I apologize for not updating more but the South By Southwest Conference and Film Festival is hectic! There’s so much to do, I don’t know how anybody can get it all done. I flew in Friday night and today is Wednesday, I’ve seen over a dozen films in the past 4 days and almost all of them have been great. Here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to. I’ll be writing more in depth reviews when the festival is over.
Day 2: Saturday, March 13th.
After picking up my badge and finding my way around a bit, I sat down for my first movie, a movie I wasn’t even planning to see: Marwencol. It was a great and tragic story about a man who was almost beaten to death regaining his life through an alter life in the form of action figures and dolls. I tried to get in to a film called Mars at the Ritz but I have still yet to be able to make it into a screening at this theater…it has been packed! Instead, I got some food and then headed over to the Paramount where most of the big premieres were taking place and saw the French film Micmacs and then Cyrus starring John C. Reily and Jonah Hill…they were in attendance for a Q&A afterwards.
Day 3: Sunday, March 14th.
I tried to get a few interactive events in today so I didn’t start watching movies till later. I was back at the Paramount for Mr. Nice and Elektra Luxx. Mr. Nice was the true story of Howard Marks, a British drug smuggler. Elektra Luxx is the sequel to Sebastian Gutierrez’s Women in Trouble starring Carla Gugino, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Malin Akerman, Adrianne Palicki, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and many more…most of them were in attendance which kind of saved the night because the projector stopped working before the end of the film.
Day 4: Monday, March 15th.
To make up for the day before, I watched 6 movies today, yes 6. I started off with a film I really wanted to see, Pelada…and it was amazing! 2 Americans travel the world playing pick up soccer games. I sat next to the 2 player-travellers in the film. It’s my favorite film of the festival so far. I tried to get into Tiny Furniture at the Ritz, but again it was full, so I saw Beijing Taxi followed by American: The Bill Hicks Story. Beijing Taxi was a stale documentary about a couple taxi drivers in Beijing before and during the Winter Olympics. American: The Bill Hicks Story is the story of comedian Bill Hicks who became more of an activist as his career progressed. I went to a smaller venue, The Hideout, to watch a Finnish film called Living Room of the Nation which put cameras in a few Finnish homes to see how stories unravelled through everyday life. Then I went back to the Paramount for the world premiere of MacGruber, the SNL skit starring Will Forte, Kristen Wiig, Maya Rudolph, Ryan Phillippe, and Val Kilmer. It was actually hilarious, I’ll write a full review soon. Elektra Luxx was played again tonight since it broke down the night before, so I caught the ending of that.
Day 5: Tuesday, March 16th.
This was the ending of the interactive and film conference so I watched some internet related films. I started off the morning with Erasing David, a British filmmaker sets off to disappear for a month and hires 2 private investigators to try and find him using only publicly available data. It’s about the state of our privacy in society today. Then I set up shop at the Paramount again and watched 3 films back to back. I couldn’t handle the last one (Skateland) and will have to catch it later. I heard good things about it so I’m sure it’ll get picked up. I started off with Hood to Coast, a film documenting a few teams during this epic marathon from Mt. Hood to the coast of Oregon. Followed by The People vs. George Lucas, another documentary about the angry fans of Star Wars. And finished the night with Harry Brown, a great in your face thriller starring Michael Caine.
So that was 14 films and 1 twice. There’s hardly any time in between to eat! I still have 4 more days but I’m probably going to see less and less movies. I took most of today off to try and get some work done in the middle of the week and I’m planning on catching the other side of the South By Southwest festival, the music. Tonight, I plan on seeing Get Low, Cargo, and maybe another film. For the next couple days I will try and see The Runaways, Monsters, Higanjima, World’s Largest, The Red Chapel, and maybe Canal Street Madam, The Parking Lot Movie, and Mars.
Are you guys interested in any of the movies I’ve seen, am trying to see, or other films of the South By Southwest festival? Let us know!
This post is part of our SXSW Film Festival coverageThe South by Southwest® (SXSW®) Conferences & Festivals offer the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies. Fostering creative and professional growth alike, SXSW® is the premier destination for discovery. The internationally acclaimed, nine-day Film Festival celebrates raw innovation and emerging talent, with a truly diverse program ranging from provocative documentaries to subversive Hollywood comedies.Visit South by Southwest’s Official Website
Tags: Adrianne Palicki, American: The Bill Hicks Story, Beijing Taxi, Canal Street Madam, Cargo, Carla Gugino, Cyrus, Elektra Luxx, Emmanuelle Chriqui, Erasing David, Get Low, Harry Brown, Higanjima, Hood to Coast, John C. Reily, Jonah Hill, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Kristen Wiig, Living Room of the Nation, MacGruber, Malin Akerman, Mars, Marwencol, Maya Rudolph, Michael Caine, Micmacs, Monsters, Mr. Nice, Pelada, Ryan Phillippe, Sebastian Gutierrez, Skateland, South By Southwest, The Parking Lot movie, The People vs. George Lucas, The Red Chapel, The Runaways, Tiny Furniture, Val Kilmer, Will Forte, Women in Trouble, World's Largest
Matthew Fong created advancescreenings.com and is the lead contributor. He watches every type of movie and will try almost anything twice. You can follow him on twitter here: @matthewfong
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