Animal antics unfold amid idyllic tree-fringed fields in “Beast,” a quirky film that explores order in the worlds of nature and man. An individual figure revels in open space, only to be set against the antics of a frisky domesticated group. In a rhythmic, jaunting dance they unleash their animal nature while retaining their herd instinct and fear of otherness. The film juxtaposes the tranquility of wildness against captive docility to posit questions about how the relationship between animals differs from the relationship between humans and animals.
