Directorial debuts can be hit-and-miss but Benh Zeitlin’s spellbinding Beasts of the Southern Wild demonstrates a natural flair and originality rare amongst even the most established of directors. Beasts of the Southern Wild unfolds like a fairytale, in which the heroine Hushpuppy (played by the outstanding Quvenzhané Wallis), a six-year-old girl living with her father in an impoverished Cajun community known as the ‘Bathtub’, faces danger, tragedy and a treacherous journey of self-discovery.
