Continuing the theme of the previous post we focus on two more films which concentrate on young women struggling with growing up whilst dealing with the worst that life throws at them. Unlike the our two female protagonists in the last post, the two young ladies that take centre stage this time are both growing up in small rural communities. Once again both performances propelled the two young ladies to stardom and they both earned a Best Actress nomination in the process.
We kick off with a young lady who would go on to mega-stardom shortly after making a name for herself in the Best Picture nominated Winter's Bone. I'm talking about Jennifer Lawrence who was a relative unknown when she was given the lead role in Debra Granik's Winter's Bone. In the film Lawrence plays Ree Dolly, a seventeen-year old girl living in the rural Ozark Mountains who has been forced to become the carer for her younger brother and sister. This is primarily as her drug-dealing father is often away for many months at a time whilst her mother is portrayed as having mental issues of some kind. Whilst it's clear that Ree longs for a normal life, she's decided that looking after her family has to take priority. That's why Ree has to resort to desperate measures to track down her erstwhile father after he's put up the family's home as bail for an upcoming court case. Her father's failure to turn up later puts the house at risk, so Ree is forced to seek help from her extended family who are all scattered across the local area. The only problem is that her family is portrayed as a cagey bunch at best with her Uncle Teardrop being a particularly loose cannon. As the film progresses, Ree's hopeless search gets more fraught and at one point she encounters a violent attack. Throughout the film Granik portrays Ree as being a young woman who is wise beyond her years but at the same time is completely out of her depth. I personally believe that the film climaxes with a rather violent scene at a cattle fair and after that the film sort of loses its way.
One element of the film that never wavers is the fantastic performance put in by Jennifer Lawrence who, like the two young ladies in the last post, features in almost every scene. Ree is certainly a girl of few words and therefore Lawrence is forced to give a very physical performance. Lawrence's Ree is almost as raw as the gritty scenery that surrounds and adds to the mystery of the piece. However, while she portrays Ree as hunter and gatherer, Lawrence is also keen to show Ree's softer side. The scene in which she pleads with her mother to help her is splendidly done as are the moments in which she attempts to toughen her siblings up. Lawrence was rightfully nominated for her role in the film and in my opinion should have won the award. As the downright unbalanced Uncle Teardrop, John Hawkes received a nomination for Best Supporting Actor which was more than deserved. Hawkes has since carved a career as playing charismatic but dangerous characters and he's able to showcase exactly what he can do here. I also enjoyed the performance put in by Dale Dickey who played one of the area's more dominant women and later came good in helping Ree on her quest. As I already mentioned, the Ozark region almost becomes a character in itself as the hostile nature of the landscape fits in well with the hostility that Ree experiences from the majority of the characters. Although the film does go downhill towards its conclusion there are still some tense moments and a rather tender one involving Ree and Teardrop. Ultimately this was the film in which Lawrence made her name and one that would later land her roles in both the X-Men and Hunger Game franchises.
As I've already covered, Jennifer Lawrence did go on to win her Oscar two years later with a performance which wasn't half as great as the one she gave in Winter's Bone. Amongst the actresses she beat was nine-year-old Quvenzhané Wallis who made history as the youngest ever nominee in that category. In my opinion Wallis' turn as Hushpuppy in Beasts of the Southern Wild was better than Lawrence's and certainly contained a lot more subtlety. The community in Beasts is certainly a little warmer than that of Winter's Bone as we move from the Ozark mountains to a small Louisianan Bayou. Hushpuppy and her father Wink live in a small community known as 'The Bathtub' which is a place full of light, excitement and wonder certainly when seen through the youngster's eyes. What I like about Beasts of the Southern Wild is its feeling of innocence as nearly all of the events are seen through the eyes of Hushpuppy. So for example we learn early on that Wink is ill as we see him returning home in a hospital gown however we're never sure what is condition actually is. Beasts also draws on recent tragedies in Louisiana, such as Hurricane Katrina, as the Bathtub community live through a storm but then find themselves trapped. Although I loved the magical realism that Beasts had in droves I did feel the pacing of the story slightly trailed off in the film's final act. Hushpuppy's brief search for her mother didn't really go anywhere although I did like the ambiguity of her meeting with the chef who may have been her mum. This small setback is more than rectified with a heart-breaking final scene which sees Hushpuppy overcome tragedy once again as she looks set to rule the Bathtub once and for all.
Beasts of the Southern Wild is one of those little films that could and I'm so glad that it got highlighted at the Oscars. In fact, for a small budget film such as Beasts, it did tremendously well scoring nominations in the Picture, Director and Screenplay categories. However for me it was Wallis that totally made the film as she was on screen almost the entire time. She displayed a maturity of an actress at least double if not triple her age and not once did I not believe anything that she went through. Wallis' brilliant facial expressions combined a childlike innocence with the experience of a girl who'd learnt plenty of life lessons through her father. In the role of Wink, non-actor Dwight Henry was absolutely convincing as the man who was trying to keep his community together at any cost. Whilst in actuality Henry is a baker, I felt he did a better job than most professional actors and I'm a little annoyed that he didn't receive any recognition from the academy. The fact that the film is shot on 16mm adds to the realism of the piece as at times I felt I was watching a documentary rather than a fictional work. Cinematographer Ben Richardson takes you on a tour of the Bathtub making you believe that it's actually a real place. Dan Romer and director Benh Zeitlin's music for the film was incredibly uplifting and certainly set the right tone for the film as a whole. Although it's not perfect, Beasts of the Southern Wild still remains one of my favourite films from the past couple of years. It's hard not to watch most of it with a big smile on your face whilst it's certainly a film that is memorable both for its visual flair and more importantly that fantastic central turn from Quvenzhané Wallis.
Next time we turn the focus from young women to middled aged men as we take in a double bill from a director we've met before.
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