Outstanding location work and a knockout performance by young newcomer Quvenzhané Wallis are almost enough to recommend this Sundance favorite. A six-year-old scrapper lives with her father (Dwight Henry) in a post-Katrina New Orleans community called the Bathtub. With dad’s health failing, the girl is forced to set out in search of her mother and an even more mythical creature known as the auroch. Freshman director Benh Zeitlin tries hard, but the film takes on one cause too many and ultimately collapses under the weight of its own aspirations. (2012) — Scott Marks
This movie is not currently in theaters.