SXSW Review ~ Hypochondriac

Synopsis: A young potter’s life devolves into chaos as he loses the function of his body while being haunted by the physical manifestation of his childhood trauma.
Director: Addison Heimann
Running Length: 96 minutes
Review: Though they’ve been getting more screen time within the last decade, most of the queer characters in horror films have been more coded than center stage throughout the genre’s history. They haven’t had much of an opportunity for prominence. I’m not sure if writer/director Addison Heimann had that consciously on his mind when making Hypochondriac, based in part on his journey through a nervous breakdown. Still, that real-life experience gives his onscreen proxy an opening to pave the way for future LGBTQ+ representation. Zach Villa takes us through a significant emotional arc as a man forced to confront his mentally unstable mother who returns to his life just as he has settled into a competitive job and comfortable relationship. Memories of the past shatter the calm waters of the present, plunging him into a psychological spiral he cannot escape. Is it his mother exerting some power over him, his mental illness emerging, or something darker still out to destroy everything he loves? Some aspects of Hypochondriac are easily comparable to 2001’s Donnie Darko, but writing it off as a gay version of that cult classic is giving short shrift to this well-done and emotionally vulnerable piece. Working with a smaller budget means the film sometimes looks a little dingy, but otherwise, it impressively manages its metaphors.

SXSW Review ~ Pretty Problems

Synopsis: Jack and Lindsay are invited on a getaway trip with affluent strangers: down the rabbit hole and into the most unhinged weekend of their lives. Can their relationship survive?
Director: Kestrin Pantera
Running Length: 103 minutes
Review: This far into the SXSW experience, it’s easy for the movies to begin to blend together at times. In a way, they can be indistinguishable from one another because all have similar aesthetics and an overall vibe, clearly a focus by the festival curators. Those that stick out from the fray are such welcome surprises, and in a year of enjoyably strong offerings, Pretty Problems was a leader of the pack in laughs and consistency. A new friend invites a middle-class California couple to a posh weekend gathering in wine country that stirs up buttoned-down emotions in their stagnant marriage as they attempt to enjoy the life of luxury. The wife wants more of life and thinks marriage holds her back; the husband feels the opposite. Their hosts provide an attractive mirror to their relationship, not to mention a second couple, a himbo and his ditzy girlfriend so dim they think the ice in Antarctica is made out of penguin urine. 

Reading up on the film after, I learned that two couples are married in real life, but not to each other, and one of them wrote the movie. With all that involvement, you might expect the material to be slanted in one direction, but there’s a spreading of the wealth that gives everyone more than a few spotlight moments. I laughed out loud multiple times and rewound a few scenes to watch them again. I especially liked J.J. Nolan’s eccentric hostess because you never quite know whether she invited this random couple along for the friendship potential or merely her entertainment. Thankfully, there’s little of the mean-spiritedness that often creeps into these types of films. Any of the problems in Pretty Problems aren’t solved by taking others down a peg. Keep your eyes out for this one.

SXSW Review ~ It Is in Us All

Synopsis: A formidable man who cares for nothing is forced to confront his self-destructive core when a violent car crash challenges him to face his truth.
Director: Antonia Campbell-Hughes
Running Length: 92 minutes
Review: Ooo… doesn’t the logline for this film sound dark and mysterious? That’s all I had to go off of, and with my choice of titles dwindling at SXSW, I’ll admit this was a selection born out of a need to watch whatever wasn’t a documentary (I had watched several in a row at that point) so, this Irish thriller got the green light. Knowing little about the film was the way to go because writer/director Antonia Campbell-Hughes (who also has a small but pivotal role) is good about doling out tiny bits of info, never letting us get too far ahead or revealing more than necessary. Opening with the arrival of Hamish (a stunning Cosmo Jarvis, The Shadow of Violence) in Ireland, he’s headed back to his mother’s hometown when he’s involved in a horrible car crash that leaves him badly injured and a young boy dead. Recuperating in the home of his recently deceased aunt and refusing much care from anyone trying to help, he does find a local teenager’s (Rhys Mannion) acute interest in him strangely intriguing. Campbell-Hughes does well in bringing everyone (including the viewer) right to the edge but struggles during the latter half of It Is in Us All with committing to decision and definition. That frustrated me at times, especially when it feels like there are only two options available in any given situation for these haunted people. One thing is for sure, Jarvis is a star on the rise. 

SXSW Review ~ B**ch A*s

Synopsis: A gang initiation goes wrong when a group of four recruits break into a house of horror, as they’re all forced to play deadly games for their lives.
Director: Bill Posley
Running Length: 83 minutes
Review: There’s always one. The one film you see and wonder how it managed to make it past the adjudicators of a festival selection staff. Of all the movies I saw at SXSW, Bitch Ass sounded the most interesting, not just because it was a headliner in the horror-themed Midnighters series, but because Bill Posley’s urban Saw-ish set-up presented itself as if it might offer a bit of fun with the frights. That illusion went out the door when this cheap-o, sloppy endeavor began. Attempting to emulate the analog experience by having Candyman himself, Tony Todd introducing the film as an old VHS discovery, the foolish choice of having the movie framed in a way that cuts off key parts of the screen (and therefore much of the credits) just made me think there was something wrong with my TV. The ramshackle, public access look continues for the next 80 punishing minutes. Whatever fraction of decent acting there is gets undone by poorly conceived dialogue and pacing that will try even the most forgiving horror fans. Undoubtedly the worst film to be shown at SXSW.

SXSW Review ~ Spaz

Synopsis: Steve ‘Spaz’ Williams is a pioneer in computer animation, but an appetite for anarchy and reckless disregard for authority may have cost him the recognition he deserved.
Director: Scott Leberecht
Running Length: 86 minutes
Review: I passed up this documentary a few times because of the title. Rookie error! Once I had time to read about it, I realized that Spaz (an outdated term the movie acknowledges at the top) should have sat at the top of my list from the beginning. Scott Lebrecht’s look at the life of legendary computer animator Steve Williams is an honest examination of the artist’s landmark achievements and the fall from grace and alcohol issues that were his ultimate downfall. Interviewing Williams now, while there’s still a sparkle in his eye, the image we get is a far cry from the maverick pioneer that was behind the first of their kind effects in The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgement Day, and Jurassic Park. Through interviews with family, friends, and former co-workers, the viewer is taken through each step of the journey, and it’s clear how much respect Williams has from his peers. The personal demons won out, though, and he begins the film as a loud, beer-swilling storyteller that looks back with some regret…but it’s not where things wind up. Movie fans will love the behind-the-scenes info Lebrecht digs up and the slick way the 86 minute film is assembled. Very entertaining.

SXSW Review ~ The Thief Collector

Synopsis: In 1985, Willem de Kooning’s “Woman-Ochre,” one of the most valuable paintings of the 20th century, was cut from its frame at the University of Arizona Museum of Art. 32 years later, the painting was found hanging in a New Mexico home.
Director: Allison Otto
Running Length: 93 minutes
Review: This was one of the stretch assignments I tasked myself with to expand my horizons. I’m all for a good heist documentary, but at first, I thought The Thief Collector, about a New Mexico couple found to have stolen a priceless painting by Willem de Kooning, was speaking a different language to me. Not being from the art world (hence why I also watched The Art of Making It), I’m not acutely familiar with de Kooning’s work and certainly never heard of “Woman-Ochre” before watching Allison Otto’s colorful detective piece. After reading some good notices about Otto’s film, I gave this one a go, and the results were mixed. While I appreciated hearing about this strange, uncovered mystery and how the case developed into more than just an investigation of a stolen painting, an overreliance on dramatic recreations always tips me off that there was a lack of material necessary for a complete film. I think these filmed segments with actors held the movie back and brought in a faux reality that took me out of the film too much. Much more successful were the quirky characters Otto located to chat with and a few of the crazy theories tossed out along the way regarding motive. I can easily see this one turning up on Netflix.

SXSW Review ~ Bad Axe

Synopsis: A real-time portrait of 2020 unfolds as an Asian-American family in Trump’s rural America fights to keep their restaurant and American dream alive in the face of a pandemic, Neo-Nazis, and generational scars from the Killing Fields.
Director: David Siev
Running Length: 100 minutes
Review: One of the last movies I saw at SXSW was unquestionably the best. I’d been trying to actively stay away from anything that has to deal directly with the pandemic that has been gripping the world for the last two years, so I was ready to grit my teeth for the good of David Siev’s film. Involving one family living in the same house through much of the 2020 pandemic, Siev has used his family and family business as the subjects of Bad Axe, his look into what it was like to be a minority business owner trying to stay afloat during uncertain times. Along with his siblings, Siev worked at his family’s restaurant and visited there often to observe how things changed over time, from navigating take-out orders to dealing with annoyed customers that refused to wear masks indoors. It’s not just the arguing at restaurants; the siblings themselves all have individual reckonings of their own that we watch unfold. At the head of all this are Siev’s strong-willed parents, a Cambodian immigrant father and a Mexican mother, who have different approaches to adjusting to life with new protocols. When the Black Lives Matter movement comes to town, new troubles arise when the mostly Republican community gets wind of Siev’s potential documentary and participation from particular Siev family and their employees in the cause. While I often watched the movie riveted into silence, Siev captures many humorous moments as well, all aching with a sincerity we can relate to. As much as we want to forget the last two years, consider Bad Axe a fulfilling catch-all that reflects an experience many either witnessed firsthand or should be more aware of.

SXSW Review ~ Cha Cha Real Smooth

Synopsis: A young man who works as a Bar Mitzvah party host strikes up a friendship with a mother and her autistic daughter.
Director: Cooper Raiff
Running Length: 107 minutes
Review: Ask anyone that attended SXSW to name the one film on the programming schedule that will likely wind up making the most money, and everyone will point to writer/director/star Cooper Raiff’s Cha Cha Real Smooth. And with good reason. The film is extremely entertaining; honest, and moving on a level we don’t get that often in movies. Raiff plays Andrew, an aimless recent college grad living at home who finds some small wins when he becomes an in-demand party host on the Bar Mitzvah circuit in his hometown. At one such event, he meets Domino (Dakota Johnson) and her autistic daughter Lola (Vanessa Burghardt). Bonding quickly with mother and daughter, Andrew’s plans for the future get thrown into turmoil when his feelings for Domino get complicated after the arrival of her fiancée. Raiff’s insightful screenplay affords a fantastic arc for Johnson to deliver her best performance to date, not to mention introducing Burghardt as a delightful talent and the engaging Raiff. From beginning to end, the movie is an absolute joy. After being bought by Apple out of its premiere at Sundance, expect this one to get the royal treatment as it premiers in a prime spot and gets positioned as a major awards contender. 

SXSW Review ~ Jethica

Synopsis: When Jessica’s stalker surprises her in New Mexico, she must seek help from beyond the grave to get rid of him for good.
Director: Pete Ohs
Running Length: 70 minutes
Review: At the outset, I see the 70-minute length for Jethica, and I get excited because, after a long week of movies, I’m up for a film that is all meat, no fat. While it winds up having some gristle around the edges, some interesting things are going on in this odd duck effort from Pete Ohs that I grew to like even more after it was over and I had time to sit with it. Not for those looking for a polished product but perfect for patrons of ultra-indie shoestring and popsicle stick-made treasures, it takes a while for Jethica to reveal its intentions, but once it gets started, you can’t quite get it to slow down. Framed as a post-coital ghost story, Elena sees her old friend Jessica at a gas station and asks her out for coffee. Over a cup, Jessica lets Elena know why she’s back in town and eventually all about a man stalking her. When the man (Will Madden) shows up in town, Jessica realizes just how deep his devotion is; at the same time, she understands the trouble she’s brought home. Ohs packs Jethica with several large twists, some obvious, one not so much, that come in quick order, so stay with it and pay attention to some of the hysterical dialogue given to Jessica’s stalker. Yes, there are horror elements to this, but horror doesn’t always have to involve blood and gore; sometimes, relationships and annoying partners are hell.

SXSW Review ~ We Feed People

Synopsis: A chronicle of how José Andrés and his nonprofit rebuilds nations in the wake of a disaster, providing healthy food to those affected.
Director: Ron Howard
Running Length: 89 minutes
Review: Oscar-winning director Ron Howard has put aside the Hollywood game for a bit and turned his lens on stories impacting the real world. Over the past six years, he’s directed more documentaries than feature films, many of which have spoken to various crises facing parts of our country and abroad. His latest, We Feed People, looks at one man’s mission to form a coalition that ensures food is available to all in need during disasters. Like his previous documentary, 2020’s Rebuilding Paradise, about the California wildfires and the devastation they caused to one community, the footage Howard and his crew can get is extraordinary. The interviews with those involved/affected are great advertisements to fundraise, and eventually, that’s precisely what We Feed People starts to feel like: an 89-minute fundraising advertisement. I appreciated learning about Chef José Andrés (he prefers cook) and his work. Still, by the end, it started to feel like it was leaning toward a pitch for our business rather than a presentation to be informative. 

SXSW Review ~ A Lot of Nothing

Synopsis: A successful and smart married couple find their lives spiraling out of control when they decide to seek justice against a neighbor they saw commit a crime on the evening news.
Director: Mo McRae
Running Length: 107 minutes
Review: On the one hand, A Lot of Nothing is everything you’d want in a film that represents a meaningful social dialogue brought to the screen. Fantastic performances, especially from leads Y’lan Noel (a brilliant powder keg in his acting) and Cleopatra Coleman (charming in The Right One and commanding here), along with several well-choreographed sequences with cinematographer John Rosario that give this indie a polished sheen. These scenes, including the twenty-minute opening prologue filmed in one take, are impressive enough to signal co-writer and director Mo McRae as a filmmaker to keep an eye on. Yet McRae and his co-screenwriter Sarah Kelly Kaplan try to stuff their commentary with too much, and by the end, the film loses its narrow focus in favor of the broader loose end tangents it can’t pin down. A timely drama bristling with racial tension when a black couple holds their white police officer neighbor hostage, I think audiences will have committed to the film by the time it goes south-ish, but it’s too bad it doesn’t end as strong as it starts. Speaking of strong, here’s another SXSW film with a score that often overpowers the dialogue to the point of farce. Is no one paying attention to sound mixing?

SXSW Review ~ Slash/Back

Synopsis: When Maika and her ragtag friends discover an alien invasion in their tiny arctic hamlet, it’s up to them to save the day.
Director: Nyla Innuksuk
Running Length: 86 minutes
Review: Anytime a film employs nonprofessional actors, there is always the risk of the end product coming off like an amateur effort that can discredit even the most well-intentioned of projects. Then there are the movies, like director Nyla Innuksuk’s Slash/Back, which strike gold uncovering the actors that enhance the experience. The cast of young women Innuksuk has put together for her small-town alien invasion film will brighten the mood of even the most hardened of genre fans that have seen similar plotlines in countless B-pictures over the years. An alien entity lands in a remote location and begins to hunt for hosts to feed on and off of. This body-invading, blood-sucking monster has chosen the wrong Northern Canadian village of Inuk people to attack. The town of Pang has a legion of kids, mostly pre-teen girls, that have identified the threat and join forces to battle back the skin-thieving beasts. Not only does Innuksuk coax authentically intelligent performances from her young cast, but there are legitimately thrilling creature effects, scares, and action sequences to please fans of films like The Blob and The Thing. One of the very best highlights of SXSW and, I’m guessing, one of the movies that will emerge from the fest with the highest chances of commercial success. 

SXSW Review ~ The Cow

Synopsis: When Kath and her boyfriend arrive at a remote cabin in the redwoods, they find a mysterious younger couple already there. Her boyfriend disappears with the young woman, and Kath becomes obsessed with finding an explanation.
Director: Eli Horowitz
Running Length: 93 minutes
Review: Pleased to report that The Cow, one of the films I was most interested in seeing at SXSW, wasn’t a disappointment. It was an altogether different movie than I expected to find going in, making the watch much more interesting to sit through. First and foremost, let’s acknowledge that The Cow welcomes back Oscar-nominated actress Winona Ryder to the kind of acting work we’ve wanted to see her in for a while. Taking on the occasional supporting film role while finding success in television, her performance in Eli Horowitz’s mystery will go down as one of her most enjoyable. Ryder plays a woman dating a younger man (John Gallagher, Jr.) with whom she shares little interest but is still surprised when he vanishes on their weekend away with the woman they met on their first night at a double-booked Airbnb. The more she thinks about the slight, the more upset she gets and thinks she is owed an answer. She should be careful what she asks for. Horowitz has fun with timelines and our perception of the situations we are seeing, allowing Ryder and the other cast (Brianne Tju is another stellar standout) to squirm in a series of uncomfortable scenes. Don’t let anyone spoil this one for you but trust me when I say that if you’re a Ryder ride or die…this will give you big-time happiness.

SXSW Review ~ Raquel 1,1

Synopsis: A teenager who moves with her father to a small, religious Brazilian town and believes she is given an important and controversial mission related to the Bible.
Director: Mariana Bastos
Running Length: 90 minutes
Review: The one behavior at a film fest that I’m still getting acquainted with is keeping my ear to the ground for the buzz of what titles weren’t on my list going into the week but have popped up frequently as worth-your-time choices. The movie that everyone seemed to speak highly of was Raquel 1,1, a Brazilian drama with horror on its fringe. Director Mariana Bastos has a skilled way of using visual and aural elements to mesmerize the viewer, often without our even being aware it’s happening. The young woman arriving with her father in his tiny hometown after her mother was violently murdered by her lover is still harboring a deep emotional trauma. She is looking for peace through the spiritual healing of the church and quickly joins a youth group of girls. After being reacquainted with the scripture, Raquel finds the role of women too submissive and questions its teachings, running afoul of the pastor’s daughter, who convinces the town she is a false prophet of evil. Never questioning God’s existence, just seeking a more substantial role for women, Raquel (marvelous Valentina Herszage) is cast out, but the shunning isn’t enough for some. And simple revenge isn’t good enough for Raquel. Beautifully filmed on location and rarely relying on the familiar to scare the viewer, the slow burn may be too much of a simmer for the typical viewer but for those interested in a character study that builds to a fiery climax, open your movie textbooks to Raquel 1,1.

SXSW Review ~ X

Synopsis: In 1979, a group of young filmmakers set out to make an adult film in rural Texas, but when their reclusive, elderly hosts catch them in the act, the cast find themselves fighting for their lives.
Director: Ti West
Running Length: 105 minutes
Review: Spending his time directing television for the last six years, director Ti West is back on the big screen and debuting his new film, X, at SXSW. My full review of the film is coming in several days, but for now, this bite-sized review is here to let you know that as crazy f***ed up as the previews for West’s film have been so far (and I thought the trailers were a bit on the extreme side of things), studio A24 has saved the best stuff for audiences waiting to see Mia Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow, Martin Henderson, & more in this gore-gy of old-school bloody scares. Set in 1979 and enjoying every second of it, it’s raunchy and randy more than anything, with the actual violence erupting in spurts. Don’t leave your seat until the last credit is done. I’m not kidding.

SXSW Review ~ Spin Me Round

Synopsis: A woman wins an all-expenses trip to a company’s gorgeous “institute” outside of Florence and also the chance to meet the restaurant chain’s wealthy and charismatic owner. She finds a different adventure than the one she imagined.
Director: Jeff Baena
Running Length: 104 minutes
Review: On paper, Spin Me Round has it all. Great cast, a beautiful location, a broad set-up that could go in many different directions, and a score by the legendary Pino Donaggio (Carrie, Blow Out, etc.). So how does it wind up being a frustratingly uneven non-starter that persistently leads the viewer toward a joke that never pays off? After 2020’s Horse Girl, star Alison Brie and director Jeff Baena team up again on a quirky script that sends Brie off to Italy for a manager’s training at a posh villa. She fantasizes about finding love but instead winds up in a rundown hotel on the property with a handful of other regional representatives, including Molly Shannon, dependably using her schtick to deliver energy to some very dry sections. When Brie’s character is romanced by both the head of the company and his mysterious alluring assistant (a, well, mysteriously alluring Aubrey Plaza), it lights a fuse for an explosive conclusion to an otherwise humdrum week. Baena stacks the film with the kind of names that usually carry full supporting comedic roles on their shoulders, but when asked to spread that wealth around, no one seems to know how to be specific with their minor screen time. The film works best when Brie and Zach Woods team up to figure out the true motive behind the company gathering of the managers, but it’s so far into this strange voyage that I already had my bags packed ready to depart. Spin Me Round needed another trip around the rewrite bay before it went into production, and now it needs a solid edit to pare it down and focus the tone.

SXSW Review ~ To Leslie

Synopsis: A West Texas single mother wins the lottery and squanders it just as fast, leaving behind a world of heartbreak.
Director: Michael Morris
Running Length: 119 minutes
Review: Ooooo, that was close. It was really close. I almost missed this excellent drama, inspired by actual events because, at first glance, it seemed like your run-of-the-mill tale of success despite the scourge of addiction. True, To Leslie from director Michael Morris does follow the pattern of many feature films and television specials that have come before it, but it’s the performances that give it that special extra to take it to a higher level. Playing a Texan woman that has ruined relationships with everyone she’s ever loved, the British Andrea Riseborough completely immerses herself in the role so deeply there are moments throughout the film where you forget it’s an actress delivering Ryan Binaco dialogue. This is full-bodied acting that isn’t for show or the viewer at home but in service of the work, and that honesty seeps into every crevice of screentime she has. I was equally impressed with Marc Maron, who, up until this point, has played comedic supporting characters or brief dramatic cameos. He’s given a chance to create a whole person to complement Riseborough and does so quite believably. You know anytime Allison Janney shows up it’s going to be a party, and her gray-haired, leather-skinned seen-it-all mother-in-law is just as good as you think it’s going to be. This is one of the best SXSW films from start to finish, especially as it arrives at an ending that feels just about perfect.

SXSW Review ~ The Art of Making It

Synopsis: Against the backdrop of a culture in crisis, young artists at defining moments in their careers explore whether the art world ecosystem meant to nurture them is actually failing them.
Director: Kelcey Edwards
Running Length: 94 minutes
Review: In my recent review of Really Good Rejects, I mentioned that its world of specialized musicians is one I wasn’t familiar with, and the same could be said about the world of art collectors.  In The Art of Making It, viewers get taken into this tricky scene by director Kelcey Edwards and come out the other side with a better understanding of its pitfalls.  What makes a work of art, and therefore the artist, worth more than another?  Edwards interviews several upper echelon art insiders and artists starting their careers to get their perspectives on where the business side of the medium was and is going in a post-pandemic climate.  Far more accessible than you might imagine, The Art of Making It is a finely etched portrait of the haves and want-to-get-there’s that lets the subjects take the brush most of the time.

SXSW Review ~ The Locust

Synopsis: During the rehearsal of a semi-autobiographical film script, a 40-year-old woman cannot tolerate any indifferent and ignorant reactions as the cast begins to judge her character.
Director: Faezeh Azizkhani
Running Length: 81 minutes
Review: Into every film fest, a little rain must fall, and The Locust is the first movie I saw that left me a little crushed.  I had higher than average hopes for this Iranian entry featuring a woman wanting to get her semi-autobiographical script made but forced to sell it to her friend to pay her rent.  Now, indebted to a friend wanting changes, she must sit idly by while numerous opinions on her work (and her life) get thrown around in front of her.  Director Faezeh Azizkhani’s 81-minute film has several inspired moments that show you what the movie could have been, such as having Hanieh (a captivating Hanie Tavassoli) leave a room and wind up outdoors talking to her deceased father or stepping outside the action to break the fourth wall.  These bits and pieces serve as breathers from the rapid-fire talk that’s often hard to settle into.  Even if it’s intentional, it becomes alienating and eventually suffocating to witness.  The Locust is a movie with growing ideas that I appreciated but an overall execution with which I couldn’t find a balance.

SXSW Review ~ The Cellar

Synopsis: A mother discovers there is an ancient and powerful entity controlling her home that she will have to face or risk losing her family’s souls forever.
Director: Brendan Muldowney
Running Length: 95 minutes
Review: There’s a bit of the rainy-day Saturday fun to The Cellar that makes this SXSW Midnighters entry more enjoyable than your average haunted house offering.  Writer/director Brendan Muldowney’s Irish horror film might not win points with genre fans in the original scares department or for creating especially compelling characters, but give it credit for establishing a spooky mood that allows the viewer a free ride to Frightville.  Using, of all things, mathematics as the scheme by which the supernatural element infiltrates a young family, Muldowney aims higher than his peers where the plot is concerned yet doesn’t spend quite as much time on the characters that are figuring out these equations.  Thankfully, the performances (including Elisha Cuthbert & Eoin Macken) are competent enough to smooth out any gaps. The production values are strong, resulting in a fear flick in which you can have some confidence.   

SXSW Review ~ Linoleum

Synopsis: When the host of a failing children’s science show tries to fulfill his childhood dream of becoming an astronaut by building a rocket ship in his garage, a series of bizarre events occur that cause him to question his own reality.
Director: Colin West
Running Length: 101 minutes
Review: You’re going to have to be careful if you are interested in seeing this sci-fi family drama because it’s got a few tricks up its sleeve that could be spoiled by the wrong reviewer.  I could tell you what movies Linoleum reminded me of, but even that would run the risk of giving away some of writer/director Colin West’s best moments for stars Jim Gaffigan and Rhea Seehorn.  The two play a husband and wife in small-town suburbia facing divorce because of an aimless marriage.  She wants a more established career, and he’s stuck as the lead of a dying cable-access science show.  A car falling from the sky with a man that looks a lot like Gaffigan is the first strange occurrence that upsets this idyllic, if stale, climate.  When that same guy oddly turns out to be his replacement as host of his job, it sets the frustrated dad off on a quest to reclaim a dream from his youth.  It’s clear early on that West is presenting viewers with a puzzle to solve, and while experienced players may figure out how the pieces are meant to line up, it’s hard to predict the final shape Linoleum takes.  While it can wander a bit throughout its running time, stick with this one and pay attention to the details, you’ll be rewarded at the end with an emotional payoff that is the result of wonderful performances and a thoughtful screenplay.

SXSW Review ~ The Prank

Synopsis: An imperious, demanding instructor gets taught a lesson by being falsely accused of murder by two of her students.
Director: Maureen Bharoocha
Running Length: 91 minutes
Review: Yes, there are a lot of similarities between The Prank and that deservedly underseen 1999 teen thriller Teaching Mrs. Tingle.  Both feature an Oscar-winning actress playing a cruel schoolmarm that’s mean for the fun of it and gets her comeuppance in the form of a smear campaign started by her students.  What The Prank has that Tingle doesn’t is the sense of humor it so desperately needed.  While Tingle wanted to have its cake and slice it too, The Prank is first and foremost a black comedy that sprinkles its horror bits as a tasty extra on top.  Director Maureen Bharoocha (at SXSW after her excellent Golden Arm couldn’t premiere at the canceled 2020 event) has helmed a slick production with lively performances.  As the students that plot and plant the rumor that gets their teacher in hot water, Connor Kalopsis & Ramona Young are a good match for one another, and the supporting players each find small moments of joyful contribution along the way.  The Prank belongs to Rita Moreno as the leather glove-wearing most feared physics teacher on the block.  With her severe bob, the tiny Moreno gives a big performance – and what a delicious performance it is! It’s so fun that it alone makes the movie worth a watch.  After narrowly missing a second Oscar nomination for 2021’s West Side Story, Moreno is on a roll already in 2022 as the willing target at the center of The Prank.

SXSW Review ~ I Get Knocked Down

Synopsis: Dunstan Bruce is 59 and he’s struggling with the fact that the world seems to be going to hell in a handcart. He is angry and frustrated. How does a middle-aged, retired radical, who feels invisible get back up again?
Director: Dunstan Bruce & Sophie Robinson
Running Length: 88 minutes
Review:  Admittedly, I went into this documentary made by Dunstan Bruce and Sophie Robinson with scant knowledge of Chumbawamba, the band Bruce famously fronted in the ’80s and ’90s that skyrocketed to success with their 1997 hit “Tubthumping.” Outside of that one-hit, which I, of course, owned on CD single (OK, CD maxi-single), I wasn’t aware of the band’s anarchist philosophies or how they sought to use their influence to enact change in their UK homeland. Bruce’s reflection on these early days and his reunion with his former bandmates isn’t a strained experience, as many of these rock docs often are. If there’s bad blood that exists, we don’t see it, outside of Bruce’s sometimes disbelief at how far several have drifted from their adamant stance against formalized radicalism. This development leaves Bruce feeling like the lone man still fighting the good fight while realizing that there may not be a fight to be had. It’s not quite a pity party, and Bruce is an attractive focal point with a good sense of humor, willing to be self-effacing when called on to do so. I Get Knocked Down might not be for the entry-level Chumbawumba fan, but if you’ve found yourself at a bar-raising a pint in the air to their biggest commercial hit at some point, give this one a look.

SXSW Review ~ Fire of Love

Synopsis: Intrepid scientists and lovers Katia and Maurice Krafft died in a volcanic explosion doing the very thing that brought them together: unraveling the mysteries of volcanoes by capturing the most explosive imagery ever recorded.
Director: Sara Dosa
Running Length: 92 minutes
Review:  I did a little bit of research on some of the most impressive photos and film footage of volcanoes over the past few decades and was surprised at how many were credited to French volcanologists, Katia and Maurice Krafft. Until Sara Dosa’s documentary Fire of Love, I had never heard of the two before, but the array of material the Kraffts contributed to the study of volcanos was truly staggering. When they perished in a 1991 volcanic explosion, the world lost a wealth of valuable knowledge that has now been unearthed, at least visually, by Dosa in a fascinating documentary that beautifully reconstructs their life and work. Dosa edited down an incredible amount of footage to 92 minutes, and that’s no small feat, especially when you consider how that has to tell a story (with help from narrator Miranda July) that flows informatively between the personal and professional lives of the Kraffts.  Maurice Krafft claimed not to be a filmmaker, but, as July points out in Dosa’s scripted narration, you can’t tell based on the size and scope of the footage he’s captured. It all came together to form a fascinating examination of researchers curious about one of the earth’s most mysterious secrets and died in the discovery.

SXSW Review ~ Still Working 9 to 5

Synopsis: When #1 comedy, 9 to 5, starring Jane Fonda, Dolly Parton, Dabney Coleman, and Lily Tomlin, exploded on the screens in 1980, the laughs hid a serious message about women in the office.
Director: Camille Hardman & Gary Lane
Running Length: 96 minutes
Review: As a long-time fan of the 1980 blockbuster 9 to 5 (it was the second highest-grossing film of the year), there is not a lot about the movie that I didn’t know. Or so I thought. Watching Still Working 9 to 5, I was honestly amazed at how much information Camille Hardman and Gary Lane were able to unearth about not just the movie but the subsequent television series and stage adaptations that followed. For a movie fan, this is a pot of gold kind of documentary which gives you interviews with every person you want to see, plus so much more. The absolute joy of what Hardman and Lane focus on, and what most behind-the-scenes documentaries can’t get into, is the temperature of culture and climate before the film went into production, after it came out and in the years since. This approach helps viewers get a proper understanding of why the movie was such a significant accomplishment, how far society has come in the 40 years since its release, and how much further we still need to go. Wonderful in its entirety.

SXSW Review ~ I Love My Dad

Synopsis: A hopelessly estranged father catfishes his son in an attempt to reconnect.
Director: James Morosini
Running Length: 98 minutes
Review: I thought we’d seen the last of the dependably entertaining road trip comedies, but it turns out we just needed to add a bit of father-son drama to the mix to resurrect the genre. Writer/director/star James Morosini uses his own life as the basis for this whale of a tale that could have abused its absurdity with out-of-place humor but instead embraces it with winning compassion. A suicidal adult son alienated from his absentee father is coaxed out of his shell by an attractive girl he meets online, opening up to her and finding that he may have found his soulmate. The trouble is, it’s his father (the spectacular Patton Oswalt) under a fake profile in a last-ditch attempt to connect with his son that has blocked all contact after a lifetime of disappointment. The film handles the switcheroo nicely, with Claudia Sulewski as the imaginary girl blessedly standing in for conversations with Morosini, so we don’t have to read endless text back and forth. The catfish set-up is as awkward as it sounds, making the well of uncomfortable situations only grow as the film progresses. Still, Oswalt, Morosini, and Sulewski keep you watching and wanting to know more. I can see audiences responding well to I Love My Dad and not just at SXSW.

SXSW Review ~ Shadow

Synopsis: A group of activists hold a public meeting, desperate to save the world. As the meeting unravels, they discover the greatest threat to their future is already in the room.
Director: Bruce Gladwin
Running Length: 61 minutes
Review: If you’re fortunate, you’ll run across a selection at one of these film fests that knocks your socks off in unexpected ways. We’re only on day two of 2022 SXSW, and I’m guessing Shadow might be an early contender for that claim to fame. A screen adaptation of a play created by the Back to Back Theatre based in Australia, it is comprised almost entirely of neurodivergent and/or disabled actors from the company and surrounding area. Running a trim 61 minutes, I’d classify it more of a dialogue than a traditional three-act structure, and wow, would I have loved to see this one on stage. The cast engages the viewer and themselves in a lively discussion on the future of human rights for those seen as other, along with the tendency to mislabel and misunderstand that same population, even when we think we’re being of assistance. It’s riveting stuff, and though it begins to drift when director Bruce Gladwin moves the action outside of a confined space, the trio of leads (Simon Laherty, Sarah Mainwaring, Scott Price) deliver some of the most unflinchingly honest performances you’ll see at SXSW or in any film this year. Make time to see Shadow.

SXSW ~ Really Good Rejects

Synopsis: Follows Reuben Cox as he channels his inner instinct and artistic intuition in creating unique, custom guitars sought after by some of rock’s biggest and most respected artists.
Director: Alice Gu
Running Length: 95 minutes
Review:  For someone that doesn’t know a good guitar from a brick of cheese, I honestly was surprised at how taken I was with this documentary on skilled luthier Reuben Cox and the artists that have come to him for one of his specialized instruments. More than a simple look at Cox and his creations, Really Good Rejects is an insightful piece from director Alice Gu that takes us further down into the lives of these talented musicians. Gu has a way of asking the kind of follow-up questions that open up the performers (and the modest Cox himself) to reveal more personal stories, reflecting on how they came to the industry and who they looked up to along the way. Some obvious stars you’d associate with the type of relaxed musical stylings turn up as well as legendary names that must have a great affinity for Cox to take the time for a chat.   If it’s a bit formless in construction (there doesn’t seem to be an actual starting and ending point), it makes no difference because everything between the opening and closing credits should be, well, music to the ears of fans that seek this one out. Often allowing artists to pluck away at songs during interviews and letting them play on, Gu doesn’t rush anyone along. That gives Really Good Rejects a warm and breezy feeling, especially appreciated now as we look toward the renewal of Spring and outdoor music.

SXSW Review ~ Soft & Quiet

Synopsis: Playing out in real time an altercation breaks out between two sisters and an organization of women that spirals into a volatile chain of events.
Director: Beth de Araújo
Running Length: 94 minutes
Review: With schedules as hectic as they are, I admit that it’s sometimes hard to remain as distraction-free as possible when viewing films from the comfort of your couch. Viewers won’t have much trouble finding a reason to stay engaged with writer/director Beth de Araújo’s blistering thriller Soft & Quiet, which strikes an ominous tone the moment an elementary school teacher takes a slow walk through the woods. She’s meeting a group of women for an inaugural meeting of a sisterhood she feels is long overdue, a gathering which eventually relocates, which is when the trouble begins. Making a stop en route, the teacher (a simmering Stephanie Estes) crosses paths with a girl from her past and sets them all off on a downward spiral from which there is no escape. Shooting the film in one take is impressively handled and adds to the tension as the film progresses, de Araújo, cinematographer Greta Zozula, and editor Lindsay Armstrong make a few clever cuts – never underestimate how hard these types of films are to make and look so effortless. The cast is top-notch, especially in a script that gets to the cruel center of the sad underbelly of more Americans than we think. It’s a conversation starter and the type of film that will arrive in theaters riding waves of solid buzz. It has the goods to support those good notices, too.