SXSW 06

--Mocha Jean Herrup

My relationship with SXSW has been long and complex. 11 years ago, after having my short film rejected, I decided to get in on the action by becoming a volunteer. I was assigned to staff the information table and luck of all luck, to work one of the panelist green rooms with The Man, Paul Lister, the guy who taught me everything I know about navigating my way around a festival and getting the most out of the experience. Under his tutelage I learned the art of combining fine customer service with subtle shmoozing, that appearances matter—you must be early and well dressed to get that worm, and that festival rules aren’t so much enforced as they are deployed, with all of the selective connotations that implies. When Paul left I took over his position as the green room crew chief. In successive years I have had several films accepted in the festival, I’ve been a member of the screening committee, and I was even a panelist myself one year. Covering it now, I think it’s safe to say I have a unique and thorough perspective on this festival. And in my well honed and completely unbiased professional opinion I can tell you, it’s fucking awesome!

Really, truly, for real, SXSW is the highlight of my year living in Austin, and that’s no shlub on my social life or the arts and culture scene here in central Texas. SXSW is a film, interactive and music festival. It’s 10 days of seeing great films at cool venues like the beer and dinner serving Alamo Drafthouse, recently named “Best Theater in America” by Entertainment Weekly; going to panels during the day and finding out things like what the programmer from HBO looks like and how to make money podcasting; loading up your bag with free CD’s at the tradeshow; staying out all night seeing live music all over downtown; and meeting interesting and engaging filmmakers, film lovers, web designers and other computer types, musicians, fans and industry professionals everywhere you go.

SXSW, at least for me, is a weeklong affirmation of why I live in Austin. Oh sure, we don’t have all the big city attractions here like New York or Los Angeles or San Francisco, of which I’ve harped on before in previous articles. But what do we have, we have heart! (and, like I’ve pointed out, some new lofts, sushi restaurants, and edgy architecture....). Louis Black, SXSW co-founder and editor of the Austin Chronicle newspaper (another completely unbiased and professional source) gushed:

“People love Austin—they love the music, food, and film; the talk, ideas, and drink; the creative and innovative atmosphere, but they really uniquely admire the people: their friendliness, range of interests, and good natured intelligence.” [from his letter in the Austin Chronicle thanking everyone for 20 great years.]

We really like it here. We really, really like it here.

THE REVIEWS:

DARKON (Andrew Neel, Luke Meyer)

From the opening title, “It is a time of unrest in the realm of Darkon as Bannor of Laconia attempts to bring Keldar, leader of the Mordomian Empire, before a War Crimes Tribunal,” DARKON gets it right. This is no ethnographic examination of a quirky subculture from whom we, the audience, are completely removed. This is full immersion. We, the audience, learn by doing. We are not here for a lecture. We are going on an adventure.

The film, like it’s subject, the full-contact medieval fantasy wargaming group named Darkon, is about having fun. Players in this Baltimore / Washington DC area based live action, role-playing game create character personas for themselves, put elaborate costumes together, join “tribes” or “nations” and, every other Sunday in a public park or campground go about their business slugging it out with padded weaponry, bartering goods for magic potions, and fomenting dissent and rebellion among rival factions. The film employs a host of big production elements like aerial photography and the use of cranes, steadicams and dollies to give the audience a satisfying epic experience.

Neither take themselves too seriously. The players are fully aware that they are grown men and women who like to dress up and “play war.” The film is under no delusion that it is the documentary version of BRAVEHEART. High stakes negotiations between two warring leaders takes place at a Denny’s Restaurant. A jogger passes by as opposing sides gear up for battle. Shots of sprawling subdivisions make their way into the sweeping landscape photography. These aren’t mistakes or breaches of verissimilitude. This broken up, anachronistic, sometimes-in-character, sometimes out-of-character, serious and funny at the same time quality of the game is the reality of the game. By showing all this in a way that is simultaneously playfully aware and dramatically compelling, the film expertly emulates and creates the experience of the game.

In addition to its snazzy production elements, DARKON is also filled with great people who are interesting characters in and out of role. Skip Lipman, aka Bannor, is a loveable stay-at-home Dad who just wants to be the hero and fend off the evil doings of his rival, Keldar. Kenyon Wells, aka Keldar, is a once-too-shy uber corporate manager who may have learned a thing too many from his imperialist machinations on the Darkon playground. Lipman and Wells, along with many others featured in the film are highly articulate, likeable people. They openly discuss the easier time they may have interacting with people in their Darkon roles and their ability to feel more confident and comfortable when they assume their alter-egos. They also opine about the back and forth effects of their “role playing personas” and “their real life selves,” and it is at this point in the film that things start to get really interesting.

The discussion veers away from an exploration of how role playing games can enhance one’s engagement in real life as participants begin to question the nature of “real life” itself We are always playing a role, they explain. When you’re at work, you play a role. When you’re at home, you play a role. When you’re on the Darkon field, it’s yet another role. Granted, these roles have varying degrees of significance and consequence, but perhaps we can all understand that when one serves coffee at Starbucks, one is more than likely playing a role than fulfilling the quintessential expression of one’s inner most self.

Many interviewed in the film also challenge the idea that playing a roleplaying game is different from other leisure activities in which adults engage. What’s the difference, one participant asks, from playing a live action game and playing a board game? Why the stigma? Even more provocative, participants muse about the negative attitudes people have about the escapist quality of what they do. They rightly point out that watching television, the activity that occupies the greatest percentage of adults’ leisure time, is the height of escapism. Why look down on playing Darkon, something that, in addition to providing an escape, also gives one the opportunity to be outside, get some exercise, and be with friends. How can that be more freakish than spending four to eight hours a day watching flickering lights? One player gleefully asks, “Would you rather watch Brad Pitt or be Brad Pitt?” [Which makes me wonder, would I rather watch someone pretending to be someone else or be someone pretending to be someone else? I’ll have to get back to you on that…]

By re-framing expectations and challenging “conventional wisdom” about the live action, roleplaying scene, DARKON may have a thing or two to teach us about ourselves and our lives. We all play roles. Games can be fun and beneficial. Perhaps it’s not that gamers have a loose grip on reality but that we have a loose grip on fantasy. . .

BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON (Scott Glosserman)

BEHIND THE MASK: THE RISE OF LESLIE VERNON is a wildly entertaining send up qua master’s thesis on the slasher genre. Cagely designed as behind-the-scenes expose, the first part of the film takes us along as aspiring documentary filmmaker Taylor Gentry (Angela Goethals) lands the exclusive that will make her career. Evil doer Leslie Vernon (Nathan Baesel) agrees to give her unprecedented access as he concocts his grisly schemes. He graciously shows us the nuts and bolts of his line of work: scoping out his survivor girl, an industry term, he explains, for the one who has the potential to get away, usually a virgin; staging the scene by rigging the main fuse box and sabotaging all items or means of escape; following an exhaustive workout regimen. “You have to make it look like you’re walking while everyone else is running their asses off,” he explains, “that takes some serious cardio.”

BEHIND THE MASK is full of clever, self referential gems. Leslie’s friend and mentor Eugene (Scott Wilson), a well respected, retired psycho-killer, provides guidance and encouragement. “Have you worked out your red herring yet?” he asks his protoge over dinner. Well placed cameos by Zelda Rubenstein (the short woman from POLTERGEIST) and Robert Englund (aka Freddie Krueger!) are sprinkled throughout.

About two thirds of the way through the film, when we’ve had about all the self reflexive fun we can have, the film takes a dramatic turn. The storyline shifts and the two guys behind the camera ostensibly shooting the documentary appear to us as full fledged characters for the first time. Our perspective changes from that of the camera crew to that of the omniscient filmic apparatus. Everything changes... the film stock, the editing, the soundtrack, the tempo... There’s a sense of palpable recognition in the audience. Woohoo! We are now in a full on slasher-rama! Woohoo! We’ve seen all the planning. Now it’s time to watch to sink in and watch Leslie exploit the fruits of his labor, of course with a twist...

BEHIND THE MASK is sumptuously satsifying, even to a slasher skeptic like myself. It privileges wit and humor over gore and gush, but keeps enough of that in there to sate everyone’s fancy. This film has panache. This film has guts. (heh, heh, heh.)

LOL (Joe Swanberg)

Director Joe Swanberg is one to watch. I hate to do the obligatory Hal Hartley reference but there it is. Swanberg’s work is provocatively insightful. His economy of story, masterfully constructed. And he’s prolific. LOL follows Swanberg’s first feature, KISSING ON THE MOUTH, which made great impressions at SXSW and other fests only one year prior. He regularly podcasts short films and his music was recently featured on NPR. The man is on his way and setting himself apart from the seminal independents, he smartly deploys the tools of his time, foregoing expensive film stock for a mish mosh of digital forms.

Reminiscent of an earlier film, DENISE CALLS UP (Hal Salwen), about a group of friends who only communicate via phone and fax (no email frenzy yet, this is 1995), LOL also mines the topic of technological disconnection. But whereas DENISE leans into farce, LOL goes for subtle pathos. Two guys tap away at their laptops, exchanging mean spirited emails to each other about one’s girlfriend while she’s right there in the room. At other times, male characters repeatedly talk on their cell phones while those sitting next to them wait to be engaged. Although we see creative, connective uses of various technologies throughout the film as well, LOL mainly depicts the complicated relationship between the main characters’ tech obsessions and their self defeating masculinities. It is a brave depiction.

If what the experts tell us about the millennial generation is true, that they are particularly well suited for working in groups, Swanberg, at 25, is a millennial with a mission. LOL is an industrious, collaborative effort. Clearly one of Swanberg’s gifts is his ability to effectively helm a project and, at the same time, create the space for everyone to contribute in creative, meaningful ways. But perhaps more significant is Swanberg’s ability to effectively explore the real ramifications of group centered lives. Where does all that constant communication get us? What is the cost?

REVIEWS (In Brief)

FORGIVING THE FRANKLINS (Jay Floyd)
What if your Christian fundamentalist family suddenly lost all their shame and started to act like, well, real people? Mom and Dad might actually enjoy sharing a bed with each other. Your Gilbert & Sullivan listening jock of an older brother might actually come to terms with his sexuality. Wait a minute… healthy, functional, emotionally secure and available people? That’s actually kind of weird!

Some rough spots to this film but generally a pleasure to watch. Great dinner table scene. Watch this one with a group. You’ll laugh louder.

THE LAST WESTERN (Chris Deaux)
Documents the town of Pioneertown, originally built as a movie set to make B-western movies. Beautiful photography but the characters didn’t keep me interested. I can only watch the charming Buzz Gamble get drunk and squander his opportunities for so long. At 65 minutes though, the film did a nice job of wrapping things up before I got super frustrated.

MAXED OUT (James D. Scurlock)
This documentary about credit card debt was hotly anticipated at the fest. SXSW audiences love those films that take the corporate bad guy to task: TARGET SHOOTS FIRST, SUPERSIZE ME, ENRON: THE SMARTEST GUYS IN THE ROOM. MAXED OUT made some great points but lacked the artful hook found in those other films.

FIRST DATE (short film) (Gary Huggins)
A wandering narrative about an ex-con’s desperate attempts to meet up with his underage male date. The director assured me beforehand that it would not be homophobic. I can tell you that it was not. I cannot, however, tell you what the film was about. Experimental.

APART FROM THAT (Randy Walker, Jennifer Shainan)
An interesting attempt at fractured storytelling but I wasn’t invested in the characters enough to try to piece together the events and happenings, or be interested in the lack thereof.

HIRO (short) (Matthew Swanson)
Amazing production values. Not much story. Audiences love it. Swanson is sure to get an agent and make a bundle in the commercial market.

SLAM PLANET (Kyle Fuller, Mike Henry)
A glimpse into the world of slam poetry competition for the Real World / MTV set. Fast paced, slick graphics, well edited dramatic encounters. Highly entertaining.

PICK UP THE MIC (Alex Hinton)
A fairly conventional documentation of an unconventional subject: queer hiphop artists. I liked its down home quality and the accessibility of the artists.

Local Spotlight

Six, count ‘em, six feature films in this year’s fest by local Austin filmmakers! I’m not gonna really review them because I love all these guys and I’m totally biased and I wouldn’t say anything bad about these films even if there was something bad to say (I make films too and it’s a small town...) so here are great things about the five I got to see:

THE CASSIDY KIDS (Jake Vaughan): Includes the most amazing fake 80’s style sitcom TV show ever. Yes, the theme songs were that bad. Yes, they were that racist. Jake, you make it hurt so good.
2AM (Korey Coleman): Check out the CSI trumping into-the-throat-cavity shot. Wow! That’s good animation. And Korey, I love that you stand up for your ex and take a punch in your own movie! (The ladies really like that. They really, really like that.)
JUMPING OFF BRIDGES (Kat Candler): Candler is the SE Hinton of independent filmmaking. She illuminates the secret emotional lives of teenage boys in ways that are believable and compelling.
GRETCHEN (Steve Collins): The best worst dressed characters since NAPOLEAN DYNAMITE. Collins’ visual humor is divine. He knows how to use that overhead shot for its full comedic effect.
LETTERS FROM THE OTHER SIDE (Heather Courtney): Visually stunning documentary about back and forth video communication between people in Mexico and the States. I love the inclusion of the well meaning American tourist woman who buys a pillow and thanks the woman on tape who made it.