Beasts of the Southern Wild is a simple tale of a young girl growing up in an outsider bayou community.  Feral and neglected and even abused by conventional standards, Hushpuppy has developed confidence in spades, and through necessity can more or less look after herself, even if it does mean the occasional meal of catfood mixed with custard.

When not acquiring life's necessities, through fishing, small scale farming and salvaging potentially useful detritus, the populace enjoy a free spirited hedonistic lifestyle, fuelled largely by alcoholism.  Nonetheless, despite a lot of chaos, everyone appears happy, if dysfunctional, with a desperate determination to continue living life on their own terms, whether when under threat from flooding or interference from wider society.  Their passion and stubborn fight for autonomy is inspiring and will certainly please the free spirited among us.

The central theme of the film appears to be that those of us in mainstream society have lost touch with our animal selves.  Something that is undoubtedly true.  To what extent that is entirely bad is open to debate.  The film also raises a lot of questions about self determination of small communities and the issues of responsibility and neglect, and where intervention is acceptable, if ever.

Wink, Hushpuppy's father, clearly loves his child, and his laissez-faire approach to parenting is born out of a desire for her to grow up being able to look after herself, rather than just disinterest.  However, perhaps if he wasn't dying of a (presumably) lifestyle inflicted condition, she wouldn't have to.  Also, just because Hushpuppy is super confident and independent, doesn't mean another child growing up in her situation wouldn't be majorly damaged, or for that matter dead, considering the huge number of daily hazards they would be living amongst.  Maybe that's just survival of the fittest.

It is certainly true that there are plenty of children growing up in regular society who have been let down and hurt, both by their parents and the state.  However I'm not sure if this is really an argument that vindicates Hushpuppy's situation, and I don't think romanticising squalor and neglect as a positive lifestyle choice is particularly useful.  Ultimately we need to create a society where we all look after each other, where lifestyle choices are respected but not allowed to be an excuse for mistreatment, and where all children are loved, cared for, grow up super confident and have genuine opportunities in their life.

All that said, I don't know why I'm being so fucking judgemental, this film bears an uncanny resemblance to my life, had my flat just happened to have been flooded.  Just ask my daughter, who's chewing on a shoe in the corner whilst I type this.


Beasts of the Southern Wild is out in cinemas Friday.

Having not seen In the Heat of the Night before, I approached it with high hopes.  It had won many awards, including five Oscars, and has a very respectable rating on IMDB.  The film is also something of a landmark, with its intelligent Black American protagonist, Mr Tibbs, fronting up to police chief Bill Gillespie and the wider racist community.  Sidney Poitier and Rod Steiger are both masterly in their respective roles, and the slapping of plantation owner Eric Endicott by Tibbs is satisfying indeed, and must have raised merry Hell back in its day.  But despite being quite a compelling human drama, I found the murder mystery plot quite messy and unconvincing, increasingly so towards the end.  I came away underwhelmed and wondering if its notoriety has outshone its merits.  That said, I'm probably intrigued enough to check out the sequels They Call Me MISTER Tibbs! and The Organization sometime.

Communion is an upcoming film from director Greg Hall and the assortment of miscreants at Broke But Making Films, which is being financed through Sponsume Crowdfunding.  The film sounds awesome; a priest, having lost his faith, sets out on a road trip as some kind of vigilante, with a female Mexican punk sidekick in tow.

Greg & Co are looking to raise £15,000 in the next few weeks with several investment packages ranging from £5 to £100.   What's more, you'll get something for your money (apart from the satisfaction of supporting what is in all likeliness is going to be a wicked movie).  Depending on how much you invest, you could be the recipient of a DVD, tickets to the premier or the opportunity to be an extra in the film.

Could Communion turn out to be a shoddy amateur monstrosity like Tales from the Quadead Zone?  Unlikely, Greg has previous form; he's already helmed a few award winning pictures.  I was impressed by his debut effort, The Plague, an energetic slice of social realism set in a London housing estate; a film that was produced on a shoestring budget of around £3,500.  Having recently watched his latest short film, Bruised, a character study of a bare knuckle boxer, it is clear he has developed his skills as a director.  It is a slicker affair but still has the unshakable bite of an angry pitbull.  I'm looking forward to seeing Communion develop as a project, and even more excited about eventually seeing the film.  In the meantime, I guess I'll have to make do with catching up with his other two feature films, Kapital and SSDD: Same Shit Different Day.

Ill Manors first popped up on my radar when Harry K emailed me a link to the excellent Ill Manors music video, which alongside Paul Knight's article Thatcher's Grandchildren, provided some of the most relevant commentary on last year's riots.  I've seen the trailer for Ill Manors and it looks great.  If it can harness just a fraction of the energy and social criticism of the Ill Manors music video, then it'll certainly not disappoint.  It hits cinema screens tomorrow, 6th June.