Film guy at SXSW: a grab bag of movie reviews

by John P. Meyer

I had three days to leach all he culture I could from the SXSW Film Conference and Festival lineup this year and decided to split my time between panel discussions (as already documented) and film screenings.

I also had a chance to meet up with - and interview - some of the talent and filmmakers behind American Violet. The transcript of these interviews (with director Tim Disney, writer Bill Haney, and stars Nicole Beharie and Will Patton) will be posted prior to that film's North Texas opening, set for April 17 at the Dallas Angelika.

Here's a report the four films I saw in Austin last week - none of which will be repeating at AFI Dallas, as it turns out:

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Breaking Upwards is based on an intriguing and potentially quite amusing concept: young New York couple (played by real-life young New York couple Daryl Wein and Zoe Lister Jones) decide their stagnating relationship could benefit from a jolt of non-togetherness, and so decide to split their time between hanging out with each other and staying totally away.

The script was co-written by lead actor, director and producer Daryl Wein, who is quick to admit that the events depicted are semi-autobiographical in nature.

Instead of just streamlining the "time-out" concept and designating the first half of the week (i.e., Mon. - Thurs. a.m.) as "apart" and the last part of the week as "together," Daryl and Zoe plot out an intricate gridwork of a schedule (Tuesdays together because of one thing, Wednesdays apart because of another). The logistics take into account where both of them will (or, more correctly, will not) be during their "off" days in order to avoid running into each other.

They also write down in their separate notes what exactly it is they're hoping to derive from the exercise; tellingly, Daryl scribbles down "seeing other people." Since Zoe doesn't bring that one up in their shared reading, Daryl scribbles it out hastily. But the stage for polyamorous shenanigans is clearly set.

Eventually getting cozy with Daryl (on his and Zoe's "off days") is neighbor lady Maggie (La Chanze) and - more tentatively - a family friend named Erika (the delectable Olivia Thirlby, late of The Wackness).

The expected jealousy ensues when Zoe stumbles into her own dalliance with a fellow stage actor named - what else? - Dylan (Ebon Moss-Bachrach). Seems Daryl can dish it out but he's not disposed to take it.

Outstanding comic supporting performances are turned in by the two moms in the story: Zoe's (Andrea Martin, as the free-spirited Helaine) and Daryl's (Julie White, as the conservatively-disposed Joanie).

The two leads stuck around after the premiere to take a round of applause and answer questions from the audience.

NOTE: Daryl and Zoe are still together in real life, so whatever relational experiments they actually engaged in have apparently worked.

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Wake Up is one of those peculiar pieces of work that's tough to slap a label on, though we are, at least, able to state exactly why that is.

Here's the deal: a "normal guy" named Jonas Elrod suddenly and unexpectedly wakes up one day with the ability to see (and eventually hear) non-physical entities. He's tested by various medicos for evidence of schizophrenia and brain tumors and given a clean bill of health, but he continues to see variously-hued auras coming off the living and disembodied spirits walking around the streets (and into and out of walls). He even sees vast geometrically-shaped luminous objects hovering about, fading in and out - the filmmakers present us with sfx examples of what Jonas is seeing early in the film.

The rest of the film is a Spurlock-like road-trip documenting Jonas' quest to consult with various gurus and engage in various spiritual regimens in an effort to figure out what the Hell is up with his disconcerting wild talent. He meets with a Baptist minister, a Sufi holy man, a Zen master (well, mistress, actually), a healer and - most engagingly - spends a week on a vision quest among Native Americans in the Pacific Northwest. We're talkin' sweat lodge and spirit circles.

But the underlying assumption that must be made in deciding whether this is a documentary or an outright contrivance involves a leap of faith: we're taking Jonas at his word that he's not making this whole thing up.

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Now for the fun stuff: Women in Trouble is an outrageous (and outrageously funny) ensemble piece directed and written by Sebastian Gutierrez. The cast boasts a bevy of beautiful women including (but not limited to) Carla Gugino and two talented actresses from network TV's hands-down best drama, Friday Night Lights: coach's wife Connie Britton and high school hottie Adrianne Palicki).

The story centers on legendary porn star Elektra Luxx (Ms. Gugino) and her young protege Holly Rocket (Ms. Palicki), who has an unfortunate, deep-seated aversion to eating... um... never mind. After the fashion of Babel or Crash, Elektra's life becomes intertwined with those of a diverse collection of women ranging from a psychologist whose husband is cheating on her, to the sister of his mistress, to an airline stewardess with a taste for wild adventure and a seemingly sinister adolescent girl who witches imaginary cigarettes into glowing life.

When you get a chance to see this movie (and I hope to God you will - presumably it will achieve either art-house release or DVD distribution or both), look for a stunning mile-high cameo from Josh Brolin - and then brace yourself for an amazingly nasty (and side-splittingly hilarious) reminiscence from Ms. Palicki's character involving the sad demise of her childhood pooch.

Director Gutierrez is to be congratulated for making his actresses feel so much at ease that they seem to have left their inhibitions at the sound stage door. While there are plenty of bared psyches in this show, there are - amazingly - no completely bared bodies. Although there are an abundance of enticingly draped ones.

Gutierrez's presentation style (as edited by Lisa Bromwell and Michelle Tesoro) is decidedly Rodriguez-like, with artfully-inserted tongue-in-cheek segues, a saturated color pallete and a hard-driving, Spanish-tinged score. This one is not to be missed.

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For the Love of Movies: The Story of American Film Criticism is a fascinating 70-minute look at the history of movie criticism and the ebbing and waning influence of critics on the moviegoing public.

Filmmaker Gerald Peary was himself a film critic (with roots in academia), and thus knows whereof his numerous on-camera interview subjects speak. These subjects include Rober Ebert, Owen Gleiberman, Harry Knowles, Elvis Mitchell, Rex Reed, Lisa Schwarzbaum... the list of critics goes on, although the nomenclature must be changed to specify "current and former critics," reflecting a growing trend among magazines and newspapers nationwide to let their film critics go. (As in: pink slips.)

As the number of traditional print and broadcast film critics declines, the upsurge of seat-of-the-pants, shoot-from-the-hip web critics continues, and this fact is presented by Peary as both inevitable and - in terms of the quality of content - for the most part unfortunate.

Real food for thought here along with an illuminating history lesson, with narration provided by Patricia Clarkson.