The psycho-sexual anthology Little Deaths made a minor splash at SXSW as the Serbian Film of this year's fest, leaving many searching for the film most analogous to Ben Wheatley's even better-loved SXFantastic buzz film Kill List. But while parallels to previous SXSW hits like Monsters and Wheatley's own Down Terrace have been drawn, another entry from last year's festival circuit instead comes to mind: Yorgos Lanthimos' crazypants domestic drama Dogtooth.
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Evan Glodell's nihilist love story/vengeance tale Bellflower is a dangerous piece of must-see American indie filmmaking for Mad Max fans and, in a way, the same crowd who can't wait to see Quentin Dupieux's killer tire flick Rubber. After premiering at Sundance, where Oscilliscope snapped it up for a summer 2011 release, Bellflower blazed a diesel-fueled trail through SXSW treating attendees to a glimpse of the heavily modified Buick Skylark that Glodell transformed into the flame-throwing beast known as the Mother Medusa.
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"We need to keep it gangsta and take our sh*t to the next level," pleads Die Antwoord rapper Yo-Landi to Ninja, her partner in crime in the Harmony Korine-directed short Umshini Wam. And just how do the South African zef hip-hoppers do just that? By pimping out their wheelchair rides, shooting guns in empty suburban parking lots, smoking comically large joints, and dreaming of life as "Gang$ta number one." Watch the entirety of Umshini Wam (translation: 'Bring me my machine gun') after the jump.
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First time director Cindy Meehl brought the capacity audience at Austin's Paramount Theater to its feet with her crowd-pleasing documentary Buck, about Buck Brannaman, the gentleman cowboy-horse whose life and work partially inspired Robert Redford's The Horse Whisperer. After the film, Brannaman and the filmmakers walked onstage to a rousing standing ovation for a Q&A filled with horsemanship advice, behind-the-scenes details, and a shout out to the Dog Whisperer, Cesar Millan.
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Did you hear the one about the filmmaker who ruined the SXSW screening of the SXFantastic entry The FP by loudly heckling their own film late Monday night, pissing off the army of movie bloggers in attendance? Meet Sarah Trost: film disrupter, costume designer, sister to writer-directors Brandon and Jason Trost, and former contestant on season 8 of Project Runway.
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As a bunch of brassy strippers once taught us, you've gotta have a gimmick if you want to get ahead. The same goes for dancers as it does for indie films, three of which demonstrated that time-tested lesson Monday night at SXSW. Which brings us to our Movieline Pro Tips of the Day: Bringing fun/hands-on props to delight the crowd after your movie screens can help the goodwill linger. Loudly heckling your own movie for kicks while a dozen or so journalist types sit near you, aghast and annoyed? Not so much.
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SNL superstar Kristen Wiig breezed into Austin midnight Sunday for what director Paul Feig accurately termed "Kristen Wiig Appreciation Night" -- a double header of this Friday's Paul followed by a special work in progress screening of this summer's Bridesmaids. The May 13 comedy marks Wiig's first honest-to-goodness starring vehicle, an event in itself, but here's even better news: Bridesmaids isn't just the smart and grounded antidote to the shrill chick flicks we all hate; it's the most raunchy, sweet and wonderfully vulgar R-rated comedy in recent memory. Bring it, Hangover 2.
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Universal's geek bonding road trip flick Paul screens shortly tonight at SXSW, but another sci-fi alien pic with ties to the Nick Frost-Edgar Wright-Simon Pegg universe may have already stolen its thunder: Attack the Block, director Joe Cornish's horror comedy about inner-city London kids who channel their delinquent ways into survival skills when vicious space invaders descend.
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In conversation with Movieline's Elvis Mitchell Friday at SXSW, director Todd Phillips talked all things Todd Phillips: His fascination with awkward male relationships, the status of The Hangover 2, how heartbroken he was when his HBO documentary Frat House was shelved by a lawsuit, and wise words he once received from James Cameron. And somewhere between sharing revelations from Due Date (a test of how forgiving an audience could be of Robert Downey Jr.) and expressing love for both Mel Gibson and Charlie Sheen (they're both "my boys"), Phillips accused Warner Bros. of violating DGA rules in the name of milking the home-video market.
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SXSW Film attendees sat star-struck in the aisles, angling to get a look at Jake Gyllenhaal in the flesh -- and that was before his latest vehicle, Source Code, premiered as the opening night headliner. As in the film, which focuses on Gyllenhaal in various states of confusion as an war veteran recruited to re-live the same eight minutes in time in hopes of averting a terrorist attack, Thursday night's screening was all about Jake -- and that could very bode well for Summit as they look to open strong next month.
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Want to know what it's really like covering the film industry from a journalist's standpoint? Movieline will join representatives from MSN, the LA Times, and UGO this Sunday in Austin for a wide-reaching SXSW panel discussion on the realities of writing about film in the internet age. (Spoiler alert: It's complicated.) Mark your calendars and get ready to peel back the layers as we go inside the sausage factory!
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Austin is a place that likes to think of itself as strange -- as in the city's motto, "Keep Austin Weird." But it really seems more nerdy than weird when the massive film-music-tech bonanza that is South by Southwest kicks off every year, drawing thousands of geeks of all stripes to congregate. And for the next week or so, Movieline will be among the crowds of geek illuminati reporting on film goings-on from the ground. Join us, with the magic of technology!
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The great thing about the massive program at the SXSW Film Festival, which starts this week, is that it runs so deep and it takes so many chances, whether on up-and-coming directors, megastars in need of PR miracles (looking at you, Mel), or random collaborations between artists so awesome, the mere idea of them working together blows your mind (four words: Die Antwoord + Harmony Korine). But many of these folks have a lot riding on their SXSW debuts. Movieline names 10 films and filmmakers with something big prove this week in Austin.
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"It was one of the most magical times ever," recalls Anthony Kiedis of the 1980s Los Angeles punk scene that gave birth to bands like his Red Hot Chili Peppers amidst a haze of sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll. But for indie rock icon Bob Forrest, lead singer of the post-punk band Thelonious Monster, the freely available substances that liberated the scene also sent him into a spiraling drug dependency that ruined his career. After years of battling his demons, Forrest became a renowned drug counselor helping others, and his struggle formed the basis of the documentary Bob and the Monster.
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