I didn't have the luxury of taking off work or purchasing a badge for SXSW, but I was still able to have a solid festival experience. I was only able to see 13 of the 124 films, so this is by no means a comprehensive review. I elected to skip the big studio releases like A Quiet Place, Blockers, and Isle of Dogs since I'll have the opportunity to see those in the next few weeks. Instead I targeted smaller releases that I may or may not have an opportunity to see again. This is my ranking of those 13 films.
1. Hearts Beat Loud
2. The Dawn Wall
3. Thunder Road
4. The People's Republic of Desire
5. A Vigilante
6. Don't Leave Home
7. Fast Color
8. Lean on Pete
9. All Square
10. Galveston
11. American Animals
12. First Light
13. Wildling
Best Picture: Hearts Beat Loud
Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons are fantastic as a single father and daughter in Hearts Beat Loud. Offerman's character is worried about losing his daughter as she prepares to leave for college, so he attempts to hold on to their relationship by writing songs with her. Meanwhile, Offerman's record store is struggling, and he is forced to decide whether to reinvest in the business or close it down and start a new career.
This is a moving story about love, family, and change. Both lead characters stand at a crossroad in their lives and are faced with the prospect of clinging to the past or letting go and entering the unknown. These themes play out beautifully in the movie's catchy original songs composed by Keegan DeWitt.
Writer/director Brett Haley does a great job of focusing on diversity while at the same time not making it a big deal. Clemons plays a biracial lesbian, but this is not a problem for anyone in the film. It's just the way she is, and everyone is comfortable with that. This subtle approach to diverse representation is refreshing and will hopefully influence other filmmakers to do the same.
After the screening, Haley announced that the film has been picked up by a distributor and will hit theaters nationwide this summer. It is sure to be a breath of fresh air amidst the avalanche of shitty superhero movies scheduled to dominate the summer box office.
Best Documentary: The Dawn Wall
Only two of the thirteen films I saw at the festival were documentaries. Perhaps I should have seen more, as they finished #2 and #4 on my list. The Dawn Wall is the incredible story of two rock climbers that ascend the steepest face of Yosemite's 3,000-foot tall cliff know as El Capitan. The climb took about 20 days to complete, and the climbers had to live strapped to the wall the entire time.
Kevin Jorgeson, one of the two climbers, held a Q&A after the screening. I asked him about the logistics of shitting off the side of the cliff, but he declined to comment.
Worst Picture: Wildling
This story of a pubescent girl transforming into a werewolf is a complete mess. There are some interesting themes about female empowerment and male oppression, but the film fails to convey those ideas in a coherent way. Bel Powley gives a strong performance in the lead role, but that's about all this movie has going for it.
Conclusion
Overall, I was a little disappointed by the movies I saw at SXSW. But again, I only saw 13 of the 124 films, so this is a very small sample size of the festival's offerings. I really enjoyed films 1-4 on my list, but there was a pretty big drop-off after that. Hearts Beat Loud was by far the best movie I saw, and I highly recommend checking it out in theaters this summer. If you saw any of these films or any others from the festival, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Michael Dixon is a mild mannered accountant by day and a mild mannered movie watcher by night. He will not do your taxes for you. He lives in Austin, Texas with his lovely television and collection of fine whiskies. You can't purchase his book anywhere because it doesn't exist.
1. Hearts Beat Loud
2. The Dawn Wall
3. Thunder Road
4. The People's Republic of Desire
5. A Vigilante
6. Don't Leave Home
7. Fast Color
8. Lean on Pete
9. All Square
10. Galveston
11. American Animals
12. First Light
13. Wildling
Best Picture: Hearts Beat Loud
Nick Offerman and Kiersey Clemons are fantastic as a single father and daughter in Hearts Beat Loud. Offerman's character is worried about losing his daughter as she prepares to leave for college, so he attempts to hold on to their relationship by writing songs with her. Meanwhile, Offerman's record store is struggling, and he is forced to decide whether to reinvest in the business or close it down and start a new career.
This is a moving story about love, family, and change. Both lead characters stand at a crossroad in their lives and are faced with the prospect of clinging to the past or letting go and entering the unknown. These themes play out beautifully in the movie's catchy original songs composed by Keegan DeWitt.
Writer/director Brett Haley does a great job of focusing on diversity while at the same time not making it a big deal. Clemons plays a biracial lesbian, but this is not a problem for anyone in the film. It's just the way she is, and everyone is comfortable with that. This subtle approach to diverse representation is refreshing and will hopefully influence other filmmakers to do the same.
After the screening, Haley announced that the film has been picked up by a distributor and will hit theaters nationwide this summer. It is sure to be a breath of fresh air amidst the avalanche of shitty superhero movies scheduled to dominate the summer box office.
Best Documentary: The Dawn Wall
Only two of the thirteen films I saw at the festival were documentaries. Perhaps I should have seen more, as they finished #2 and #4 on my list. The Dawn Wall is the incredible story of two rock climbers that ascend the steepest face of Yosemite's 3,000-foot tall cliff know as El Capitan. The climb took about 20 days to complete, and the climbers had to live strapped to the wall the entire time.
Kevin Jorgeson, one of the two climbers, held a Q&A after the screening. I asked him about the logistics of shitting off the side of the cliff, but he declined to comment.
Worst Picture: Wildling
This story of a pubescent girl transforming into a werewolf is a complete mess. There are some interesting themes about female empowerment and male oppression, but the film fails to convey those ideas in a coherent way. Bel Powley gives a strong performance in the lead role, but that's about all this movie has going for it.
Conclusion
Overall, I was a little disappointed by the movies I saw at SXSW. But again, I only saw 13 of the 124 films, so this is a very small sample size of the festival's offerings. I really enjoyed films 1-4 on my list, but there was a pretty big drop-off after that. Hearts Beat Loud was by far the best movie I saw, and I highly recommend checking it out in theaters this summer. If you saw any of these films or any others from the festival, I'd love to hear your thoughts in the comments.
Michael Dixon is a mild mannered accountant by day and a mild mannered movie watcher by night. He will not do your taxes for you. He lives in Austin, Texas with his lovely television and collection of fine whiskies. You can't purchase his book anywhere because it doesn't exist.
Great post.
ReplyDeleteA couple of quick questions:
1) Which films did you try to get into but were shut down?
2) I'd love to hear more about your thoughts of Lean on Pete and Galveston. I really enjoyed Andrew Haigh's "45 Years" and I've heard great things about Pete. As for Galveston, Ben Foster, when he's not over-doing it, is one of my favorite actors and Elle Fanning I think is a great talent. Surprised by it's placement so far down the list! But maybe not when reading more about it - surprised it's directed by Shoshanna from Inglorious Basterds.
3) In relation to Heart Beats Loud's diversity, though subtle in the film, do you think it will be a large part of the "discussion" of the film when released in the summer?
Thanks man!
ReplyDelete1) The films I couldn't get into were 6 Balloons (Zach Theatre), Sorry to Bother You (Stateside Theatre), and Prospect (Stateside Theatre). I'm interested to see those at some point because they filled up some pretty big rooms. Most screenings in those theaters had empty seats. I also failed to get into Thunder Road at Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar, but I was able to see it the next day at Stateside.
2a) I haven't seen 45 Years, but I've heard good things. I had heard good things about Lean on Pete, and I was really looking forward to seeing it. I thought it was a well executed film, but the story was pretty boring to me. I can see why people like it, but it didn't really resonate with me.
2b) I was pretty underwhelmed by Galveston. I normally like Elle Fanning, but I thought she overacted some of the scenes. I don't usually like Ben Foster. To me, he just plays Ben Foster in every role, but I actually thought he was pretty good in this. My main issue was the story. It seemed like writer/director Melanie Laurent just thought it would be interesting to pair 40-year-old Ben Foster with a teenage prostitute and see how they interact. The two characters really had no reason to be together, and I didn't think the plot made a lot of sense. There was a really cool 3+ minute long single shot scene toward the end, but that was about all the movie had going for it.
3) I really don't think diversity will be a significant part of the discussion around Hearts Beat Loud. There's a side plot about Kiersey Clemons' girlfriend, but her sexual orientation is not a focus of the film like Moonlight or Call Me by Your Name in recent years. Clemons' diversity is accepted by the other characters, and then the movie moves on. It's really a story about father/daughter relationships, but the daughter happens to be part of an underrepresented group. I like this approach to diverse representation because it normalizes other races/genders to straight white Americans going to see Nick Offerman. I loved Moonlight and Call Me by Your Name, but I think we need more diverse characters in stories that aren't about diversity. Hearts Beat Loud didn't have to have a biracial lesbian main character, but it did anyway. I'm excited to see more roles like that as Hollywood becomes more progressive.