The second day of the Sundance Film Festival can be a tricky time to play favorites, but thunderous applause and rave reactions can not be denied. The crowd who caught Beasts of the Southern Wild's first screening this afternoon ate up director Benh Zeitlin's first feature film, a moody, vividly-captured portrait of life in a Southern delta subculture. But the buzz is deserved—Southern Wild has a scope rarely seen in independent film, mixing spectacular photography of a weathered swamp land, intimate depictions of its removed-from-time inhabitants and a twist of fantasy reminiscent of the films of Hayao Miyazaki. Grounds for a favorite, I'd say.

The film follows a young girl named Hushpuppy, who lives with her father, Wink, and the rest of the collective in a bayou known as "The Bathtub." Shacked up in homes built from miscellaneous objects, cooking up any animals they can get their hands on and never wavering for conventional society's demands, the community relishes in the lush, natural environment and their unconventional practices. The world is brought to life by impeccable production design, from the makeshift shelters to Hushpuppy's Dad's boat, constructed from half a truck and a motor, to the odd practice of lighting a stove with a flame thrower. This isn't a place or culture we know, but it's real.

But like all paradises, things eventually take a turn for the worse. Wink is stricken with a crippling blood disease, while a storm threatens to sink the group's entire lives, and Hushpuppy is forced to engage her inner animal, bring to the surface survival skills she's been harboring since her mother first left the picture when she was young. Bringing the introspective, fierce child to life is unknown Quvenzhané Wallis, who balances spunk and vulnerability with tremendous care. Dwight Henry as Wink is powerful, nailing the dedicated stubbornness of someone lost in his own world, but Wallis, who navigates the otherworldly landscapes and feeds our wide-eyed curiosity. She's a real human among the wild.

Beasts of the Southern Wild juxtaposes its dreamlike visuals—which starts feeling like a souped up Levi's ads, then evolves into mesmerizingly dynamic, colorful and striking imagery—with reality, giving weight to its wistful narrative. While a film of this nature good get away as a mood piece, Southern Wild reaches for something more and grabs hold of it with tremendous force. Wink is never one to treat Hushpuppy like a child—screaming, batting and chasing the girl without hesitation. Their relationship is unstable, but at the core is love, and its never more evident then when The Bathtub is disturbed by outside forces.

The film has a bit of fat to trim, but for a first outting, Zeitlin has crafted a riveting, pure piece of cinema. Beasts of the Southern Wild weaves anthropological interests, dazzling special effects (a running sequence involving a prehistoric pig creature is on par with the mature work of Jim Henson) and familial relationships into one operatic opus that hits almost every note on key. Wallis is a true find and there's little doubt that Southern Wild will be an audience favorite of the festival—as one my own.