Browsing: Beasts of the Southern Wild

From Sam Mendes’ stunning reinvention of James Bond in Skyfall to Wes Anderson’s quirky look at young love in Moonrise Kingdom, 2012 has been a great year at the cinema. Here’s a rundown of some of the best films of the year

American indie hit Beasts of the Southern Wild is set in a place so magical that it could be straight from a fable, though it is also as grounded as the New Orleans lashed by Katrina a few years ago. It’s a delta community cut off from the rest of the world by the levee and in danger of sinking beneath saltwater every time bad weather