SXSW Day 6

There wasn't too much happening early in the day so I didn't really get started until 4, kinda late.

However, it started off great. I went down to the Paramount to see The Puffy Chair, a Sundance import that a lot of people were talking about. The film is about a guy who purchases a large purple recliner off of E-bay, drives to pick it up with his girlfriend, picking up his brother on the way, to deliver it to his father for the father's birthday. Shot on some good looking DV it could conceivably be passed off as a documentary (a doc with a lot of coverage, but a doc nonetheless). I'm told that the cut off age on this movie is 30 - if you're under 30 you'll love it, if you're over you won't care for it that much.

That said, being 22, I absolutely loved it. The movie is a raw look at the relationships between people, and I found it really relatable. The directionless relationship, dealing with a brother, saving money via scams, dealing with misrepresentation on ebay... while I don't doubt that people over 30 have gone through these situations, I found them to be very young and young-person oriented. I'm not sure why though. I'm sure that a lot of people over 30 enjoyed the movie, just how that dynamic was presented to me... I found it very interesting. Anyways, the Puffy Chair is a funny movie through all of it's relational exploration, it's biggest laughs come from some of the most emotional parts. It's the odd sort of movie where the tougher the issues the characters deal with, the more you laugh.

The Puffy Chair deals with tough issues in a surprisingly well mannered way. More surprising that the film was in the "Emerging Visions" category for a first or second time feature film. It's very mature in it's construction and treats it's characters with respect. Director Jay Duplass (who also plays the lead) is a very talented man.

From there I hustled on down to the Alamo South Lamar to go see Automatic. I didn't know what Automatic was about, but I met the filmmakers the night before, so I saw it at their request. I slipped into the theatre and was able to write up my food order just before the lights dimmed. They play the trailer for the festival and then begins this ugly-looking, inaudible mess. It starts to build some plot line about a missing purse and some underaged girl or something, I couldn't really tell. The waiter then came by and snatched my order away, first thing that pops into my head is "crap. Now I can't walk out". Next shot is artificially zoomed in DV that lots terrible. The muddles through for a few minutes to basically no conclusion and then credits - including a different title. What I watched was just a short. A terrible short, but just that. The movie then began and I was greatly relieved.

I guess it goes back to the old Vaudevillian concept of "following", but having a bad short screen before your movie is actually a good thing - it makes you look that much better. seeing some good shots, and being able to hear the actors made me receptive to just about anything after the short. Automatic is the tale of interconnected relationships and an inability to change your own actions. It has sort of a doomed message to it, sort of about helplessness. The most rewarding tale in the movie is one of the love of a man and his half-sister.

From there I couldn't find a movie that had a description that grabbed me, so I hopped down to the downtown drafthouse to catch The Sinus Show's presentation of Xanadu - the 1980 Olivia Newton-John movie about a roller skating night club. The movie was terrible, but the Sinus treatment was great fun. The Sinus show, for those who don't know, is basically three comedians telling jokes over movies similar to Mystery Science Theatre 3000. They used to be Mr. Sinus Theatre 3000, but several lawsuits have whittled the name down to "The Sinus Show". It was a lot of fun, I hadn't seen Xanadu or been to a Sinus show. I'll have to go again sometime.

To cap off the evening I stuck around the drafthouse for a little movie known as Dos Blokes. I went to the Paramount to promote it, figuring I could get walk-outs from Drop Dead Sexy. I was in full regalia, a green sport coat and big sunglasses yet people still took me seriously. So much the producer of Drop Dead gave me some invites to his afterparty (which, was pretty lousy). Got a few people to head that way, a lot of them had already seen Dos Blokes and really enjoyed it. I headed back to see that Marlo, the star of the show, had shown up for this one and was really excited to see how it played for the audience.

Our promotions paid off - the crowd was downright excited for the movie. I handed out one of our post cards to a guy I'd met before, which drew attention from the people around him, so I gave some to those people, who included Wiley Wiggins of Waking Life fame. The guy who introduced the movie stumbled through his set-up for The Roost, only to have people yell out asking if there was a short, then asking if the short filmmakers were in attendance. We probably knew the person who did it, but I have no clue who it was. Dos Blokes played well, eliciting applause again. After that, we left. Can't watch The Roost every night.
10:45:14 PM    comment []  trackback []

SXSW Day whatever quickie style

As per usual, quickie style then I'll redo them to the normal way
Puffy Chair: Awesome. Surprised me how good it was

Automatic: Made by a bunch of good guys, interesting stuff The Sinus Show Presents Xanadu: Hadn't seen Xandadu before, but the Sinus treatment of it was fantastic
Dos Blokes: Absolutely killed again.

Gonna get up and see some shorts tomorrow~
10:29:09 PM    comment []  trackback []