I'm still alive, as far as I can tell. I feel like a ghost floating from theater to theater, desperate to catch a glimpse of the outside world emanating from the giant silver screen. This is the plane of my existence now. Maybe it always has been.
Thursday, March 14th, 2019
Films I Planned to See
Showtime Title Location
11:00 AM The Weekend Zach Theatre
2:00 PM Apollo 11 Zach Theatre
5:00 PM Mickey and the Bear Alamo Lamar
7:45 PM Extra Ordinary Alamo Lamar
11:00 PM Adopt a Highway Alamo Lamar
Films I Actually Saw
Showtime Title Location
11:00 AM The Weekend Zach Theatre
2:00 PM Apollo 11 Zach Theatre
5:00 PM Mickey and the Bear Alamo Lamar
11:00 PM Adopt a Highway Alamo Lamar
Four out of five ain't bad. I'm nine for nine this week at the Zach Theatre. It's definitely proven to be the best venue to buy single tickets. On to the films.
The Weekend
The Weekend is a comedy/drama about a group of four young adults struggling to find happiness and make sense of their romantic relationships. It has the feel of an old Woody Allen film, but instead of taking place among the Manhattan social elite, the story unfolds in a country bed and breakfast on the outskirts of a small town.
This is normally a genre I can get behind, but this film isn't nearly as funny or clever as it thinks it is. The story is bookended with standup routines by the lead character Zadie, which are seemingly meant to frame the story and detail her development. Unfortunately, the jokes just aren't that funny, in the standup routines or in the rest of the movie. The other characters are poorly drawn and seem to exist only to further Zadie's narrative arc. They feel more like caricatures than real people. There are some charming moments, and Sasheer Zamata gives a strong performance as Zadie, but ultimately the film doesn't really work for me.
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 is a documentary of curated clips from the Apollo 11 mission detailing humanity's first successful trip to the moon. It's filled with a lot of great old footage and serves as a historical piece bringing the mission to life for a new generation. It's fun to put yourself in the shoes of your parents or grandparents watching the mission unfold as it happens. The film is interesting and informative, but it doesn't really have anything new to add to a story that most of us already know well. I was never bored, but I left the theater wishing I had learned something new.
There are hundreds of NASA employees in the film, and every one of them is a white man. I haven't been able to stop thinking about A Tribe Called Quest's song Space Program since I left the screening. It's crazy to think about how our country has progressed since 1969 and how incredibly far we still have to go.
Mickey and the Bear
Annabelle Attanasio's feature directorial debut is the coming of age story of a high school senior and her marine veteran father in the small town of Anaconda, Montana. Hank suffers from PTSD and has never gotten over his wife's death. He copes with these issues by abusing alcohol, pills, and whatever else he can find. His daughter Mickey is left to pick up the pieces and satisfy every need in Hank's life. She is his provider, caregiver, mother, daughter, and friend. She's forced to grow up too quickly, worrying about how to save up for Hank's next inevitable bail, rather than focusing on her future.
Camila Morrone is fantastic in the titular role of Mickey after her breakout performance in last year's Never Goin' Back. She makes the character incredibly relatable, and the audience is behind her at every turn. The film serves as a commentary on PTSD and the lack of support soldiers receive from the medical community. However, the movie is really about Mickey and her daily struggle dealing with bullshit from all the men in her life. The final scene is incredibly cathartic as a feminist call for women to throw off societal expectations and pursue their own passions.
Adopt a Highway
I love Ethan Hawke, so I was really looking forward to this screening. I came away confused and disappointed. Logan Marshall-Green's directorial debut is about a middle-aged man rejoining society after serving a twenty-year sentence for marijuana possession. Shortly after leaving prison, Russell Millings (played by Hawke) discovers a baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works and quickly develops an attachment. The film quickly abandons this plot as law enforcement seizes custody of the baby, and Russell flees the state.
Hawke does what he can with the role, but the script doesn't give him anything to work with. I have no idea what Marshall-Green is trying to say with this film. He spends a lot of time criticizing California's three strike policy and clearly believes that no one should lose twenty years of his or her life for drug possession. However, his lead character is white, and the vast majority of people affected by these policies are not. The film actually mentions this at one point in a rare moment of self-awareness.
Despite this acknowledgment, Russell experiences every benefit of white privilege from the minute he steps out of prison. He finds a baby and attempts to raise it for two days before the authorities become aware. He never reaches out to the police, and they don't seem to care. They don't arrest him, and they hardly ask any questions, even after discovering that he lied to them. He gets the full benefit of the doubt despite being an ex-convict on parole. The film ends with Russell discovering that his deceased father left him a fortune in old stamps. All his problems are magically solved by the whitest possible outcome. This thing is really dumb.
That's it for Day 7. As drunken tourists scoot back to their Airbnbs, the ghost of my pre-SXSW self is left to haunt them mercilessly until this festival ends, and my soul can finally rest in the cold ground.
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.
Thursday, March 14th, 2019
Films I Planned to See
Showtime Title Location
11:00 AM The Weekend Zach Theatre
2:00 PM Apollo 11 Zach Theatre
5:00 PM Mickey and the Bear Alamo Lamar
7:45 PM Extra Ordinary Alamo Lamar
11:00 PM Adopt a Highway Alamo Lamar
Films I Actually Saw
Showtime Title Location
11:00 AM The Weekend Zach Theatre
2:00 PM Apollo 11 Zach Theatre
5:00 PM Mickey and the Bear Alamo Lamar
11:00 PM Adopt a Highway Alamo Lamar
Four out of five ain't bad. I'm nine for nine this week at the Zach Theatre. It's definitely proven to be the best venue to buy single tickets. On to the films.
The Weekend
The Weekend is a comedy/drama about a group of four young adults struggling to find happiness and make sense of their romantic relationships. It has the feel of an old Woody Allen film, but instead of taking place among the Manhattan social elite, the story unfolds in a country bed and breakfast on the outskirts of a small town.
This is normally a genre I can get behind, but this film isn't nearly as funny or clever as it thinks it is. The story is bookended with standup routines by the lead character Zadie, which are seemingly meant to frame the story and detail her development. Unfortunately, the jokes just aren't that funny, in the standup routines or in the rest of the movie. The other characters are poorly drawn and seem to exist only to further Zadie's narrative arc. They feel more like caricatures than real people. There are some charming moments, and Sasheer Zamata gives a strong performance as Zadie, but ultimately the film doesn't really work for me.
Apollo 11
Apollo 11 is a documentary of curated clips from the Apollo 11 mission detailing humanity's first successful trip to the moon. It's filled with a lot of great old footage and serves as a historical piece bringing the mission to life for a new generation. It's fun to put yourself in the shoes of your parents or grandparents watching the mission unfold as it happens. The film is interesting and informative, but it doesn't really have anything new to add to a story that most of us already know well. I was never bored, but I left the theater wishing I had learned something new.
There are hundreds of NASA employees in the film, and every one of them is a white man. I haven't been able to stop thinking about A Tribe Called Quest's song Space Program since I left the screening. It's crazy to think about how our country has progressed since 1969 and how incredibly far we still have to go.
Mickey and the Bear
Annabelle Attanasio's feature directorial debut is the coming of age story of a high school senior and her marine veteran father in the small town of Anaconda, Montana. Hank suffers from PTSD and has never gotten over his wife's death. He copes with these issues by abusing alcohol, pills, and whatever else he can find. His daughter Mickey is left to pick up the pieces and satisfy every need in Hank's life. She is his provider, caregiver, mother, daughter, and friend. She's forced to grow up too quickly, worrying about how to save up for Hank's next inevitable bail, rather than focusing on her future.
Camila Morrone is fantastic in the titular role of Mickey after her breakout performance in last year's Never Goin' Back. She makes the character incredibly relatable, and the audience is behind her at every turn. The film serves as a commentary on PTSD and the lack of support soldiers receive from the medical community. However, the movie is really about Mickey and her daily struggle dealing with bullshit from all the men in her life. The final scene is incredibly cathartic as a feminist call for women to throw off societal expectations and pursue their own passions.
Adopt a Highway
I love Ethan Hawke, so I was really looking forward to this screening. I came away confused and disappointed. Logan Marshall-Green's directorial debut is about a middle-aged man rejoining society after serving a twenty-year sentence for marijuana possession. Shortly after leaving prison, Russell Millings (played by Hawke) discovers a baby in a dumpster behind the fast food restaurant where he works and quickly develops an attachment. The film quickly abandons this plot as law enforcement seizes custody of the baby, and Russell flees the state.
Hawke does what he can with the role, but the script doesn't give him anything to work with. I have no idea what Marshall-Green is trying to say with this film. He spends a lot of time criticizing California's three strike policy and clearly believes that no one should lose twenty years of his or her life for drug possession. However, his lead character is white, and the vast majority of people affected by these policies are not. The film actually mentions this at one point in a rare moment of self-awareness.
Despite this acknowledgment, Russell experiences every benefit of white privilege from the minute he steps out of prison. He finds a baby and attempts to raise it for two days before the authorities become aware. He never reaches out to the police, and they don't seem to care. They don't arrest him, and they hardly ask any questions, even after discovering that he lied to them. He gets the full benefit of the doubt despite being an ex-convict on parole. The film ends with Russell discovering that his deceased father left him a fortune in old stamps. All his problems are magically solved by the whitest possible outcome. This thing is really dumb.
That's it for Day 7. As drunken tourists scoot back to their Airbnbs, the ghost of my pre-SXSW self is left to haunt them mercilessly until this festival ends, and my soul can finally rest in the cold ground.
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.
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