance and Cannes appearances earlier this year, BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD is easily on track to be not only the best-reviewed movie of 2012, but also certainly one that will land on many a critic's Best of the Year lists. I'm guessing I'll certainly be among those to place it among the finest works of 2012, and the only trouble with that is that Beasts is a tough work to explain and praise with mere words — they simply don't seem elegant enough vessels to get the job done. But here we go anyway...

You know almost immediately that BEASTS is something special when you meet its young heroine, 6-year-old Hushpuppy (Quvenzhané Wallis), who has grown up isolated in a part of the Louisiana bayou known as the Bathtub (because the area is on the wrong side of a levy, so it floods whenever it rains; in a couple of years, the land won't even exist). Although her father Wink (Dwight Henry) is always nearby (they live in adjacent, but separate, trailers), Hushpuppy pretty much lives on her own, free to visit others in the area and think very big thoughts that we are fortunate enough to hear in her sparse narration, which reveals her skewed world view. She's aware she's a small piece in a big universe, but her universe doesn't extend much beyond the Bathtub. And when a massive storm completely uproots her community, her belief that the world is a place where things are in balance is destroyed.

She also believes that there are prehistoric creatures called aurochs (kind of oversized wart hogs with more hair) that have been freed from the polar ice caps because of global warming and are roaming the earth looking for her. That's fairly advanced thinking for a young person, but Wallis' performance left no room for doubt that she was capable of it. She's a ferocious force in this movie, part vulnerable-part warrior princess-part wild child. I don't think I'll ever forget what she achieves in this movie.

First-time director and co-writer Benh Zeitlin has given us a glimpse into a way of living that I've never seen represented on screen before. I suppose the residents of the Bathtub (a fictional place, by the way) are the Delta's equivalent to Appalachian hill people. And while they seem like the friendliest folks, they also appear far more cut off. What we are witnessing in BEASTS is the death of a culture. The flood waters from the gulf are killing the plant life and wildlife in the area, giving these people nothing and nowhere to live. And we see all of this through the filter of a little girl, with a passionate father whose only means of educating her is by screaming at her so loud, she absorbs his life lessons. It may take some sensitive parents a while to realize just how much Wink loves his daughter.

In many ways, BEASTS is Hushpuppy's odyssey, especially at times when her clearly ailing father disappears for stretches. Her journey to find him and their adventures together bring them into contact with adults and children alike who live as they do, and it sometimes feels like we might as well be watching life on Mount Olympus or Atlantis for the all the familiarity their way of living feels to us as outsiders. I adored the other-worldly quality this film provides us, and it may actually take a couple of viewings for one to really appreciate the levels on which the movie is working. A visit to a group of displaced children (including Hushpuppy) make to a floating bayou brothel is portrayed like a trip to the Taj Mahal, and you soon realize these kids have never seen this much electricity on display nor so many painted ladies dancing to music; the sequence is pure magic.

BEASTS OF THE SOUTHERN WILD spins around your brain, challenging you and your beliefs of what living truly is; that may be too much for some, but it's a feeling that should be embrace on a regular basis. When the outside world descends on the Bathtub, the place loses some of its magic, but that's the point. The movie is covertly political, while maintaining its sense of magic and wonder. I think I could watch it a dozen more times, and see it as something different each time. For the record, that happens so rarely that I can't tell you the last time I felt that way about a movie. See this film for the sake and enrichment of your soul.


THE DO-DECA-PENTATHLON
Although a bit lighter in content then many other films from brothers Jay and Mark Duplass (THE PUFFY CHAIR, BAGHEAD, CYRUS, JEFF WHO LIVES AT HOME), their latest release THE DO-DECA-PENTATHLON still has some humorous and poignant things to say about sibling rivalry, focusing on the strained relationship between brothers Jeremy, a professional poker player (Mark Kelly), and Mark, a husband and father (Steve Zissis) who holds down a steady job.

The film begins with plans being made for Mark's birthday, during which he and his family, wife Stephanie (Jennifer Lafleur) and an ungrateful son (who annoyed me so much I won't even look up the young actor's name who played him), plan a trip to Mark's mother's (Julie Vorus) place. Finding out about the impending celebrations, Jeremy decides to show up uninvited and immediately stirs shit up with Mark about a 25-event sporting event they created as kids to determine who was the "better brother." Since there was some dispute about who won the first event, Jeremy taunts Mark at their mother's to go for Round 2, and while Mark's wife strongly objects because of his minor health concerns, he becomes obsessed with the idea of finally beating his brother at this competition.

Because it's a Duplass Brothers film, both the comedy and more serious moments are largely improvised. There's no getting around the fact that the movie is very funny, but sometimes the more serious material about Mark and his son being at odds, or the tension between Mark and his wife, seems a little less dramatic than the more sophisticated and believable human drama of JEFF, WHO LIVES AT HOME (in which Zissis has a role). That may have something to do with the fact that DO-DECA was shot several years ago (before CYRUS) but put on the shelf while the Duplass Brothers were actually given a chance to make money working with more bankable actors on films like Cyrus and Jeff. It was only recently they had time to return to this film, which in some way completes the trilogy of no-budget, indie works that includes THE PUFFY CHAIR and BAGHEAD.

Even lesser work like DO-DECA is loaded with enough charm and laughs and relatable conflict to make its 75-minute running time seem to fly by in an instant. I'm still delighted with the way the camera circles each scene before zeroing in on the most interesting action or statement. The Duplasses have a way of letting a scene go just a bit too long, only to find the finest zinger of the scene in that extra beat. In a way, I cherish the free and easy way they work, because what results isn't rambling actors in search of meaning. Everyone of their films is tightly edited and contains more folksy soul than just about anyone else working at this scale or larger.

-- Steve Prokopy
"Capone"
capone@aintitcool.com
Follow Me On Twitter