Ok – now for the finishing touches on a very cool SXSW 2005.

My biggest regret from this year’s festival was how busy my “film producing” life has become on my two projects which caused me to have to miss a good 10 films over the duration of the festival. However, I feel very blessed by my picks for what I saw, since literally everything I saw was a winner.

Now if you remember – I saw HOOLIGANS, PROMEDIO ROJO, DROP DEAD SEXY and UNLEASHED. You can read about each of those by clicking on those titles. What I’m going to be reviewing here is CHUMSCRUBBER and THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS… and a special short film by a resident auteur.

TERMINATION

First – Let’s chat briefly about the short film, TERMINATION. Originally – this short film was going to debut at the 6th Annual BUTT-NUMB-A-THON. It was directed by Paul Alvarado-Dykstra, who spent quite a bit of time on AICN as my C.O.O. and writing under the devious nom de plume ROBOGEEK. Well, he’s been bitten by the, “What I really want to do is Direct,” bug and last year decided to try his hand by making this short film. When he showed it to me for consideration for BUTT-NUMB-A-THON – I was shocked at just how damn good it was. The film is all about a no-luck ‘joe’ that arrives late to his own “termination” Essentially – he’s given the reasons he’s being fired and well – he’s having a bit of existential breakthrough. Sure – he’s being fired, but when you hear the story he has to tell, you realize – he’s being set free and that those firing him, are really the prisoners. Now – The cool thing here is – Paul wound up winning the Best Texas Short Film Award for his work and while Paul certainly did a great job directing and producing it. The work that Jen White did, particularly as cinematographer… and that actor Michael Conway did as not only the lead actor, but as writer… well it really was a remarkable team effort that fully deserved the award it picked up. So – a Well Done, Robo! Click Here to Learn more about TERMINATION!!!

Next – let’s talk about CHUMSCRUBBER.

First – let’s take a look at the cast. We’ve got Glenn Close, William Fichtner, Ralph Fiennes, John Heard, Lauren Holly, Jason Isaacs, Allison Janney, Carrie-Anne Moss and Rita Wilson. Ok – That’s the adult stars of the cast. The real focus of the film is upon: Jamie Bell, Camilla Belle and Justin Chatwin. And they are really wonderful in the film. In fact, when Spielberg saw this movie, he was so impressed by young Justin Chatwin that he cast him in WAR OF THE WORLDS as Tom Cruise’s teenage son. Personally having seen CHUMSCRUBBER – I don’t know what I’m going to think of Justin. Here – he plays such a piece of shit asshole, that as of now… I just want to see the Martians to tear him to pieces. Heh.

So what is “The Chumscrubber”? Ok – within the universe of THE CHUMSCRUBBER – there is a video game set in the town that all these people live in. The video game landscape is their houses, businesses, yards all after nuclear Armageddon, where a decapitated teenager is meant to battle the forces of the atomic zombies, where he uses his separated head to knock out the tormented undead souls of his town. NOW – that’s just a surreal underscoring of the film.

In a way you could look at this film as a parody and satire of not just suburban familial disconnection… but in a way, there’s a terrifying commentary on the upper class reliance on prescription happy pills to dictate emotions and feelings, rather than just earnestly feeling or connecting to those around them.

This isn’t really a film where there is anybody I can really associate with. I’ve never known that many people in the pill-popping world. I did date this one model for a bit that after about 2 weeks with her, I realized that she was entirely too dependent on various pills in order to quasi operate on a plane of reality somewhere near the planet I call Zeta One. She seemed to have a connection to something called Earth, which apparently was a dreary planet to be avoided at all costs, but that she constantly hated herself for being a part of. In a way, CHUMSCRUBBER is all about this world.

At one point in the movie, during a specifically terrible moment of parenting madness, I leaned over to my dad to bless him for not being anything like any of the adults in this film. All of them were just neurotic to an extreme… and this being a pitch black comedy drama may very well lose some in the audience, but for those with darker souls, there’s a level of relish here that is quite delectable to those that enjoy films like EDWARD SCISSORHANDS, DONNIE DARKO or THE ‘BURBS. Now is the film at that level? Well, its suburbs are less fantastical and lean towards the surreal… think – lest Tim Burton – more Bunuel. And to me, that’s a good thing.

This story of suicide, teenage angst, high school drug dealing, young infatuations, and the weirdest damn mayor you’ll ever see. Fiennes is hilariously out of it. The adult actors may not have much time here, but they’re so strong, that each of the grown up characters give ya so much flavor that it colors the entire film with the strength of those performances.

Newmarket has the film with Dreamworks’ Go Fish, so you’ll most likely get a chance to see it for yourself. It really is worth a look.

Lastly – there is THE THING ABOUT MY FOLKS!

4 years ago there was a little indie film I was championing called TWO FAMILY HOUSE by Raymond De Felitta. This was one of those great little movies about guy with a small little dream, and just how hard it is to live any dream, especially the small ones. It was a wonderful wonderful film.

Well, this is Raymond’s latest film. It was written by Paul Reiser for him to star in with Peter Falk playing his dad. Reiser’s own father was a huge Peter Falk fan, and Paul remembered that, and in writing the movie, he wrote specifically for the wonderful voice of Peter Falk.

Now – personally this is the type of film you just don’t see enough of these days. If somebody picks this film up and releases it on Father’s Day weekend, I think you’ll see an appreciative response from the audience. It really is a great film to see with your dad.

The film begins with Peter Falk showing up at Paul Reiser & Elizabeth Perkins’ home in New York… late, to show them a letter he found from his wife, Reiser’s mother saying that she was leaving him… but doesn’t say why or to where she was going. The film is essentially about Paul distracting his dad for a few days while his wife and siblings try to track “mom” down to find out what the hell is going on.

The result of the trip is a connection and an sharing of pent up feelings and emotions that had never been discussed in the 40 some odd years they’ve known each other. The questions he never asked, the honesty and emotional connection they never had the time to share and explore.

Ok ok, I can hear the snoring, but folks… Peter Falk… he’s a national treasure here. The packed audience I saw this with were belly laughing and on the otherhand openly weeping during the film. Falk is hilarious, and as the straight man, Paul Reiser is note perfect here. And as Falk’s wife – Olympia Dukakis was wonderful. Raymond De Felitta is a director that we should all be looking out for. His films are tiny stories about true human connections that feel absolutely honest and absorbing.

This really is a terrific film. And man – the car that Peter Falk buys in the film is fucking sweet! I want one so bad!

That’s it for my SXSW 2005. Hopefully next year I’ll be able to catch more films for y’all. I really wanted to catch PALINDROMES and KONTROLL, alas – time got the best of me. Luckily Team AICN did a great job of covering most of the films I missed. Great job guys and gals! See y’all next year!