Fantastic Fest 2011, Day Three: Fight Fiercely, Hobbits

While I know many film-festgoers who pack five movies into a day plus parties and declare "Sleep is the enemy!" I'm not one of them. I'm a two-flick-a-day woman, maybe three if I don't have any writing assigments due. I almost never go to midnight movies or late parties and am generally Cinderella-like about my evenings.

Saturday was an exception: I went to four Fantastic Fest screenings -- two were shorts collections so technically I saw nearly two dozen films -- and attended a midnight event after that. And now I'm up at 9 am on a Sunday morning so I can get my tickets for the day and write this dispatch. I'm not sure I could do this every day for a week; I admire the stamina of those who do.

I had an amazing stroke of good luck getting tickets Saturday morning -- everything I wanted, including the famous Fantastic Debates, which are so popular I've never been able to attend. It was in fact too good to be true, as I found out later that day that a ticketing glitch massively overbooked the Debates and any ticket over #150 would be invalid. I had #271. Fortunately, I was able to land a spot in the photographers' pen, but more on that later.

My first screening was the "Fantastic Shorts" collection. The fest shows three sets of shorts: animated, horror and, um, everything else. The Fantastic Shorts were sometimes surreal, sometimes creepy and often funny. One was downright migraine-inducing but the film after it, Dirty Silverware, was such a charming, comical tale that I believe it actually repelled my migraine inclinations. I also enjoyed Exit, a suspenseful adaptation of a Harry Farjeon story about an early 20th-century British country Christmas that takes a chilling turn; The Coldest Caller, a brief and funny story of the Grim Reaper visiting an elderly woman; and the slickly made action thriller No Rest for the Wicked, with a well-known cast including Malcolm McDowell, Zachary Levi and Ray Park. Oh yes, and I nearly forgot the amusing contemporary fairy tale The Hunter and the Swan Discuss Their Meeting. Fantastic Shorts screen again at noon on Monday.

As if I hadn't enjoyed enough short films, I followed up that afternoon with "Short Fuse," the fest's horror shorts. One great thing about shorts is that if the film is terribly annoying, it's usually over in five minutes. I didn't like all the shorts in Horror Fuse and one was so lame I can't understand how it was selected. However, there were some great films in the mix. Of course I want to mention the Austin-shot short No Way Out, starring AJ Bowen, which was shudder-inducing in the best way. Rod interviewed filmmakers Aaron Morgan and Eric Vespe last week. Other favorites included Curtain, a dark comedy about a demonic bathroom, and the lovely pastoral A River in the Woods, with some excellent child performances. The relatively long Swedish film The Unliving had an excellent premise -- a society built on zombie slave labor  -- but it felt more like the first act of a feature than a true short with a proper ending. The Short Fuse films screen again on Monday at 3:10 pm.

After a short break -- enough to talk with people but not enough to do any writing -- it was time to see An American Werewolf in London. This was a special event that cost extra, although all attendees would get a poster designed by Olly Moss. I'd originally decided to pass because I don't need more posters, but I caved in because I really wanted to see the movie with a big crowd, not to mention make-up/special effects master Rick Baker would be there, and after all I could sell the poster if I didn't like it.

This turned out to be just the right decision. An American Werewolf in London was better than I recalled (I'd totally misremembered the end), and the audience was terrific. Rick Baker (pictured below) turned out to be a delightful speaker with some fun stories about the film -- his Q&A was livestreamed and I hope video becomes available later for me to share. Olly Moss didn't go onstage, but he was there and appeared to be modeling his evening's attire on John Landis. I sat next to Rod Paddock, who shared his cookies with me (Alamo has some yummy chocolate cookies right now) and Eugenio Mira, the filmmaker from Spain who has brought two movies to Fantastic Fest I've enjoyed: The Birthday in 2005 and Agnosia in 2010. (Also, I am keeping the poster.)

I could have gone home after that and had a wonderful day, but instead I stuck around to watch the only documentary playing Fantastic Fest this year: the Irish film Knuckle. I had previously understood it would be about bare-knuckle boxing and a champion in this field and expected something sportslike. I couldn't have been more wrong. Knuckle is a look at several large families -- clans, really -- in Ireland who are continually feuding, and who use bare-knuckle boxing matches as an outlet for those rivalries. The fights take place in fields and roads and parking lots, but have rules and referees. The focus is on James Quinn McDonagh and his family's fights with the Joyce clan. It's a good documentary, and interesting to notice how the fights are different they are from the boxing we usually see.

Tim League introduced this film, which had director Ian Palmer in attendance as well as McDonagh himself. League had challenged McDonagh to a bare-knuckle match at Fantastic Debates, and many jokes were had about League's impending funeral. It was a great lead-in for Fantastic Debates.

The Fantastic Debates are held at South Austin Gym, in the same strip mall as Alamo Drafthouse on South Lamar. It's not a large space. The crowd outside the gym when I got there was chaotic; you'd have thought it was Mardi Gras in New Orleans. Fortunately, it wasn't long before I got a red-carpet badge and was admitted to the press area. And boy, did I get lucky then. I don't know quite how it happened -- possibly because I'm short and politely kept asking tall people to let me stand in front of them -- but I ended up ringside, leaning on the actual ring itself. I may have used up all my luck for the rest of Fantastic Fest.

Fantastic Debates is an event where two people argue opposite sides of an issue -- like a traditional debate, but on somewhat geeky topics. If they can't agree, they then put on boxing gloves and go two rounds in the ring, and then the audience decides the winner. Both the debating and the boxing are meant to be entertaining rather than, er, actually any good. Austin author/comedian Owen Egerton emceed.

The first debate from the evening involved two local filmmakers: David Zeller and Nathan Zellner debated whether robots were superior to humans. David brought in a robot to fight his brother -- "Medium Wonder," a reference to Small Wonder. I spotted Wiley Wiggins as David's second. It was probably the silliest debate of the evening and broke the ice wonderfully. I did take video with my Flip cam that I hope to post soon; do not expect high quality. (I can't really juggle a Flip cam and a DSLR. I should probably get a tripod for the Flip.)

Next was the debate that I think was even more anticipated than Tim League's bout. Actor Elijah Wood and his Lord of the Rings co-star Dominic Monaghan argued whether World of Warcraft was a game of any merit. I didn't have to take video for this; I know dozen of other people probably did for me, including the official Fantastic Fest videographer. I suspect many people will be eager to watch two sweaty young ex-hobbits fighting. Did I mention it was very hot in the packed gym and any A/C they might have was probably not working?

NASA was the subject of the next debate. Scientist and film geek Andy Howell defended the organization against "NASA Hater Hunter," who was glad in "F*ck NASA" gear and talked about conspiracies and aliens and free energy for everyone. Many people cheered Hunter's speeches but in the end, science was the winner. The fact that Howell was at least a foot taller than Hunter didn't hurt either.

Finally Tim League and James Quinn McDonagh entered the ring to debate the statement "Texans are tougher than Irishmen." League was dressed in cowboy gear, naturally. I was a little disappointed to see them actually don boxing gloves for the fight, but of course we really don't want the Alamo Drafthouse founder to sustain a major head injury. Of course the audience declared League the winner but let's face it, we were biased in favor of the Lone Star State as well as League.

It was a long day and I have never gotten quite so sweaty at a film festival before (not even on the red carpet) so I headed home after the Debates ended. Some people were planning one last drink at the Highball or a late dinner but me, I am just a film-fest wuss.

[Photo credit: J. Kernion. All rights reserved.]