7.5/10
I've seen this movie take a beating from snobs on online film community websites, but that's bound to happen when you take major prizes at Sundance and Cannes. Terms like "poverty porn" and "exploitation" are tossed around, and that seems to be the typical kneejerk reaction when a white writer/director tells a story of non-white hardship, especially post-Slumdog Millionaire. It's a pretty good little movie - the acting is great, particularly 6-year old Quvenzhané Wallis as Hushpuppy, though similar to Kallio I would stop well short of Oscar discussion for her performance. But if it's a weak year, you never know. Dwight Henry, as her father, is also very good.
I'm not really a big fan of growns-ups-philosophizing-through-children at the movies, because I feel like it's an easy out for the writer to get to say cornball lines that would be met with aggressive eye-rolling if they came from adult characters, and Hushpuppy tends to spouts a lot of that stuff - sometimes it's charming, sometimes not. But writer/director Benh Zeitlin shows pretty good restraint in this regard so it's not a big detriment.
On the whole I felt slightly underwhelmed by the emotion that this movie failed to generate. It's a touching story with disadvantaged people in difficult situations, but it never really succeeds in tugging any major heartstrings. It is beautifully shot with great acting and fascinating locations, but outside of those superficialities, it didn't really connect with me.
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