Well after hearing about this event, I had to go! And it turned out fantastically!!!!!! I will review it in 2 parts:
The movie
Someone else at the screening said that the movie was powerful, when I asked them how they felt. This is also one of the biggest feelings I felt after I saw this movie. I totally felt this at the end when Hushpuppy lights her father’s funerary pyre, says good bye to him, and then leads a group of people on a boardwalk back to the land. Hushpuppy I should point out is 6. But moreover, they were all wearing white on the boardwalk (which is very visually striking against the blue sky) and as the camera pulls back and pans on them leaving the boardwalk as a community- you can feel the strength they have, and this is immensely powerful.
I asked a few other people I knew at the screening what they thought and they said that they loved it, but they couldn’t offer too many reasons why. Which brings to another feeling I felt about this movie.. that it is beautifully done and seems deep, has so many eclectic pieces that it almost seems a bit dreamlike and hard to explain. Since it has so many eclectic pieces I sometimes felt that the movie was a bit “artsy” or confusing for me at times. I mean, I definitely felt that the whole movie was metaphorical and I understood parts of it. For instance, I understood that the bathtub (where Hushpuppy lived) was synonymous with the bayou. But there were many parts that seemed to eclectic/shrouded with fantasy, that I couldn’t quite make sense out of it.
For instance, the father (Wink) was at times, in my opinion, borderline abusive to Hushpuppy. He would yell at her, at times say that he didn’t want to take care of her, cussed at her, and asked her weird things like, “ Hushpuppy, do you want to know the story of your conception?” He was probably trying to protect her in a hard world where they had to be self -sufficient, especially light of the fact that he might not live. But still, I didn’t find it appealing the way he treated her.
Another time, Hushpuppy got upset at her father and tries to get back at him. She was already making some food on the stove by lighting up the stove with a blowtorch. But then puts it on a higher heat, to blow up the house. That act seems a bit harsh, and makes me wonder.. why did she take that route? I also don’t know where she got the blowtorch and where she got the football helmet she donned, when she used the blowtorch to light up the stove. After all.. she does live in the bayou.. And that wasn’t the first time.. throughout the movie there are all these random objects that can be found in her house.. where are they from? There are no stores nearby..
Don’t get me wrong, the main crux of the movie can be understood- Hushpuppy lives in the bathtub with her father, he is sick and at times is not there. She goes to school.. which was is basically a whole bunch of kids learning from their shop owner. They have a whole bunch of friends who live in the bayou and live off the crabs and seafood in the land. Hurricane Katrina comes and they want stay in the bayou- that’s their home. They resist being evacuated- it’s very awkward to see rescue/evacuation forces try to take them. They also go to a brothel/strip club where Hushpuppy meets a woman who might be her mother- who was thought to have left her/died. Then try to blow up a part of the levee ( I am a little confused here) and they end of going to the hospital. Wink is really not doing well.. but does not want to be at the hospital. He tells his daughter not to try the food- they are very distrustful of this world. Hushpuppy is dressed in a very conventional “goody-two-shoes” style dress and hairstyle and doesn’t like it. This is one metaphor I get—among others- they don’t like this world. The father manages to get her and the other kids out of the hospital. But he throws everyone else on the bus but doesn’t get on. Hushpuppy forces herself out of the bus, and gets mad at why he is leaving her. Eventually they come back and hushpuppy feeds him some fried gator meet.. which was a symbol of love.. and he dies. I had already mentioned what happens after he dies earlier—so powerful. So I do feel that it is a powerful rich story, just at times a little too eclectic and hazy for me. Overall I would give it a B+ ( it’s growing on me..).. when others would get it an A+.
The questions to the director and the comments afterward
The questioning was amazing.. people asked him about the context of the film, if he himself lived in Louisiana, what his next projects were etc.
At one point someone asked him if he thought that the movie went exactly as he planned it.. he said, “ When a movie has so fire, babies, children, in a swamp, and little money.. you cannot expect things to run smoothly!”
I will say that maybe this movie went a little over my head.. because I didn’t understand all the metaphors. BUT it was clear that some of the other people did- from their question!!!!
I think my favorite question or speaker was when a speaker came up to the computer and said, “ You may not remember me .. “ But then he said, “ Oh my god.. we went to high school together!!” Then a minute later he said while placing his hand on his head, “ Wait.. Eva??!!” She said, “Yes!”
So needless to say the questions were rather exhilarating and would take me a much longer time to get through…But they were good