SXSW 2008: 'Goliath' at the Paramount
That's right, it may be April but Slackerwood isn't done with SXSW yet. Who knows, maybe we'll still be posting photos in August. To keep that from happening, I'm posting photos without cropping them nicely or sprucing them up in Photoshop, so my apologies for the red-eye and other flaws.
On the last night of SXSW, one of the films I caught at the Paramount was Goliath, which was shot in Austin. I'd been looking forward to seeing this film, to the point where it took a schedule rework in order to catch it (note to self: next year, get to Alamo Ritz films supersupremely early to avoid sellouts). On the other hand, this meant I was able to see it at the Paramount, which is a better venue for local filmmakers because they're always so happy that their film is actually showing at this iconic Austin theater.
I'd heard good buzz about Goliath since the movie premiered earlier this year at Sundance. I interviewed the filmmakers, David and Nathan Zellner, for Slackerwood before SXSW started. The Zellners are the above photo next to Wiley Wiggins, who has a small and amusing role in Goliath.
Goliath is about a guy who's going through some life problems: he's involved in a messy divorce, and he's been unofficially demoted at work. He could handle all that, except that his cat Goliath is missing. He embarks on a desperate search around his South Austin neighborhood. In the meantime, he goes from being appalled about a sex offender in the neighborhood to huddling in front of his computer to watch some breathtakingly bizarre online porn. His coworkers become more and more juvenile ... when and how is this guy going to crack, or will he be redeemed by the appearance of Goliath?
David Zellner is appropriately nebbish-y as the main character. His juvenile coworkers are all played by friends of the Zellners, including local filmmaker John Bryant and animation filmmaker Bob Sabiston. (Their boss is Andrew Bujalski. The implications here from a filmmaking viewpoint are interesting.) Austin Film Society programmer Chale Nafus plays a detective. But best of all is Nathan Zellner as the sex offender, who could have stepped right out of a Coen brothers movie.
The filmmakers aren't afraid to let a scene play out as long as it needs to -- specifically, a scene in the divorce lawyer's office goes on for much longer than you think it would, but it's strangely fascinating. I'm still not sure why. The dialogue isn't snappy, and sometimes there are awkward pauses between lines, but Goliath isn't a polished Hollywood comedy. It's shot almost entirely in South Austin (I kept trying to read the street names), and it's about the small details in life and how they can pile up on you, day after day.
After the film screened, the usual Q&A took place, with the Zellners and as much of the cast and crew as they could round up onstage. Here's a photo of everyone I could fit in the frame:
One story they told about a certain special effect in the film was pretty gruesome, but I can't recount it without spoiling the movie. The turnout was excellent for the last day of the film festival, and I noticed a lot of local film regulars in the audience.
If you missed Goliath, it's playing right now at AFI Dallas and the Florida Film Festival, but I haven't heard anything about encore screenings in Austin yet. I'll keep you posted.
Weirdly enough, on the way back to my car that night, I encountered a stray cat. He didn't answer to the name "Goliath" ... if only I'd had an electric can opener nearby to see how he'd react. He did want to follow me home after I took his photo. It was very sad to have to turn him down.
Finally, if you haven't had enough of the Zellners yet, check out Joe Swanberg's "Shopping with David and Nathan Zellner" video from Sundance on SpoutBlog.