SXSW

You never know what you might get with film festival bumpers -- the very short films that appear before each fest screening to promote the festival. The problem is, you have to watch the things all week long. You might end up with a horrible earworm that infiltrates your dreams for days, or a slickly done ad from a sponsor that is annoying the second time, much less the twenty-second.

The best experience is for a festival to have multiple bumpers -- Fantastic Fest has so many that you rarely see one more than twice -- which should be short, interesting as films rather than as ads and perhaps even quotable. By the end of the fest, people are going to be shouting back at the ads a la Rocky Horror. The SXSW 2008 Burger Hut ads were great for audience participation (I still hear people quoting the Glengarry Glen Ross spoof), for example.

This year's SXSW Film Festival bumpers were generally not quotable -- most were almost silent -- but I never grew tired of them. Four of the five were directed by David Lowery, who brought his feature St. Nick to SXSW last year. Lowery, who hails from the DFW area, also was director of photography for two features at this year's fest, Audrey the Trainwreck and Lovers of Hate.

This was my sixth SXSW Film Festival and my fifth as a distinguished member of the press. This was also the first SXSW that I seriously felt like an editor here at Slackerwood. If you look at our SXSW coverage list, you'll see why. We've written 50 articles during and after SXSW so far, not counting the guides and interviews done beforehand. We were able to run five articles a day some days, which is really fucking incredible for a site that used to be dead for two weeks at a time because Chris and I felt too busy or slackery to update it. We had unexpected contributors who pitched in and added to the fun. It did mean more time on the computer and less time in the theater, but I still saw so many wonderful movies that I can't complain.

Let's get to the fun part. I'm taking the slackery way out and giving you a list of my SXSW 2010 experiences.

Favorite movies coming to a theater near you: Micmacs, the latest film from Jean-Pierre Jeunet (Amelie), which I liked so much that I saw at a press screening and then at the official SXSW screening. Okay, part of that was because the line for Cold Weather was too long and I knew I wouldn't get in, but still. Here's my Cinematical review. Expect to see Micmacs in American theaters sometime this summer. I also really liked Steven Soderbergh's film about Spalding Gray, And Everything Is Going Fine, which I hope to review soon (we'll see). And the Duplass brothers' film Cyrus was quite enjoyable (my review), and should be hitting theaters this summer too.

If you thought it was silly and childish of us at Slackerwood to present our SXSW guides through the eyes of Film Fest Geek Barbie, wait until you see Marwencol, a film about an entire miniature city populated with Barbie-sized men and women, and its creator. The film won the Best Documentary Feature award at SXSW and it is easy to understand why -- while there were many good docs at the fest this year, this one is so very different and so compelling that it stands out in sharp contrast. I feel like I'm still under the film's spell, but I don't want to tell you too much about it and spoil the discovery process.

Marwencol is about Mark Hogancamp, whose life changed the night that five guys followed him out of a bar and beat him so badly he suffered brain damage. At age 38, he had to learn to walk again, and write, and so forth. His personality changed -- he was no longer an alcoholic, but could not sketch illustrations in the way he used to. Discharged from the hospital before he was better due to his insurance running out, Mark tried to find self-therapy for his imagination and fine motor skills. He created an entire little world in his Kingston, New York backyard -- the fictitious WWII-era town of Marwencol in Belgium -- and populated it both with alter egos from his real life, including himself, and fictitious characters.

If I had to pick a theme for my experience at the 2010 SXSW Film Festival, it would have to be "what can be."

It began with the first event that I attended, my favorite Interactive panel that I saw this year: "How Sci-Fi Shaped the Internet" by Adria Richards. I was interested in hearing what Richards had to say about our shared favorite science fiction creators, including Rod Serling and Alfred Hitchcock, especially how their early lives affected the message of their works. She talked about how sci-fi allows us to think outside the box, and how this skill has been essential in terms of the NASA space program and the development of the Internet. Richards also talked about innovations influenced by science fiction, including flat screen televisions and earbuds (Fahrenheit 451), Ebook readers (Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy), and wireless headsets (Star Trek). She spoke about the challenges and solutions in inspiring hope in young people, and as a child of the Sixties I could relate to the inspirations of the space program. I remember looking at the stars and wondering, "What's out there?"

Which brings me to the next SXSW event that shared the thread of exploring our dreams, the movie Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission. When I'd mentioned to people that I was looking forward to interviewing Garriott and seeing the documentary, the few people who recognized his name made reference to him as "a crazy eccentric" who spent $30 million to travel into space. Having met Garriott last fall when he'd donated his property, staff and resources for SCARE for a CURE haunt, I was skeptical of this misnomer. Man on a Mission successfully dispels this assumption, as we see how one person can achieve their dream that has profound impact on mankind. Garriott may have been the son of an astronaut, but it was through his own determination that he created and sold his first game Ultima and funded his way through college and into wise investments. 

The Austin-shot feature Red White & Blue, Simon Rumley's follow-up to The Living and the Dead, is a revenge-driven thriller that could be summed up as "sin begets sin." While violent and disturbing, Rumley's story explores how wrong people can go in certain circumstances, with three people with very different backgrounds creating a perfect storm of vengeance. 

Erica's (Amanda Fuller) only occupation is trying to keep a roof over her head as she drifts from bar to bar, sleeping with any man who will have her. Spontaneous kindness from a drifter living in the same boarding house seems to bring stability and hope for something more, when one of her hook-ups discovers the cost of sleeping with her. Her history has turned her into the walking wounded, extracting a passive/aggressive Russian roulette on men who'll sleep with anyone. Nate (Noah Taylor) reveals the one trigger that will make him abandon his carefully maintained control.  Franki's (Marc Senter) aspirations and indulgences cannot hide his infantile tendencies.

Sometimes the best photo opportunities have nothing to do with red carpets. The Austin-shot film The Happy Poet had its world premiere in the small theater at Alamo Drafthouse at the Ritz during SXSW this year, and the only red carpet might have been a patch in the lobby where someone spilled a Red Bull. Still, if you wanted to meet Austin filmmakers and actors -- and snap a few photos -- this was the place to be early on Sunday afternoon.

Everyone clustered around the little food cart (pictured at right) in front of the Ritz, just like the one in The Happy Poet, but unfortunately with no sandwiches. You could get one of the healthy snacks, however, if you signed up for the film's mailing list. The only problem was that the light was terrible for photography -- it was very sunny and everyone stood in the shade.

Jenn Brown and I were both intrigued by this movie, because a) we could see from the stills that it was shot in noticeable Austin locations like Auditorium Shores and b) we like movies about food. So we both got to the premiere early, which you want to do anyway for films playing in the small Alamo Ritz theater on the first weekend of SXSW.

We met so many Austin film folks that I've forgotten who a few of them are in the photos, but I'm sure some of you will be kind enough to let me know in the comments.

It was easy for us to recognize Mars director Geoff Marslett, because we'd had brunch with him before the fest to talk about his movie. He wasn't wearing his Mars space outfit that day, though ... but Jenn posted photos of that elsewhere. In the following photo, he's second from the left, next to filmmaker Spencer Parsons (I'll Come Running) with local author/filmmaker Linden Dalecki and UT instructor Bryan Sebok, who co-produced SXSW 2010 feature Dance with the One, on the right.

Of all the SXSW films that I saw this year, two of my top-ranked films were documentaries that share a common message of overcoming odds to achieve a dream and inspire others. One was Richard Garriott: Man on a Mission, for which you can read my review. The other film that I found inspiring that shatters preconceptions is For Once in My Life, which won the Best Documentary Feature Audience Award at SXSW this year.

For Once in My Life takes viewers on a journey with several members of The Spirit of Goodwill Band, all who face a wide range of severe mental and physical challenges. The central characters of this story are on the extreme opposite of the socioeconomic scale and face much different challenges, but like Richard Garriott they want to share their story and music with the intent of inspiring others. This heartwarming film brings to light what people with disabilities can achieve when given the right opportunities and support from family as well as their work environment.

What you should do instead of reading this review is find a way to see the movie Thunder Soul; I guarantee within the first few minutes you'll be hooked. 

Perhaps you need more than an urging from me and all the other people who loved it. The best documentaries expose us to things we might not otherwise be aware, educate, motivate and entertain, and prove that fact can be wilder than fiction. The best can do all of the above. Thunder Soul, directed by Mark Landsman, is a documentary that has done all of the above, and will make you reach for your wallet to help fund music in schools and to buy high school students music. It proves just how important a music program can be to the students of your local school. 

Thunder Soul is both a profile of stage band director and composer Conrad O. Johnson and a celebration of the music he and his students created. Between 1968 and 1977, the Kashmere High School in Houston's 5th Ward had a stage band performing music that put professionals to shame. With 42 regional titles, 2 national titles, and invitations to play in Europe and Japan, the Kashmere Stage Band took the world by storm.  

I have to disclose a personal bias with filmmakers Jay and Mark Duplass. They grew up in a nearby neighborhood to ours in Metairie (a suburb of New Orleans), and went to the same high school as my brothers (Jesuit High School, New Orleans). They remember one of my brothers' cross-country feats fondly. Our mommas sometimes run into one another over at the Economical (or maybe the Rouse's). It was surreal to find out that "those Duplass boys" had moved to Austin too, and made a movie that was playing SXSW the first year I went to the festival, 2005.

Five years later, Jay and Mark Duplass brought their Fox Searchlight-produced film Cyrus to Sundance and then here to Austin for SXSW, where the movie screened on a Saturday night at the Paramount to a full house. I met up with them at the Four Seasons downtown the next day for a brief interview. Things have definitely changed since 2005 -- and not just that they no longer live in Austin. Cyrus will be released this summer and stars John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill. Read my review for more details.

I know I'm not the only one who felt a little nostalgic during the SXSW screening of Cyrus, the latest film from the filmmaking brothers Jay and Mark Duplass. The former Austinites debuted The Puffy Chair in 2005, at the first SXSW I attended, in a weeknight screening at Alamo on South Lamar. Five years later, they've made a film with Fox Searchlight that stars John C. Reilly, Marisa Tomei and Jonah Hill, which premiered at Sundance in January. The question is -- is it any good? Did the studio experience "spoil" the filmmakers' style?

I think Cyrus is the best feature film the brothers have made so far -- and one that will appeal to a wider audience than, say, Baghead, which was funny if you go to a lot of film festivals but didn't quite catch on outside of that circle. However, the brothers are still able to retain their skewed sense of humor and their intimate way of shooting a scene.

Reilly plays John, a middle-age schlub whose ex-wife Jamie (Catherine Keener) is trying to encourage him to date. The scene in which Jamie strides into John's house uninvited and finds him engaged in a rather private activity speaks worlds about both characters. And then there's the party where Jamie and her fiance push John into trying to introduce himself to various women. That party may seem awfully familiar to some of us. Fortunately, John meets Molly (Marisa Tomei), in what may be is a modern-day twist on the Meet Cute scenarios of old-fashioned romantic comedies, and they hit it off fairly quickly.