A founding principle of Cinapse is unflinching honesty, and so I come to this top 5 listing with a keen awareness of my own tastes and preferences. I’m a sucker for narrative, structure and clean character arcs. I’m prone to prioritize action and entertainment. I also love to be moved and transported in wonder, and I love to ask questions. So I tend to seek out those films that excite me or interest me from within that framework.
The South By Southwest Film programmers screen over 6000 films in order to narrow their programming down to something like 125, give or take. And I find it fascinating how easy it is for some of those 125 to fly completely past my radar even as a critic who is attending the festival and receiving countless PR emails trying to sway me to see the film they are representing.
And this can be one of the best parts of a film festival… you take a chance on a film you know absolutely nothing about, and you walk out in a daze of excitement as though you are some kind of treasure hunter who has unearthed something no one else knows about. And there is at least one film in my top 5 that came as a result of that kind of risk taking in my film watching decisions.
But overall, between working to keep the lights on and writing throughout the festival, I only ended up seeing 19 feature films and 2 episodic programs (IE, 2 episodes of TV). And from those 19 I tended to prioritize the films I had already heard a bunch of buzz about and personally couldn’t contain my excitement to see. Many festival-goers have a fascinating amount of discipline which allows them to skip over the “bigger” films which already have distribution and therefore will be easy to view in a short amount of time after the festival. I’m not that guy. I saw the movies I really wanted to. And in the time slots where I didn’t know anything about any of the films, I took some chances. And when you think about it realistically… even the most avid festival goers with the most incredible endurance were only able to see maybe 30-ish films out of the 125 or so that were available. Everyone is prioritizing and selecting the films they are most excited about on some level.
So below are my Top 5 film from among the 19 I was able to see. And some other notable titles like what I wrestled with the most and what I liked the least. They play pretty exactly to my tastes, but that is all I’m promising you here. These are my picks, born out of my unique amalgamation of tastes and fancies. I hope you enjoy reading and I’d love to hear your suggestions, disagreements, or fist pounding solidarity with my picks.
You can see the full list of all the films I saw the festival here on my Letterboxd account. I’ve written a little bit about each movie there as well, so you can check out my diary at Letterboxd as well to hear more about some of the films that didn’t make it as my top picks.
#1 — The Raid 2: Berendal (Dir. Gareth Evans)
Yeah, I know. This isn’t surprising at all. It was my most anticipated movie of the festival. Oh, and also… it seems impossible that this film could be my number one pick if you actually read my review and see that I still prefer the first film, The Raid, at this point. How can a film I found significant fault in still be my top pick of the festival? See the above introduction to this list. I LOVE action films. And Gareth Evans is pretty much the prophet of our times, heralding the way forward for action cinema. The stuff that works in this film led me to my deepest depths of joy and adrenaline in the entire festival. I can’t wait to see this movie several more times, and really dissect it. I think I’ll love it more upon multiple viewings and this kind of visceral thrill is the stuff I just can’t get enough of when I go to the movies.
#2 — Joe (Dir. David Gordon Green)
Joe plays to all of my cinematic tendencies that are sort of in the opposite arena of The Raid. Sort of. I mean, when it comes down to it Joe is a tough guy movie. And despite my feminist leanings and overall egalitarian approach to life… I have an inexhaustible interest in tough guy movies. Maybe I love this kind of thing for the escapism, because I’m so patently un-tough in reality.
But regardless of why, I just absolutely loved Joe. It isn’t much like The Raid, as it features a lot of quiet and talking and drama and character work. Cage’s performance is an all-timer from his decades-spanning career. This exploration of the monsters within men that are barely contained by coping mechanisms and social responsibility is authentic and entertaining. David Gordon Green casts faces and personalities right from the locations where he is shooting. He tells blue collar stories with dignity and complexity. Joe is powerful and messily redemptive and plays to me like it was made for me.
#3 — The Guest (Dir. Adam Wingard)
Once again, we’ve got a bit of an action-mystery locking in as one of my favorite films of the festival. And once again, part of my reasoning here is pure, unbridled entertainment value. I had a BLAST with The Guest. It doesn’t revolutionize anything quite like The Raid films are doing to action cinema. But scribe Simon Barrett and director Adam Wingard have created an incredible character with David and cast him brilliantly with maybe the greatest breakout performance of the festival from Dan Stevens (Downton Abbey). The less you know about The Guest, the better. Go in ready for a 1980s soaked, twisty, turny, action-y good time.
#4 — What We Do In The Shadows (Dir. Taika Waititi & Jemaine Clement)
This was definitely the surprise hit of the festival for me. All the other movies I’ve discussed so far were on my radar before the festival and were among my most anticipated screenings. What We Do In The Shadows was something I kept hearing buzz about on Twitter throughout the festival and had to look up in the little SXSW program guide to even know what people were talking about. I’ve read about some of Waititi’s previous films (Boy, Eagle Vs. Shark) but had never seen any of them. And the same goes for Jemaine Clement’s wildly popular series Flight Of The Conchords. I’ve just never seen it before. I was in for such a treat with this film.
You might think you are done with both “found footage” or “documentary style” comedy ala The Office. You might think you are done with vampire movies, for that matter. But I urge you to reconsider your fatigue and let yourself be entertained by What We Do In The Shadows. Clement and Waititi wring laughs out of the concept of a bunch of ancient vampires “flatting” together that I would never have dreamed of. The story is actually interesting, the laughs never let up, and the send up of vampires is done with love and meticulous attention to lore.
#5 — Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter (Dir. David Zellner)
I haven’t gotten a chance to review this film fully as it was my last film of the festival… but it ended up being one of my favorites. Kumiko, The Treasure Hunter is nothing like any of the other films on this top 5 list. Downbeat, deliberately paced, meditative, weird, and wholly wonderful… this film will force me to track down other films from the Zellner Brothers (David and Nathan: Goliath, Kid-Thing).
Kumiko is portrayed by Japanese mega-star Rinko Kikuchi in a performance that is at once amusing and quixotically depressing. My take on the film is that Kumiko suffers from clinical depression, but we aren’t really given any back story as to why she is so unpleasant and unhappy. But this state of despair may be what leads her to become convinced that the money buried in the snow by Steve Buscemi’s character in the movie Fargo is actually a real treasure to be found. And she embarks on an ill-thought-out journey to retrieve this treasure. I loved the quest; the characters she meets along the way are delightful, and the overall exploration of depression and fantasy gave me a lot to chew on. The clever conceit is apparently based on a tale of internet lore in which a real woman traveled to America for similar reasons, although what happens to Kumiko is entirely the creation of The Zellners (they stated as much in the Q and A after the film).
I don’t know why this film played so well to me when so many of the other films in this list are more energetic or upbeat. But this is a beautiful story charting territory I’ve never really seen explored before in a film. Kumiko’s journey is bizarre, internal, beautifully shot, and not the happy-go-lucky film I expected from such a playful title. I don’t know when this film will get a release but I recommend it as a bizarre companion piece to Fargo and a lovely exploration of false hope and the perils of extreme introversion and fantasy run amok.
The Film I’m Wrestling With The Most: Buzzard (Dir. Joel Potrykus)
I really didn’t know what to think of Buzzard as I was watching it and frankly wasn’t sure I even enjoyed it. But this was a weird case where the post-screening Q and A really engaged me and the filmmaker kind of won me over. Buzzard tells the story of a fairly unlikeable liar, cheat, and selfish prick Marty Jackitansky (Joshua Burge). I knew I wasn’t supposed to like the guy, but I had trouble grasping what the film was trying to accomplish. There are moments of comedy, some surreal stuff, and lots of time spent with Marty attempting little cons to rob the system of a few bucks. Marty feeds off the system and outside of his office temp job (which he only uses as a central base from which to carry out as many petty crimes as he possibly can), he dresses super punk rock, creates a hybrid Freddy Krueger/Nintendo Power Glove combo, listens to local metal, and lies to his mom on the phone about how he is doing in life. (An activity Kumiko engages in quite frequently as well).
There is little plot beyond Marty’s abusive friendship with fellow office mate Derek (played by director Joel Potrykus), and his growing sense of paranoia that his increasingly risky (but still mostly petty) crimes are going to be found out. He embarks on a bit of a road trip when he feels like he needs to go lower profile and we watch him sort of descend further into his bottom-feeding tendencies.
Maybe I was expecting more of a comedy since I laughed a lot in the earlier parts of the film, but it goes to some dark places and dwells in the gutters in a most unlikeable and unshakeable way. (As I guess a film called Buzzard should). Potrykus clearly has a true indie filmmaker sensibility and I appreciated the sense of local pride that this Grand Rapids, Michigan-made film offers. A dirty drama that represents a particular sub-culture and region which made me uncomfortable and challenged me, but I’m still not entirely sure I liked. This film is being distributed by Oscilloscope Laboratories and if you are into being really challenged by unique indie visions, check out Buzzard.
My Least Favorite Film Of The Festival: Wild Canaries (Dir. Lawrence Michael Levine)
I hate to crap on a small indie film, especially when I didn’t hate it so much as just find it unpleasant and “not my thing”. But I really did not enjoy Wild Canaries. Some people did, and I only saw it after hearing lots of positive buzz on Twitter. So I encourage you to check it out if my description of it sounds appealing to you. But I just couldn’t click with it and found my mind wandering.
Barri (Sophia Takal) is a whimsical, cute young twenty something who is engaged to the older, more practical Noah (Director Lawrence Michael Levine). There are some other characters in their apartment building and when a neighbor winds up dead, Barri obsesses about solving the mystery along with their lesbian roommate Jean (Alia Shawket, of Arrested Development fame). I found the mystery disinteresting, even as Noah tries his hardest to convince Barri to drop the childish adventure. I was with Noah all the way. Just… stop. Barri is annoying and immature and when all the relationship drama starts unfolding in the movie I just want everyone to hook up in such a way as to leave Barri out in the cold. This might sound harsh, but when I wasn’t into the various love triangles, nor was I into the mystery… all that was left were some characters, of which I found the lead extremely annoying. Not the actress, mind you, but the character. I wanted Noah to walk away and for everyone else to follow. Man, I’m sounding really mean. I would watch another film from Levine. He seems talented and the whimsical tone of this film was cute enough. I just couldn’t connect with any of it and while it isn’t a BAD film, it was totally not my deal.
Thanks for reading along and again, I’d love to hear your thoughts or challenges to my picks. I’d also love it if you checked out my brief thoughts on each film I saw on my Letterboxd page!
And I’m Out