AFI Dallas sneak previews: Your first look at a slew of films from the festival lineup

by John P. Meyer

Courtesy of our friends at the AFI Dallas International Film Festival, a slew of (i.e., several dozen) movie screeners showed up in our offices so we could get a handle on which films we'd like to cover at the festival (primarily in terms of filmmaker interviews).

We haven't watched them all yet, but we're working on it - and since tonight (Thursday, March 26) marks the opening of the festival, we thought this might be a good time to give you some fast-and-loose, gut-level impressions of the ones we've seen so far.

By "we" I refer not to myself in any sort of royal sense - at least, not on this occasion - but rather to Alex Bentley (partner in PegNews film-watching crime) and Kip Mooney, a loyal PegNewser and Scene editor for North Texas Daily.

Kudos also to content partner I Live in Dallas, who gave us lists of Six tips for AFI Dallas moviegoers (good advice, you can take it from me) and 12 films I would pay to see. Jennifer Conley: SAAA-lute! (And, while I've got your ear, could you introduce me to your like-named, though slightly differently-spelled, fellow Jennifer? Pretty please?)

JOHN'S PART:

Sister Wife - quietly eloquent, up close and personal; raw emotion, jealousy and doubt done monologue style.

Sleet/Snow - two people with partners in the background forge a tantalizingly uncomfortable bond on a trip across the Texas plains in an ancient Ford Falcon. One word: diptych.

Rock Slyde - unsophisticated dry (half-)wit characterizes this softboiled detective pseudo-thriller. An egotistical guru wants Rock's office space. (Advice to Rock: get a gat.)

Sugar - Dominican baseball prodigy comes to America and discovers that some dreams change. We feel his pain.

Moon - low-budget sci fi that's worth every penny - and a whole lot more. Go for the two-fer Sam Rockwell performance; stay for the shades-of-gray moral ponderings. (Writer/director interview HERE.)

Zombie Girl - documenting the genesis of a (really) young Austin filmmaker. Her feature-length indie pic suffers through two years of difficult birthing pangs - but will it be undead on arrival? A source of amazing insight for first-time filmmakers of any age.

Kate Wakes - marathon business meeting leads to a carpool opportunity for a young woman who believes that "... talking is so ... um ... not really..."

One Cup of Coffee - tuneful infomercial-style overview of Marley Coffee operations in Jamaica. Sustainable farming, profit-sharing, Rastafarian goodness. Stir it up.

Paris 36 - fascist gangsterism faces off against working stiff socialism on a theatre stage (and in the streets) of pre-war Paris. Like Moulin Rouge, only grittier. Appealing performance (dramatic and musical) from newcomer Nora Arnezeder. (Writer/director and lead actress interview HERE.)

The American Trap - it's "who killed Kennedy" from a French-Canadian perspective, if such can be imagined. (And it can, to the tune of 110 minutes worth of conspiracy theorizing stretching from pre-Castro Havana to Dallas to New Orleans to - um - Montreal.) "Money has no smell, guns no nationality."

I Live in the Woods! - bursting with a horrid capering vitality. Also: rhyming dialog!

Small Collection - voices from a series of once-occupied empty spaces reflect a woman's profound loss.

KIP'S PART:

Treevenge - hilarious, over-the-top short film finds a pine enacting a gory vendetta against the folks who mistreated him. Christmas star through the face? Priceless.

Team Taliban - documentary short follows a young Muslim man who must decide between the dignity of his heritage and the advancement of his wrestling career when he's offered a chance to tour in terrorist persona.

Unbelievable 4 - animated team of outlaws form a hair metal band and rock out to ’80s European classic “The Final Countdown.” The aspiring rockers include George W. Bush, Dick Cheney, Condi Rice, and Donald Rumsfeld. (Unbelievable.)

The Missing Person - sly modern noir starring Oscar nominees Michael Shannon and Amy Ryan. A P.I. takes on a missing persons case: a man may have faked his own death on Sept. 11 and his wife hires Shannon to find if he’s still out there.

Rock Prophecies - fascinating documentary profiling rock photographer Robert Knight, the only man allowed to shoot Stevie Ray Vaughan’s final gig. It chronicles Knight's career through the ’70s as friend and media relations man for some of the biggest rock stars of all time.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Undead - clever but convoluted send-up of the Shakespearean satire finds an underemployed actor directing an “interpretation” of Hamlet. In the process he lands himself in the midst of an ancient conspiracy involving both the Holy Grail and vampires.

ALEX'S PART:

The Horribly Slow Murderer With the Extremely Inefficient Weapon - has the hook of the fun title, but is ultimately undone by its own conceit. Director Richard Gale stages the film as a trailer, which turns into a 10-minute one-joke odyssey, making it both horribly slow and extremely inefficient. I guess you get what you asked for.

Lymelife - Set in late-1970s Long Island, the film centers on two families struggling with suburban malaise, relationships, and Lyme disease (hence the title). Hits a ton of era-appropriate touchstones (Star Wars, the Falkland Islands and music chief among them) and features stellar performances from the brothers Culkin (Rory and Kieran, not Macauley). With Alec Baldwin and Timothy Hutton as co-stars and Martin Scorsese as exec producer, this is one to watch.

Big Fan - Written and directed by Robert Siegel (writer of The Wrestler), Big Fan is an uncomfortable look at Paul (Patton Oswalt), an uber-New York Giants fan who can't let go of his idol worship even after a violent confrontation with his favorite player. With not enough comedy to be funny and not enough drama to be taken seriously, the film ultimately falls flat.

Kip Mooney and Alex Bentley contributed to this story

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