SXSW Day 3: Drive-By Reviews

Days are already running into each other, and it's only day three.

American Violet (Lone Star States)
Director: Tim Disney. Writer: Bill Haney
It's an old story; wrongfully charged, someone fights back. What makes a film like this work is the performances, and Nicole Beharie delivers a memorable one as single mother wrongly charged with a felony drug offense. Actually, most of the performances were very strong. While the story itself is fiction, it puts faces to the very real phenomenon of aggressive police action. I just wish they'd shot in a Texas location, since the cases it's based on took place in the Waco area. I highly recommend it, if only for watching Beharie, particularly when she has battles of will with Alfre Woodard, who plays her mother.

Humpday (pictured above) (Spotlight Premieres)
Director/Writer: Lynn Shelton 2009
I ended up seeing this because it was near all my other films for the day. It lived up to the buzz. The story is very simple, as Ben and Anna are trying to get pregnant when Ben's old friend Andrew shows up, their competitive dynamic gets out of control. Some of the intentional humor falls flat, but the cast really shines when they start exploring why they've challenged each other far outside their comfort zones. Alycia Delmore had some particularly strong moments as the wife.

Women in Trouble (Spotlight Premieres )
Director/Writer: Sebastian Guitierrez 2009
Ultimately, this feels like a string of vignettes, and that's how it was written. I suspect the actresses enjoyed the exercise of doing most of the scenes, but it was clearly written by a man. Too many cliches, and several leaps of logic. There's a full scene after the credits, but I wasn't interested in watching all of it, even with Joseph Gordon Levitt.

Drag Me to Hell (Work in Progress)
Director: Sam Raimi. Writers: Ivan Raimi, Sam Raimi
Sam Raimi sure loves his vomit. If you're looking for some classic Raimi, you'll find it here. Raimi horror films are like an amusement park ride. Even when you know every twist and turn beforehand, you still enjoy the thrills, and get back in line again and again. The man himself introduced the film to a packed house, but unfortunately there was no Q&A.