A Taste of Austin at Dallas IFF 2011

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Ok Buckaroos

Please welcome our guest contributor Peter Martin of Twitch and Dallas Film Now (and until lately, Cinematical), who caught a few Austin-connected films at the Dallas International Film Festival this year.

The fifth edition of the Dallas International Film Festival (Dallas IFF) concluded on Sunday, bringing an end to ten days of screenings and parties, and raising once again the eternal question: What does this mean for Austin?

In brief, we could say: Very little. Born in mid-2006 with the promise (and potential) of becoming a potent in-state rival to SXSW, thanks in part to the instant name recognition bestowed by its partnership with AFI, Dallas IFF has, instead, become pretty much the film festival that Dallas needs and deserves, showcasing regional filmmakers side by side with star-studded premieres sure to draw coverage from local broadcast and print outlets, and giving members of the city's social elite a reason to dress up and show off, while also boasting as many or more international titles than SXSW usually includes.

Really, it may be best to think of Dallas IFF as a complement to SXSW, rather than a direct rival. The overlap in movies that play at both SXSW and Dallas IFF is limited, often restricted to titles with North Texas ties or ones that sparked enthusiasm when the programmers saw them at Sundance. The eclectic programming philosophy of Creative Director James Faust and Senior Programmer Sarah Harris ensures that offbeat features and documentaries will find a welcome home at Dallas IFF.

As a result, Austin filmmakers gain exposure to a large, neighboring community that might not otherwise see their work. After the opening night presentation of Being Elmo: A Puppeteer's Journey, for example, the following day saw the regular schedule of screenings get underway, and Rainbows End was unleashed upon an unsuspecting crowd.

About the latter, directed by Austin filmmaker Eric Hueber, we can say confidently that if you love, love, love East Texas eccentrics, you may have a soft spot for Rainbows End. Compiled from documentary footage the filmmaker shot several years ago, along with newer interviews and a few staged scenes, Rainbows End follows a band of eccentrics from Nacogdoches as they travel on a broken-down school bus to California, where they will audition for The Legendary Stardust Cowboy and, presumably, find fame and/or fortune.

Unfortunately, only one member of the group appears to have musical talent, leaving us with a portrait of several desperate, troubled souls. Hueber appears to treat his traveling companions with an even-handed sympathy, which means that a proud, if dim, cockfighter gets the same treatment as an aging, lovely, gentle, baton-twirling, short-shorts-wearing true eccentric. It doesn't help that the long road trip itself is rather uneventful, perhaps explaining why a 12-hour delay due to mechanical troubles is documented in what feels like real time.

There's a fine line between eccentricity and annoyance, and Rainbows End works very hard to erase that line entirely.

TravelingTraveling could also be described as "eccentrics on a road trip," but the Texas-shot film wisely subsumes the slightly strange behavior of its three main characters into a pattern of recognizably human personality traits. Making her feature-length debut, writer/director Rachel Shepherd (pictured at right) breathes fresh air into the "strangers discover they have quite a bit in common while stuck together in a vehicle" sub-genre, which is slightly -- but significantly -- different than "eccentrics on a road trip."

Andrew (Reece Rios) suddenly quits his job at an auto repair shop and hits the road. Jen (Melissa Odom) must take her niece Kaylee (McKaley Miller) to live with her estranged mother. They're all heading to Austin, so why not go together?

Actually, it makes little sense for Jen to pick up a scruffy hitchhiking stranger and invite him to join her and a young girl on a long journey. But it's meant to illustrate the great unease that Jen feels about spending time alone with her precocious niece, a bespectacled, wise-beyond-her-years creature. Kaylee's father (and Jen's brother) has recently died, and Jen didn't have a good relationship with him, much less with the young lass, and Jen is taking the girl to live with a woman that no one on her side of the family ever approved of, and may not even want the girl in the first place.

It's a lot of backstory and guilt to pack into a compact car, and we haven't even gotten to Andrew and his load of emotional baggage.

What keeps Traveling from becoming an overloaded trunk of dysfunctional stereotypes is the breezy pace that Shepherd establishes early on. The dialogue is not always the sharpest, but Rios and Miller, especially, as well as Odom, play it like screwball comedy, with crack timing (credit as well to editor David McGinnis), so it always feels funny.

The more the movie devolves into melodrama in its latter stages, the less engaging it becomes, especially when the pace slows for some awkward yet routine family dynamics. Still, Bret Curry's cinematography and Roy Bennett's music keep interest alive, and Traveling revives with a heartfelt conclusion.

Based on secondhand reports, OK Buckaroos may be remembered more for its afterparty, with wild tales of karaoke and mechanical bull riding at Gilley's in Dallas, than for its merits as a Centerpiece Presentation at Dallas IFF. My DVD review copy skipped about 30 minutes of the already-brief running time, but from what I could piece together, the film is a loving, non-critical profile of Texas music legend Jerry Jeff Walker. Directed by Patrick Tourville (pictured at top with Walker), the documentary endeavors to put Walker into critical and cultural context, but the narration (written by Marshall Riggan) betrays its true intent: It's Jerry Jeff against the world, boys, and we know what side we're on!

There's nothing inherently wrong with such a position, of course. The festival showcased other advocacy docs, such as The Greater Good (childhood vaccinations) and Zero Percent (college education for prison inmates), so why not one that advocates in behalf of an under-appreciated musical genius?

As with East Texas eccentrics and Rainbows End, those who are already in the bag for Jerry Jeff Walker will undoubtedly find the most enjoyment from OK Buckaroos. Even those who are not, in particular, fans of his brand of music will find it difficult not to revel in the charming appeal of a true Texas character.

And that is, perhaps, one way to sum up the Dallas International Film Festival as well: Even if you're not predisposed favorably toward the city in which it's held, it's impossible to resist its steadily increasing charms for very long.

[Photos courtesy of Dallas International Film Festival]