By Bob Clark
At the request of regular contributor Jaime Grijalba-Gomez, I’ve taken this week to expand upon my thoughts on last year’s Beasts of the Southern Wild and drum up a full piece for his Oscar series over at Overlook’s Corridor, where it’ll be going up Saturday night. Since I’ve been spending my time here recently writing my thoughts on what it means to see movies in theatrical venues, here’s an excerpt from the review that deals explicitly with my experience with the film on the big-screen.
What was it about this film that by its very reputation it was able to draw crowds large enough to sell-out at a theater which would ordinarily be lucky to fill half its seats at a time? Is it the simple power of the innocent characters up against reality’s intimidations as seen through the palpable veneer of the American dream? Is it the dense, immediate imagery of the piece, the kind that encourages you to get up as close to the screen as you can and reach out to feel it with your bare hands? Perhaps it’s that mesh of the real and the unreal, and furthermore the crossed barriers and comfort zones when dealing with dreams so intimately based upon reality, that kindles this kind of curiosity and stokes the fire of imagination.
