MrGone’s trip to the 2010 South By Southwest Film
Festival
Quick Links Sunday
Monday
Tuesday
Wednesday
Thursday
Update: the SXSW website now has the bumper that played before the Midnight films.
Behold the awesomeness!
I’ll start this off by saying that my 10th wedding anniversary is this year and we wanted to do something really special. While were thinking of things we could do, I had a friend suggest we do a film festival. That was right up my alley, and sounded like an awesome idea, so I looked around, and the timing was right for us to go to South by Southwest(from here on out it’ll be SXSW), and so after talking to my wife we decided to go for it. We bought film badges and booked the hotel, and then finally the time came for us to go.
We got there on Sunday afternoon(the 14th of March) and stayed until Thursday night(the 18th of March). We had a blast! It was awesome. The movies were great, the food was great, and it was just a fun time! Got to see a few celebrities here and there, and saw some great screenings, and even got to attend a few Q&A’s.
I’ll review the movies and let you know how my trip was broken down by day. I’ll try to include links to the movie sites and trailers when I can, and I’ll even include some pics I took along the way.
So, let’s get this going:
We got to the hotel about
11am and let them know we were there. We couldn’t check in yet, as it was still
early, but all we’d have to do is get the keys once it was check in time. We
decided to walk over to the
Brotherhood:
http://www.brotherhoodthemovie.com/
Brotherhood tells the story of a frat initiation gone wrong. The movie starts with 3 pledges in a van with two frat members. They are handed a gun and a ski mask and asked to rob a convenience store. When they exit the van and run to the store, anther frat member is waiting with a bag of cash and tells the pledge to run back to the van. When it’s the third pledges turn, he makes into the store and we discover the frat member tasked with giving him the money is at the wrong store. The pledge, in the store, attempts to rob it, only to be shit by the clerk. The other frat guys run in to help him, and the clerk is injured. The rest of the story is about them trying to cover up the situation and come out in the clear.
It was a great movie. We really enjoyed it, and it was a great start the festival. It was pretty intense, but it had a few moments of humor as well. It makes me glad I never tried for a fraternity. The main pledge in the movie was the kid in the sixth sense that picks on Haley Joel Osment. But, the movie was really good, and I love how it turned out in the end. Great flick.
After Brotherhood, we walked out and got in the next line to see a movie called Winter’s Bone. Again, the line was pretty long, and when we finally got in, we had to sit in the front row again.
Winter’s Bone:
http://sundance.bside.com/2010/films/wintersbone_sundance2010
Winter’s Bone tells the story of a 17 year old girl named Ree, who lives in the Ozarks taking care of her mother and younger brother and sister. She is visited by the Sheriff, who tells her that her father, who is out on bail, has put their house for his bond. If he doesn’t make his court appearance they will lose the house, and he is no where to be found. So, Ree, who sets out to find out where her father has disappeared too, has to visit friends and meth cooking relatives in the hope to find him before his court date.
It was a pretty depressing movie when you think about it, but it was great. The acting was perfect, and you’d swear they went out and just filmed these people for real. It was a very moving story, and apparently it was based on a book. It was a very interesting look at that place, and it’s kind of depressing to think that people live that way. But, it was a very good film, and I’m glad I got the chance to see it..
We got to stay for a short Q&A with a lady who played a small part in the film. She was very nice and was glad to be there showing it off.
After the Winter’s Bone Q&A was finished, we headed back to the hotel to check in and have some dinner. The room was great! It was a suite, so it had a living room area separate from the bedroom. Very nice room.
About 9 o’clock we headed back to the convention center to hitch a ride to the Alamo Drafthouse south lamar for out final move of the day, Higanjima. We got here like two hours early, because we didn’t want to sit in the front row. The line grew and grew, and finally they let us in about 40 minutes before start time.
Higanjima:
http://wwws.warnerbros.co.jp/higanjima/
http://www.bloody-disgusting.com/film/4464
Higanjima is a joint venture between
It was a great movie! It had alittle humor and a lot of bloody vampire fighting action that only asian cinema can deliver. Awesome movie! If you ever get the chance to see it, go for it. I think its based on a manga comic. But it was a fun movie, and one I’m not sure I could have seen anywhere else(aside from dvd maybe). I loved it!
We got up early Monday morning to try to get some express tickets for some of the movies we wanted to see. The ticket booth for express tickets opens at 10am, so we thought we’d be safe getting there about 9:30am. Big mistake. When we got there, there was about 150 people already in line. We stood in line anyway, hoping maybe we’d them. We got about halfway through the line, when they wrote on the board what they were sold out of, and of course, our movies were listed.
Alittle pissed off, we left to head over to the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz to see a set of short films under the header ‘Medium Cool’. We got there about an hour and a half early, but a line was already forming. We were only like 5th in line though. So they let us in abit before start time, and we ordered food and waited for the films to start. There were 3 films.
I’m Here:
I’m Here tells the story of a Robot who meets the Robot of his “dreams” and falls in love. It was directed by Spike Jonze.
Need I say more? It was a great short film, and I believe you might be able to watch it at the link above. It was a very touching story, and of course it looks amazing. The Robots look awesome, in a very thrown together kind of way. The way they interact with the world was great. If you get a chance to see it, do so.
Successful Alcoholics
:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ovw5XiutrM
http://www.cinematical.com/2009/12/21/sundance-primer-successful-alcoholics/
Successful Alcoholics tells the story of a couple who drink constantly. They are successful, but not very functioning. After a terrible business trip, the wife begins to have doubts about the relationship and why she drinks.
It starred the guy who Played Hud from Cloverfield and the wife was played by the girl in Cloverfield that Hud liked. They pulled off the parts great. It started off pretty funny, but it gets alittle serious by the end. I don’t want to call it a dark comedy, but that’s basically what it was. I really liked it.
Solitary/Release:
This short film is part documentary and part narrative film. It tells the story of a guy who has been in and out of prison and has a drug habit.
The film part has James Franco in the starring role, and it was about his father trying to help him kick his drug habit by chaining him up in the woods while they “camp”.
It was pretty good, though not as good as the 2 films prior.
After the short films, we got back in line to see the next movie we wanted to see called Tiny Furniture. We stood in line for a few, but then they said the movie was full. So we were 6 people from getting in. So, we decided to head over the trade show to scope it out, since would be the only time we could see the Interactive/Film trade show(it would be closed Tuesday and the Music trade show would start on Wednesday).
It was pretty cool. There were tons of booths set up for various companies. We got lots of free stuff, like T-shirts and hats and such. I even got a USB drive. It was cool. We also got to see a new 3D HDTV at the Panasonic booth. They had a big trailer set up, and you went inside, and they had a little screening room set up, and they let about 15 people in at time. We were handed the 3D glasses and they showed some Olympic clisp and then the Avatar Trailer. It was pretty awesome! They said the base tv would cost about $2500, and the glasses would be $150 bucks each! Ouch. But, it looks pretty cool.
After hanging around the trade show for abit, we headed over the Alamo Drafthouse Lamar for another set of short films under the header ‘Narrative Shorts 2’.
There were a few films at this screening, but I’ll only discuss the standouts.
http://thalamusfilm.de/fiction/coneyislandbaby
This short tells the story of an older lady who buys a new stove and discovers a dvd case stuff full of money. Just as its stolen by her best friend, the owner comes looking for it…
I thought this was pretty cool short film. It was very well shot, and had a little WTF vibe going on. It was great.
Televisnu:
This short is about a girl working tech support in
It had a very cool look to it, and was very dreamy. It felt like a weird daydream…
Out of Nowhere:
http://www.outofnowherefilm.com/
This short is about a guy who has just escaped from a killer who gave him a ride. He finds a house and asks to use the phone…and that’s when things get really weird…
This was my favorite by far. It had a groundhog day kind of vibe. I really liked it a lot, and its what a short film should be.
The Big Fiddle:
This film tells the story of a wife who trying to plan a night home for her anniversary when things go terribly wrong.
This was a pretty good one. It's really 3 intersecting stories of sorts, but it all comes together in the end. It had a very cool look to it, and the music in it was great.
After the shorts were over, we got in line to see a movie called Earthling. We stood in line about an hour or so, and then we were able to go into the theater. We ordered food and sat back to watch an interesting movie.
Earthling:
http://www.everythingcomesfromthewater.com/
To quote the synopsis: “Judith is a teacher going through a crisis. She can't get pregnant, and it's causing a rift in her life. On an orbital space platform, a crew picks up a strange object during a routine mission. It appears to be a living seed of some sort. One of the astronauts comes in contact with the seed causing a PULSE that sends a global brown-out on Earth.
Judith is drastically affected. Dreams begin. She's haunted by visions of the astronaut who survived the encounter with the seed pod. Eventually a group of people having the same dream locate her. They slowly realize that they are members of a stranded alien race, living on Earth disguised as humans. After many years, they'd forgotten what they were. They band together to seek out the seed, which may be a way back home.”
This was a pretty interesting movie, and one I was looking forward to. In the end, I think I liked it, but walking out of the theater, I wasn’t sure. It felt alittle slow at times, and the plot seemed alittle over the place. So, while it was good, I felt like it could have used a 10 or 15 minute trim. But, all in all, it was a pretty cool movie, and one you could only see a festival like this.
After Earthling, we headed over the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz. We had to skip a movie we really wanted to see(called All My Friends are Funeral Singers, which had a live soundtrack), but there wasn’t enough time to see it and the one after, Tucker and Dale vs Evil, which is the one we wanted to see the most. So, we got to the theater about 2 and half hours early. They hadn’t even started a line, so we were just hanging around, but about 5 minutes later, someone else showed up, and then a few minutes later some more, so they finally lined us up. About an hour before show time it started to rain. So we had to stand in the pouring rain before the show. We were only about 3 feet from an awning, but we had to stand where they set up the line.
About 15 minutes before they let us in, a guy came up to
talk to us and told us to move and get out of the rain. We told him that was
where they lined us up, and so he decided to move the line. We thought he was
joking, but then he came back a minute later and told us to move. Turns out he
was a P.I. from
After talking with him a few minutes, they finally let us in.
Tucker and Dale vs.
Evil
To quote the synopsis: “Tucker and Dale vs. Evil is a backwoods comedy of horrific errors in which two unsuspecting buddies, Tucker and Dale, fall victim to the crazed machinations of a group of spring breakers who have mistaken them for backwoods killers!
When Dale shelves his phobia of the opposite sex to rescue one of the college co-eds from drowning, all her friends see is a bearded psychopath hauling their friend away to a shack in the middle of the woods.
In trying to rescue their friend, the spring breakers continually off themselves one by one and Tucker and Dale try to figure out why these college kids are killing themselves all over Tucker's property!”
This was my favorite movie by far! Just watch the trailer at the link above. Its waaaay funnier than you think. It was a blast, and I seriously hope that gets picked up for a wide release. I can’t say enough nice things about it. We had a lot of fun with the movie, and it was the one we were looking forward to the most. It was totally worth standing in the rain for!! I just wish I could have seen it again! I think it’s a great movie to watch with a group of people too. It was so fun having the whole audience laugh at the same jokes. So if it ever comes out, you have to see it. Hell, see it a few times!
The Facebook fan page took a poll for what the sequel should be titled, and their suggestion: Tucker and Dale vs. Predators! That would be awesome! Hee hee…
Also, for lack of a better place to post this, the SXSW web site has posted some of the bumpers that played before the movies. You can watch them here:
You can also watch a few SXSW related videos here:
We saw a few movies on
Tuesday, mostly at a theater called the
Erasing David:
“David Bond lives in one of the most intrusive surveillance states in the world. He decides to find out how much private companies and the government know about him by putting himself under surveillance and attempting to disappear - a decision that changes his life forever. Leaving his pregnant wife and young child behind, he is tracked across the database state by two ruthless private investigators, on a chilling journey that forces him to contemplate the meaning of privacy - and the loss of it.”
This documentary was very scary. I liked it a lot, and it
was cool to see
It really makes you think, and honestly, makes me want to cancel my gmail account and never use Google again. Not sure I can escape it…but still. It seriously makes you think about the things we post and talk about on the internet. Which was funny, considering I made full use of Facebook while at this festival.
After the movie we walked down to Katz Deli for lunch, and
it was damn good! We headed to the
About a half hour before show time, they let us into the theater, but by then the line was pretty long. Luckily we were closer to the front, so we had no trouble getting in.
The People vs George
Lucas:
“The People vs George Lucas is a no-holds-barred, completely uncensored, yet balanced cultural examination of the conflicted dynamic between the great George Lucas and his fans over the past three decades. Chock-full of impassioned interviews, stop-motion and 3D animation, Super 8 action figure films, puppet rants and many other surprises, this unique participatory doc is the ultimate expression of the fans' obsession for a man and a universe that defined an entire generation.”
This was a fun documentary that didn’t take it self too seriously. They interviewed people from every part of Star Wars Fandom. They showed clips from some fan films, which was cool for me since I have a seen a TON of them. In the end, there is no verdict, but it was fun seeing fan talk about both sides of the Star Wars Argument (OT vs PT). Fans are pretty passionate, especially when it comes to this subject, and this documentary showed that nicely.
Once the movie let out we walked out and got back in line
for the next movie. This line was alittle longer, but the
We when got in for the next movie though, we sat off the left side in the back, and the seats were staggered, which was much better and gave me a clear view of the screen.
Harry Brown:
http://www.harrybrownthemovie.co.uk/
“Set in modern day
Harry Brown was an awesome movie. It’s a very satisfying Revenge movie. It’s not an action flick, as it takes its time getting where it’s going, but its so worth it. I believe this movie is getting a wide release, so it’s one you should definitely go see. Of course, it was fun watching it with the crowd, as everyone cheered every time Harry enacted his revenge. I love revenge movies, so this is right up close to the top of my list now.
After Harry Brown, we had a bit before the next movie would start, so we walked across the street and had some Pizza for dinner. After we ate, the line for the next movie was long, but only about as long as it was when we saw Harry Brown, so we got in line for the next movie.
Skateland:
http://www.freemanfilm.com/skateland
“A story syncopated with moments of violent turbulence, of
heartbreak and of new beginnings, 'Skateland' immerses the audience in the
brutal, but beautiful vastness of east
I really liked this movie. It was dedicated to John Hughes, and while it had a bit of a John Hughes vibe, it’s not quite like one of his movies. But, it’s a very cool 80’s period flick, and I really enjoyed. The main character is just out of High School and still working his job at the Skateland, when he finds out it’s closing down. The movie is about him dealing with his last summer out of high school and his uncertainty about where he’ll go from there. I’m not sure if this will go wide…but if does, I highly recommend it. If nothing else, see it when it comes to dvd, you won’t be disappointed.
We did get to stay for the Q&A, which was pretty fun.
The director was there as well as some cast and crew. When asked why they
filmed the movie in
We got up Wednesday morning, had some breakfast and then took the hotel shuttle over to the Alamo Drafthouse Lamar(because the SXSW shuttle stopped running the night before). Almost all the movies we wanted to see where played at that theater. We got in line for our first screening, a batch of short films under the header ‘Narrative Shorts 1’. I’ll just mention the standout short films.
Pancake Breakfast:
http://www.adamlockenorton.com/pancakebreakfast/
This short film tells the story of an average guy with a hot wife. She has lots of guy friends, and they joke with each other her sleeping with them. But, after one of his friends is out, he starts to suspect she may in fact be sleeping with them.
It was a great little short film. It was pretty funny, and by the end, you really feel sorry for the guy. But it was great.
Snapshots:
http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/6486
Snapshots is a very interesting short film because it has no
story. It’s set in
Girls Named Pinky:
http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/6309
This was my favorite of the bunch. It tells the story of a guy who moves from town to town (probably a traveling salesman) who meets up with a girl in a bar who is just about to leave her abusive husband. It was great! It doesn’t sound like much, but the last few moments of the film were shocking! I really wish I could see it again.
After the short films, we got in line to see the next movie we really wanted to see called Skeletons.
Skeletons:
http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/6484
http://www.filmschoolrejects.com/reviews/sxsw-review-skeletons.php
“In this surreal comedy, DAVIS and BENNETT are a mismatched
pair of traveling salesmen in the business of cleaning skeletons out of
closets. Together they travel across
Bennett is a stickler for the rules and finds that
Their boss, THE COLONEL assigns the pair to their biggest challenge yet, a graduation test that could see them moving up the company ladder. But when they arrive at a remote family home and can't get the job done, they discover that you can't always get away from your own skeletons and you can't always leave and never come back.”
This is the kind of movie you go to a film festival to see. It was dark and funny all at the same time. I loved the concept of it: A company that comes to your house and reveals all the skeletons in your closet. They take that concept to a place I wouldn’t have thought, and it was great. I loved the two main characters and the way they acted towards each other. They played their parts perfectly. I loved the “tech” used in the movie to reveal peoples skeletons, and I loved how they never tried to explain how any of it worked. It just did. Great, great little movie. I hope I can own it on dvd one day.
After Skeletons we got in line to see another batch of short films under the header ‘Texas Shorts’. Again, I’ll just mention the standouts for me.
Table 7:
This short film takes place in a Chinese restaurant and is a bout a couple on the verge of breaking up. The girl is afraid “they” will hear, but the guy isn’t worried about it, and wants to talk it out right then and there. Little do they know, they are being watched…
It was great! Loved it! The reveal about what’s really going on was classic. Great flick!
Now or Never:
This film is about a guy who decides its time to tell the girl of his dreams how much he lovers her, and just how far his obsession for her has taken him.
It was scary and funny all at the same time. Loved it!!
Honorarium:
http://my.sxsw.com/events/event/6329
This film was shot in
This was shot in black and white, and I think it served the mood of the film well. I thought the author was a bit of a dick in the beginning, but you kind of feel sorry for him by the end.
Rule No. 2:
This film tells the story of a couple in an acting class who have broken Rule no. 2: Never fuck your scene partner.
It was very funny, and one of my favorites of the bunch. Hilarious!
Mnemosyne Rising:
This short film was about a guy who works alone surveying planets for mining. He’s in this space ship alone, his only friend a voice on the other end of the comm. When he finds out he’s finally able to return to earth strange things begin to happen on board.
I really liked this short film, and it was the only Sci-Fi related film in this batch. It has great effects, and kept you guessing as to what was going on.
After the shorts we got in line for the next movie. We had about 2 hours before the show started, so I snapped some pics from around the theater.
We got in the theater about 45 minutes before start time, so we ordered some dinner. I was really looking forward to this movie, as it sounded like it could be cool. I couldn’t have been more wrong….
Enter The Void:
“Oscar and his sister Linda are recent arrivals in
That synopsis makes the movie sound like it could be cool, right? Unfortunately, its not. The movie is 2 and half hours long, and that’s about 2 hours too long. It’s one of the worst movies I have ever seen, and I’m going to discuss it in detail. Well, as detailed as I care to get.
The movie starts off with Oscar talking with his sister. Everything is a POV shot, through Oscars eyes. He takes some kind of drug....and then for 15 minutes of this movie, all that’s on screen is trippy acid fractal effects. When we come back to the movie, Oscar heads to a club to give a friend some drugs, but the friend has set him up, and the cops show up. Oscar tries to ditch the drugs in the bathroom, but is shot dead. His spirit then leaves his body, and for the remaining 2 hours and 10 minutes of this movie, his "spirit" floats around, watching everyone, and having visions of his life before he died. But, most of the shots are all over head floating shots. Oscar never says a word after he dies, so he and the audience are passive observers of the events that happen after he dies. There is dialog by the other characters, and even Oscar, when we see his past. But, we float from scene to scene, just watching the people live their lives, have sex, have abortions (and yes, we see his sister get a full abortion. Nothing left to the imagination. If you didn't know this was a movie, you'd think they preformed it for real), have more sex, do drugs, etc.
There is no story to this movie. In the end, Oscar's "spirit”, watches a whole hotel full of people have graphic sex(and when I say that, I mean it seems like the film makers just decided to make a porno at the end), and then he enters his sisters body, while she is having sex(and yes, we have a CG penis being thrust in and out of a vagina, as seen from the inside, and then it shoots), and then he becomes her baby, and is reincarnated.
That’s the movie. Aside from all I described, there are tons of trippy acid fractal effects, weird sound effects and the like. It felt to me like the film makers were on acid while they shot it and edited it, and that maybe you needed to be on acid to watch it. There are drug movies that work perfectly well while being watched strait, but this it seems, is not one of them.
So, by the time it was over, I seriously wanted my time
back, and I never say that. In fact, it nearly ruined my night because I almost
missed the next movie I really wanted to see, because this one ran so long. It
was 2 and half hours! Experimental films should not run that long. Films like
this work better in a short form. 2 and half hours is waaaaay too fucking long
for something like this. If it had a message or something they were going for
it, it got lost in the long run time. I was just so bored by the end. I knew
what was coming, and it didn't move me or feel profound, and I think the film
makers were trying for that. I heard it got a 7 minute standing ovation at
It was just a terrible, terrible movie. If they wanted to make a porno, they should have just done that. But this? Man...it was just so fucking bad. In fact, it’s so fucking bad I can't stop thinking about it, which seems weird to me. This movie has stirred something in me. It’s moved me to want to do something I have never thought of doing before. And that’s make my own cut of the movie. I've seen fan edited movies before (like on fanedit.org), but I have never felt the need to ever do it myself. It’s an interesting idea, but not one I have ever entertained....until now.
I feel like maybe there is a really good short film in there. Movies like this should be short. It’s experimental. No one wants to watch a 2 and half hour experiment. But a 30 or 45 minute one? Maybe. You can have a good short film that has no story. But you can't have a 2 and half hour movie with no story. So, if this ever comes out on dvd or something, I seriously think I would like to re-edit the movie, and cut it down to like 30 or 40 minutes. I feel like there is a great short film buried in that mess of acid effects and over head shots.
So, we'll see if ever follow up on that, but I would really like to try it. If it ever comes out on dvd, I warn you in advance, it's a long boring acid movie. But, if you decide to see it, go into it thinking that maybe you can see a better version, edited by me.
After that crap fest, we only had 45 minutes to get the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz to make the Midnight movie. I didn’t think we would make it, as it we couldn’t catch a cab until like 11:40pm. But, we finally got one and made it across town. The street the theater on was closed though; so we had to walk 3 and half blocks to the theater. When we got there, the line was so long, I thought we wouldn’t get it. I was pretty pissed, since it seemed that Enter the Void had ruined my night. While standing in line, we met two of the producers of a movie called ‘This Movie is Broken’(about the band Broken Social Scene), which we had on our schedule for the next day. We talked for a few, and then surprisingly we got into the theater! Once in though, the realization came as to where I’d have to sit. Yup, I had to sit front row…again. Sitting in the very front row makes all movies seem as if they were filmed from the floor. But, we were in, and that’s what matters.
Suck:
“Joey Winner (Stefaniuk) is a down and out musician, whose band has been playing to empty clubs for over a decade. When his manager (Dave Foley) advises him to fire his manager, his girlfriend (Nicole deBoer) dumps him, and a mysterious bartender (Alice Cooper) suggests he should kill himself, he's about ready to call it a night. Everything changes however when bass player (Jessica Pare') goes to an after hours party with rock and roll vampire (Dimitri Coats), and an aging producer (Iggy Pop) cuts them a break.
Suck is a psychedelic comedy with a kick ass soundtrack featuring eleven original songs and classics from Lou Reed, Iggy Pop, Alice Cooper, David Bowie, and the Stones.”
Suck was great movie! In fact, it’s probably my favorite after Tucker and Dale. It’s a fun vampire movie, and it has some great music. Plus, they seem to play a game of spot the album cover, as they recreate several album covers in the film. But it was just a fun vampire movie. Malcolm McDowell plays a vampire hunter, and plays it perfectly! There is also this flashback scene for him where he’s young! I tried to figure out how they did that, and it was revealed during the Q&A they used some scenes from an old movie he was in. That was great!
We did get to stay for the Q&A, which Dave Foley and Jessica and a few others were there for. I snapped a few pics, since I was in the front row.
But we ended the night on a good note, thankfully. I needed that after Enter the Void. What a terrible, terrible movie…
We got up Thursday morning and packed up the suitcases and loaded up the car. This was our last day at SXSW, so we had to check out of the hotel. Luckily, we could keep our parking for the remainder of the day, which was a blessing, because trying to find parking would have sucked!!
We took the hotel shuttle to the convention center and made our way to the G-Tech Theater to get in line for our first movie. There wasn’t anyone there yet, so took the opportunity to snap some pics in front of the SXSW wall, where they take pics of celebrities and such.
Bear Nation:
http://www.bearnationmovie.com/
“From the director of 'small town gay bar', Bear Nation examines what it means to find community and personal acceptance; told from the viewpoint of a bunch of misfits belonging to a sub-culture within a sub-culture: Bears.
Not familiar with gay slang? Bears are hirsute and hefty gay males whose biggest currency is masculinity. Their presence in the scene has caused controversy, yet Bears are offering a new perspective on what it means to be a gay male.
Interviews include a
I listen to Kevin Smiths Podcast all the time, so I’m big fan of Malcolm Ingram. They talked about this movie before, so I knew we had to go see it. It was a very informative documentary and had a much broader appeal than to just the gay community. It was very and serious all at once. Kevin Smith even had an interview towards the end, which was great. But, it was a very interesting looking at that subculture, and showed how really they are just as normal as anyone.
We got to stay for the Q&A, which was great!! I snapped a few pics, but they aren’t the best. Once the Q&A was over, I really wanted to try to go talk to Malcolm, and we got in a line(as other people had the same idea), but as we were like 3 people away from talking to him, the staff came in asked everyone to leave so they could set up for the next show, which sucked. So, I didn’t get to meet him. Oh well, maybe some other day…
After Bear Nation we checked out the music trade show, and snagged some more free stuff. Then we went and ate some lunch. After lunch, we went back to the convention center and got back in line to see our next movie at the G-Tech.
This Movie Is Broken:
http://www.thismovieisbroken.com/message
“Unbelievable: Bruno wakes up in bed next to Caroline, his
long time crush. But tomorrow she's off for school in
This movie was a cross between a concert movie and a movie as described above. I hadn’t heard of the band, Broken Social Scene, before seeing this movie. Their music is pretty good, and I swear, there are like 20 people in the band! But this movie was pretty good, and did a great job cutting between the movie and the concert footage. In the Q&A the director discussed how they had the idea to do the concert movie first, and then later decided to add the story elements. He even joked about how the initial story idea involved the band really being robots, and the story would be about them trying to get themselves fixed before the show. But, all in all, it was a good movie, and had a very interesting ending. I’m still trying to figure it out.
After This Movie is Broken we headed over to the
The Runaways:
“Kristen Stewart and Dakota Fanning star as Joan Jett and Cherie Currie in The Runaways, the music-fueled, coming of age story of the groundbreaking, all girl 1970's rock band”
This was a great movie! I so loved it! It was probably my third favorite movie of the festival, and I was glad I got a chance to see it. Dakota Fanning plays Cherie Currie, and she really played that part well. She looked very much like her, and sounded a lot like her as well. Plus, this isn’t like any role Dakota Fanning has played before, and I think it shows what a great actress she is, because you were never pulled out of the movie thinking that was Dakota Fanning. She really became Cherie Currie.
I’ve been a fan of The Runaways for awhile, but I didn’t know much of their story, other than they eventually broke up. This movie was based on the book “Neon Angel: A Memoir of a Runaway”, and told the story of the rise and fall of the first all girl rock band. I can’t say enough good things about it. This movie is getting a wide release and you should definitely go see it.
We got to see the Q&A, which was awesome. Dakota Fanning, Kristen Stewart, Cherie Currie and the director Floria Sigismondi were attending. I tried to take some pics, but where we were sitting made it seem like we were a mile away, even though I could see them perfectly fine. So, I quickly decided since I couldn’t take a good picture, maybe I could take a video. And while you wouldn’t be able to see them very well, you could at least hear most of the Q&A.
(Pictured above, from left to right: SXSW Staffer, Floria Sigismondi, Cherir Currie, Dakota Fannning and Kristen Stewart.)
[Sorry about the quality of the picture]
So, here is the video I took. It’s a WMV file, and is about 74MB in size. Fell free to download and watch at your leisure.
And that was my trip to SXSW. My wife and I had an awesome time. I didn’t want to leave! I’m thinking we’ll definitely have to do this again. It was a blast!
And thank you for reading this. I know I’m not the best writer, but I hope I could at least provide you with a basic idea about the movies, and hopefully one day you’ll be able to see them.