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South By Southwest is a great festival to see many indie films that may make it big or get unnoticed. Throughout the festival, you’re treated with a great assortment of films ranging from documentaries to hilarious comedies. I decided to group a few reviews together since these festival films are not as popular as the big budget studio films and it may be good for you to discover other films when reading a review for one just like I discovered films at the festival.


After watching over twenty full length features, I picked my favorite three films: Pelada, Cherry, and Mars. As it works out, they each come from three very different categories: one is a documentary, one is a drama, and the last is an animated comedy.



Pelada
Pelada was such an amazing film. You get one of those feelings like “Am I really watching this right now?” I really hope this gets picked up by someone and in time for the World Cup this year when everyone cares about soccer (in America) again. Pelada tells the story of two Americans who love the sport of soccer. They’ve played virtually their whole lives, in college, but weren’t signed to a national or major team. However, they still play all the time and they’re usually asked why. The only answer they can give is that it’s for the love of the game and they can’t imagine life without it. They play pickup games and they’re not alone. Pelada follows these two on a journey across the world playing soccer games, learning about other cultures, and in the end…themselves.


From country to country, continent to continent, you see different cultures, people, and stories surrounding the sport of soccer. It seems like in every country they visited, they stumbled on an amazing story. In Brazil, they find a young girl who has been nicknamed after the great Ronaldinho. In Iran, they see how women are treated and what they must go through to just play a simple game. In China, they see how the sport is infused with different elements like Kung-Fu and street tricks. In South Africa, they see how the construction workers building the next stadiums for the biggest tournament in the world, the World Cup spend their lunchtime. The stories go on and on and keep you entertained as your narrators fly from country to country and venue to venue. It may be in clubs, on the streets, during break, late at night, or even in prison, but somewhere, everywhere, a game of soccer is being played. For such a light subject to some, it’s a strong and powerful story to others. Some of the audience in my screening had tears in their eyes as they watched the documentary unfold.

You’re not only allowed to travel along with Luke and Gwendolyn, but you’re allowed into their lives as they figure out what’s next for them. They always imagined playing soccer professionally, but as they get older they realize that that’s probably not in their future anymore. They see all these other people in the world playing pickup games while holding typical day jobs and supporting their families. Seeing this, they have to figure out if it’s their turn to give up the dream and focus on the future. But one thing is for sure, they’ll never give up the sport.


Pelada’s Official Website




Cherry
Heading into college early as a seventeen year-old, Aaron (Kyle Gallner) had a lot of growing up to do. He did just that in his first year away from family and friends…primarily his mother who influenced and controlled many aspects of his life. One thing she controlled was his class schedule, but as she left, his father gave him so advice: to not mess up like he did. Aaron decided that he wanted to take a drawing class since that was his passion instead of a mechanical elective which was pretty much just like the rest of his academic classes. His teacher didn’t let him leave his class since it was such a big opportunity, but Aaron took the drawing class anyway on top of his already heavy load. This is where he met Linda (Laura Allen), a slightly older student who came back to college. One thing led to another and she invited him back to her place for dinner. Aaron got dressed up and was ready to go on a date with this hot cougar but when he got to the house he met someone he didn’t know about or expect…her daughter. Her fourteen year-old daughter.


Even at fourteen, Beth (Brittany Robertson) is much more experienced than Aaron in many areas. Nonetheless, Aaron finds himself in this weird love triangle between his love interest Linda and Beth who has him as a love interest. He enjoys going back to their house and eventually starts sleeping there more than his own dorm room where his roommate constantly puts a tie on the door knob (which means he has a special visitor and to not disturb). Aaron starts to see how Linda and Beth live and becomes really involved in their lives until he’s almost like family – but he’s not – he’s become closer to both of the girls caring for them both in different ways.

This film really stood out to me. The story has been told in many different ways before, but this version felt more genuine. You get a connection to each of the characters and can sympathize with all of their positions…the actors did a great job with that. The way the story is told lets you assume the role of Aaron and deal with each problem as it arrives with him in the movie. Some of the situations are predictable but some scenes come out of nowhere and really surprise you. This probably had more of the mainstream elements and should have the easiest time getting picked up by a distributor.


Cherry’s Official Movie




Mars
This animated film was really surprising. I missed the first screening because way too many people showed up to see it. The screening I got to attend was in was packed too. At first I didn’t know if it was full because of local support (the filmmaker and many people involved with the film were from the city where the festival was taking place, Austin) or if the movie was actually good. Well, both were true.


Mars dives into the relationships of humans and robots as they travel all the way to the red planet of Mars. At first, a robot is sent on a mission but as it lands, it breaks down and loses communication with Earth. Charlie Brownsville, Hank Morrison, and Dr. Casey Cook go on the first manned mission to really see what’s happening on the planet but each have their own reasons for accepting the dangerous mission. This might sound like a serious sci-fi film but it’s actually a hilarious romantic comedy. The animation style is tailored specifically for this film and adds to the story a lot (look out for the character’s hairstyles and clothing).

The dialogue was great and felt real as if you were there with the quirky astronauts on the space ship. They’re not your typical sturdy scientists you’d expect on a space mission. One is a washed up “hero” who is really just bored with everything else. Another could care less with what’s going on. And the third is obsessed with proving herself and fulfilling a lifelong dream. In the end, you get into the heads of the three on the ship and see another relationship between a couple robots.


Mars’ Official Website

This post is part of our SXSW Film Festival coverage
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