A scene from Humpday. By Don Simpson
My twelvth South by Southwest Film Festival (SXSW) turned out to be my poorest attended (I have countless excuses, but I will refrain from boring you with them). However, from the screenings and events that I did have the chance to experience, SXSW appears to have answered several of my complaints from prior years. Most notably, several theater locations were impossible for pedestrians to reach in a timely manner; the 16th annual SXSW (which ran this year from March 13-21t) featured a condensed group of theaters (the only theater located outside of Austin’s small downtown was accessible by a free shuttle bus for the first five days of the festival). Guaranteed admission (for up to 10 percent of the theater capacity) for two films per day was made available for every badge holder each morning at a ticket booth located in the convention center. (Every film festival should do this! It is also worth noting that badge attendance increased significantly. I heard it was at least a 30 percent increase from previous registration highs, which was obvious throughout the festival with sell-out crowds aplenty.)
Though I missed some notable Mumblecore films (a signature of SXSW) such as Andrew Bujalski’s Beeswax and Joe Swanberg’s Alexander the Last, I did catch Humpday, Lynn Shelton’s follow-up to one of my favorites of SXSW 2008 (My Effortless Brilliance).
A long lost friend, Andrew (Joshua Leonard), shows up at Ben’s (Mark Duplass) front door in the middle of the night. Andrew’s carefree lifestyle pushes Ben’s “white picket fence” marriage to Anna (Alycia Delmore) to the snapping point; especially when, while drunk and stoned, Andrew and Ben conceive of a gay (“beyond gay”) porn film (an “art project”) in which they will play two straight males who just happen to have sex. Leading up to the climax, the two friends continue to push the limits of freedom and normality in human relationships. Hilarity ensues as Humpday reconfirms Shelton’s seemingly effortless brilliance.
Brett Gaylor’s RiP: A Remix Manifesto takes artistic copyright on a turn to the left (check out http://www.opensourcecinema.org/) as it follows the mantras of Creative Commons and free copyright visionaries like Lawrence Lessig. With RiP, Gaylor’s intent is to prove the artistic relevance of remixing music (using Girl Talk as his primary subject). Gaylor’s treatise is that there will never be an artistic expression that is completely new, and that everything creative relies predominantly on recycling (in this case, remixing) something from the past so artistic creations from the past must be readily accessible. In making this documentary, Gaylor himself knowingly infringes on countless copyright infringements (visual and audio); so don’t expect to see this one in the theaters anytime soon.
My Suicide, directed by David Lee Miller, almost deserved its hype. The story is about Archie (Gabriel Sunday), a high school student who decides he wants to film his own suicide as project for his video production class. Instead of becoming a freaky outcast, he quickly evolves into the most popular guy at his high school; even the girl of his dreams, Sierra (Brooke Nevin), wants to hang out with him. It’s sort of a ridiculous plot, but it does cleverly speak to the way high school students have become immune to (even thrive on) violence. Structurally, My Suicide utilizes inventive techniques to tell its story but the stunted overacting is reminiscent of a senior thesis project.
Writer-directors Cliff Bogart and Kyle Bogart (both recent University of Texas at Austin graduates) enjoyed three sold-out screenings of their first feature, Artois the Goat. Artois plays like a quirky Scandinavian art film but is set in Texas and utilizes amateur American actors. Laughs-a-plenty were heard from the entire audience and the cinematography was gorgeous. Unfortunately (similar to My Suicide) the acting spoils the goat’s milk (the film is about a craft cheesemaker).
Adventureland, directed by Greg Mottola, was the only spotlight premiere I caught, and it was well-worth navigating through the sell-out crowd to see it. Not anything like the mindless comedy (on par with Superbad – also directed by Mottola) which it is marketed as being, Adventureland is a carefully crafted and severely heartwarming coming-of-age story with great central characters (with impeccable taste in music).
Feature Film Jury Awards went to Aron Gaudet’s The Way We Get By (Documentary Feature - Special Jury Award), Bill Ross IV & Turner Ross’s 45365 (Documentary Feature - Grand Jury Award), Scott Teems’ That Evening Sun (Narrative Feature - Special Jury Award for Best Ensemble Cast), Judi Krant’s Made in China (Narrative Feature – Grand Jury Award). The Feature Film Audience Awards went to Jennifer Steinman’s Motherland (Emerging Visions), Geralyn Pezanoski’s Mine (Documentary Feature) and Scott Teems’ That Evening Sun (Narrative Feature).
