SXSW 2010 - Day Three

Not caught up on days one and two?

SXSW 2010 - Day One
SXSW 2010 - Day Two

Day three was the first day I had the opportunity to see multiple movies and was also the last full day Ami could attend with me, sadly. It was a bright, sunny, 70 degree weather day. A perfect day to spend in a dark theater.

Towards the middle of the day, the Alamo Drafthouse South Lamar started to get busier and we were forced to miss one of the movies we were waiting for. So, we didn't see as many as I would have liked, but we still saw a good amount.

The Films

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THE MYTH OF THE AMERICAN SLEEPOVER

Official site!

This was one of the films I was looking forward to seeing the most originally. I saw the trailer about a week before SXSW and it looked really good. The film itself was good for the first half. After that...not so much.

This is a film where the filmmakers got amateurs for the lead roles. Where most filmmakers either know how to make the amateurs believable or know how to elevate some other areas of the film to make up for the lack of actual actors (see Soderbergh's Bubble or Van Sant's Elephant), the director behind this piece couldn't make it work in his favor. After about half way through the film, the "acting" started to grate on me. I can only stand so much of the lead boy's blank stares as he's searching for the girl of his dreams, or the indie girl's coy head turn and smile, and so on before it began to wear on me.

My biggest problem with this movie is the storyline involving the Scott character, creepily searching out these twins who are much younger than him and who he heard had a crush on him when he was a senior and they were freshmen in high school (he is now in college). I absolutely HATED this storyline. HATED it. Brett Jacobsen is an incredibly annoying actor (at least in this) and I would groan whenever he would come on screen. His storyline is just...pathetic, creepy, and pointless. I really, really, really hated it. Guh.

Besides some other leaps of logic that seem to escape these kids (okay, so you got nailed with an egg on your chest and you walked all the way home to wash your shirt with a wet wash rag and not just change it? Really?) there are some points I liked. Most of it involved the indie girl who I referenced above (sorry, I can't find her name/character on IMDB). Her story really engaged me at times, but again her acting started to wear on me. So, even she lost me after a point.

It had potential, but lazy filmmaking hurt the film overall. Ami liked it though, so I wouldn't say skip it completely. If it interests you, check it out! I do wish there was an option to skip that twin storyline altogether, though.

I give the film a 6 out of 10.

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ANIMATED SHORTS

Seeing that there were twelve shorts in whole, I'm only going to highlight my absolute favorites.

THE ORANGE


More info!

A short about an almighty orange and its life on Earth. The animation was so simple, but the story so grandiose. What if God was in an orange on Earth? That's essentially the story and it works very well. Quite funny to boot.

BYGONE BEHEMOTH


More info!

A claymation about an out of work movie monster. Think Godzilla if Godzilla was an old struggling actor. It's very poignant and quite sad. The filmmakers put a lot of emotion into this short. It tugged at the heart strings pretty hard. Damn you, CGI! Why must you put all these practical effects monsters out of business?

THE COW WHO WANTED TO BE A BURGER


More info!

Hilarious! The crude animation and use of trumpet to give the cows voices works brilliantly. Seeing this little calf working out to try and become a hamburger is pure gold.

THE ART OF DROWNING

More info!

A rotoscoped short about a man drowning and how he's not seeing his life flash before his eyes much like everyone says he should. The voiceover raps philosophic while we see these beautiful animations animated over live actors. It's a wondrous little piece that worked well for me.

ONE SQUARE MILE OF EARTH


More info!

I love animals that talk and act like people (hence coming up with Fox and Bear). So, my love for this short is pretty self explanatory. Two guys playing all the characters makes it even better. It's just funny, funny stuff.

DOWN TO THE BONE


More info!

Absurd, grotesque, and hilarious. Need I say more?

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JIMMY TUPPER VS. THE GOATMAN OF BOWIE


Official site!

This was my first midnight screening at SXSW and luckily I got into everyone I tried to get into. This one really set the bar high, though. It's a found footage movie in the vein of The Blair Witch Project or Cloverfield, but where those films feel a bit fabricated, this film actually did not.

This tells the story of Jimmy Tupper, the friend no one really likes and who everyone's confused as to why he's there. He drinks too much, smokes too much, and just generally annoys his friends. One night, Jimmy passes out because of too much drinking and won't wake up. So, his friends decide to teach him a lesson and dump his passed out body in the middle of the woods. The next day, they go searching for Jimmy to find him angry as all hell and screaming about being dragged through the woods by the Goatman of Bowie (a real urban legend apparently). Of course, no one believes him. So, Jimmy sets up camp with a camera to prove everyone wrong.

The filmmaker, Andrew Bowser, said that there are sections of the film where he only did one take and when he got back to watch the footage, the mini-DV fucked up and screwed up the audio. Any other director would go back and shoot it again, but seeing that he wanted this "found footage" to feel as real as possible, he left it in and it actually works! It was hilarious because it's this scene where Jimmy Tupper (also played by Andrew Bowser) is cursing his friends and his shitty life with a heartfelt monologue and all you hear is every other word as he paces around his campsite. It was really funny. Also, there's a part of the film at a graduation as if Jimmy's using a tape someone already used before. It was great and worked quite well.

What really won me over was the climax and the ending in general. It's just so Goddamn great, man. I don't want to ruin any of it for you in case this does get its deserved proper distribution. Just know that it's awesome and that it calls for a great sequel.

I give the film a 10 out of 10.

And with that, day three is wrapped!