Another year of terrific storytelling at the SXSW Film Festival
My expectations are high every year when SXSW rolls around. Not that every part of the fest will bowl me over, but that if I see a lot of films, I’ll see a lot of great films. 2019 delivered.
Many of these I’ve already written about. Narrative Feature Competition award winner Alice. Special Jury Recognition for Best Ensemble recipient Yes, God, Yes. Special Jury Recognition for Breakthrough Voice recipient Saint Frances (my personal favorite of the entire fest). Austinite Bob Byington’s newest (and best?) work, Frances Ferguson. Also, most of the other Narrative Competition films, as well as Selected Shorts. What follows is rest of the best.
SISTER AIMEE
Local actor Anna Margaret Hollyman is no stranger to SXSW–this will be my understatement of the year–and this year she arrives in the form of Sister Aimee, an Evangelical preacher and entertainer from a century ago. Hollyman had the idea for the project and convinced directors Samantha Buck and Marie Schlingmann to make it happen. Shot in the barren Southwest and also in Austin with loads of local talent–Lee Eddy, Macon Blair, Nathan Zellner, Bill Wise, John Merriman–Sister Aimee is a biopic cum road movie that will please arthouse crowds, hopefully soon.
STRANGE NEGOTIATIONS
Starting 20 years ago, Pedro the Lion staked out a place in the music world where indie rock and Christianity overlapped. This always tenuous connection didn’t hold as frontman David Bazan kept the former but lost the latter. Strange Negotiations is journey through his crisis of faith, but also a poignant look into how one “makes it” in the music industry, especially with family obligations. This will will definitely appeal to fans of Bazan’s music, but should also be viewed by anyone interested in how religion is currently operating in our country.
Outstanding Documentaries
PAHOKEE & WELL GROOMED
After a string of amazing shorts at SXSW, directors Ivete Lucas and Patrick Bresnan returned to Florida for a feature that captures everything they do well in the genre. Highlighting a rural town in the Everglades over a tumultuous year, Pahokee follows four high schoolers as they head toward graduation. This is “slice of life” documentary filmmaking done right, casting an eye on a population that usually goes unseen.
Well Groomed might be the most fun film of SXSW, and director Rebecca Stern wanted it that way. Following four creative dog groomers, Well Groomed does the standard documentary move of exploring a niche subculture. Stern manages to make it compelling and heart warming, a nice double play. The insane looking dogs are worth a look, too.
Local Connections
RAISE HELL: THE LIFE & TIMES OF MOLLY IVINS
NOTHING STAYS THE SAME: THE STORY OF THE SAXON PUB
Molly Ivins was a nationally known Texan, surprising as much for the fact that she was a liberal from a conservative state as that she came up as a woman in a man’s world. Raise Hell paints a picture of a larger-than-life character who was also flash and blood in the best sense. Today’s political climate could use an Ivins, who passed away from cancer in 2007. If anything in right in this world, Raise Hell will bring Molly’s voice back into the public spotlight, something we could definitely use right now.
The the most Austin of Austin titles, Nothing Stays the Same is ostensibly about the Saxon Pub, one of this city’s oldest and most respected music venues. What it’s really about, though, is the history of Austin clubs struggling to make it as the city grows and changes around them at hyper-speed. The music alone is worth watching this well-made doc, but the interviews with local musical stalwarts is gold. Nothing Stays the Same will make every viewer want to head down to South Lamar for some excellent live music. That would be a hell of an accomplishment by itself.
Midnight Madness
SNATCHERS & BOYZ IN THE WOOD
Set in a world of snarky teens and their accompanying hormones, Snatchers kicks things up a whole notch by introducing light-speed gestation and alien babies. Yes, it’s all ridiculous, but any viewer that can roll with the silly punches will be rewarded with some humorous and shocking moments, sometimes simultaneously.
The Scottish Highlands isn’t the first thing one might think of for a teen horror movie, but with Boyz in the Wood, this remote land plays the perfect host. Societal cast offs and aging villains compete for survival and laughs. The scenery is icing, but the cake is solid performances and a story that twists and turns through lochs and fields.