Little Chenier

I was born and raised in Lafayette Louisiana and still am here and I was lucky enough to have viewed this amazing film at the Films on the Bayou Film Festival this past spring. The movie was very touching and funny and moving at times, and although, yes, some of the acting and accents were questionable, you could tell that Bethany put her heart and soul into this movie. It's one of the few movies out there that doesn't make fun of Cajuns, and it's very refreshing to see one, so props for that. The film pushed and pulled people in there seats. The crowd was very responsive, even after waiting the hour or more to view it since they had one role of film for the 5 packed theaters that were showing it simultaneously. If you get a chance to see it, please take the time, it's worth it.

The story has a few twist and turns that I didn't expect and overall it was great to see a film made in Louisiana about something besides New Orleans. That said, I worry that anyone outside of Louisiana seeing this film may think we all run around in flat bottom boats and wrestle alligators for fun. Yes, there are a few people like these left near where my family and I live, but they are disappearing as fast as the marshland on the Louisiana coast! The setting for the film is in Cameron Parish along the banks of the Mermentau River. The film doesn't cast the Cameron Parish Sheriff's office in a very good light, but it is a good story and it was told well in the film. There was a scene in the film of a pig roast and crawfish's boil to celebrate a wedding. The food, drink, music and dancing looked and sounded like many a Saturday night in South Louisiana. Little Chenier is a remote place where everyone knows everyone and is a true community in every sense of the word. It was great to see that sense of community come through in the film.

I was very surprised by this independent film, what some would not consider great performances because the characters don't speak very eloquently, I couldn't disagree more. The point is to make them act and sound like people from the deep south who live on the bayou, how do you think they talk? For a lower budget film the cinematography was great, some of that just comes from a good location choice, but some of the shots combined with great music through out were amazing. The film does a great job of building tension for events you can feel are inevitable but at the same times gives you an unpredictable ending. I'm glad I fell upon this film, it always irritates me though thinking of how many little films like this that slip right by me and tons of others because they're not done by a bigger studio. I mean if I barely hear about it then most people will miss it completely, and that's a shame.

Actually, I would give this movie an 8.5 out of 10 if I could. It is a dramatic thriller set in the bayous of Louisiana. Two young brothers run a floating bait shop, abandoned by their mother, and neglected by their father-a drunk who is often absent. An attack on local livestock leads the sheriff and his son to question the younger brother, Pimot, who is mentally retarded. I can't go into more details about the excellent story, but will comment that this is an interesting movie for many reasons. All the dialog was done with convincing Cajun accents. I also liked the treatment of Pimot by the "good" characters. It really impressed me. They didn't talk down to him but treated him in a friendly manner and simply respected his limitations.

I enjoyed this film a great deal. In short it did what a film should do, (1) absorb you into its place (2) entertain (3) make you think. How did this film accomplish this? (1)Relatively genuine setting, characters, scenery. (2) Plot moved along swiftly and kept you engaged. Characters were believable. (3)Characters and setting made you think about life in their world.

This film had no "stars" to get in the way of itself which is a nice change of pace. The acting was solid, the plot was good albeit reminiscent of "Of mice and men". Parts of the plot were not spelled out for the audience allowing you to draw some of your own conclusions. In terms of where the movie could have been improved I would say some of the technical cinematography. While there were many beautiful shots that helped establish mood and setting some of the fades/ transitions were a little weak.

To summarize the strengths of this film far outweighed the weaknesses. I would probably have selected 7.5 given the choice, but chose 8 instead of 7.