Hey everyone. Capone here, attending my first-ever SXSW Film Festival.
Because of a prior commitment, I am only able to attend the first four days of this event, so with a couple of exceptions, I've tried to hit films that may not get as much attention as other films playing in Austin this week. My primary objective was to hit as many documentaries as I could, with an emphasis on those that don't have distribution deals already (so I skipped Alex Gibney's GONZO and AMERICAN TEEN and a couple other high-profile offerings because I know I'll see them in Chicago fairly soon).
Plus, I just live for great, undiscovered docs documentaries. But sometimes I just needed to see a film because it was a happening. Because I'd already seen 21 and RUN FATBOY RUN before I came to Austin (two of the gold ticket items playing in the festival's first few days), I was able concentrate on other films that I've been dying to see in recent weeks and months. I managed to hit 16 films is four days; not bad. Next year, I should be able to stay for the festival's duration, but here are a few highlights of my first SXSW film experience.
Sorry for the slight delay in getting these out to you, but I pretty much never stopped moving from screening to interview to panel, so my actual writing time has been limited.
This column is going to focus on the documentary offerings that I caught, with subsequent columns focusing on Midnight movies, Features, and a few stragglers to round out the bunch.
Enjoy…
SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED
My absolute favorite documentary of the group I saw at SXSW was SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED, which centers on an annual competition among hundreds of middle schools and high schools nationwide to invent and produce the next great new toy or game. If this film gets a decent distribution, it could easily be the next SPELLBOUND, which was also filled with brainy kids loaded with interesting lives, unique life experiences, and a competitive ferocity that is undeniable. Director Dori Berinstein (the executive producer on the film is former astronaut Sally Ride, who runs the competition) somehow managed to follow six teams (from a batch of about 400 teams, representing more than 2,000 kids) who, over an eight-month period, come up with the idea for a game or toy, design it, come up with rules, and eventually build the thing (assuming they make it past the first round of the contest where 400 teams is culled down to 50. Although the film simply doesn't have the time to delve into each child's background, you still manage to get a sense of the dynamic of each team and teacher/coach. Much like SPELLBOUND, each audience member is going to identify and root for different teams and like different inventions more than others, and that's kind of the point. There are no villains here. The only enemy is time and lack of creativity.
By the time the 50 finalists get to the judging part of the contest in a San Diego exhibit hall, the tension and hopes are about as high as you can imagine. SOME ASSEMBLY REQUIRED is about watching young people pour their heart and soul into something that likely will not win. The spirit of creativity, imagination, and engineering knowhow explodes forth with this film, and I loved every second of it. And even the film's postscript is wonderful because, the losing team members clearly loved the experience almost as much as they would have enjoyed a win. Berinstein's work is glorious and would make for some truly inspiring family viewing if it ever gets a shot at a theatrical run. The film has soul and more quirky personality than anything I've seen in a long time. I suspected I'd like this film going in, but I had no idea how much I grew to adore it by the time it was over.
SUPER HIGH ME
Comedian Doug Benson is a funny motherfucker.
There's no denying it, movie or no movie, stoned out of his gourd or stone-cold straight and sober, the guy is funny. One of the most popular films at SXSW (documentary or feature) was SUPER HIGH ME, "based on a joke by Benson" (according to the credits) in which he takes a cue from Morgan Spurlock's SUPER SIZE ME. Benson decides to see if there are any effects (ill or otherwise) to his system if her pretty much smokes week non stop for 30 days, from the minute he wakes up until he goes to bed at night. He challenges himself with tests for lung capacity, IQ, memory, even psychic ability both on and off drugs (he precedes his 30-day binge with 30 days of absolutely not getting high).
Benson and director Michael Blieden attempt to frame this story of excess by exploring the debate over over medical marijuana (particularly in California) and who has jurisdiction over drug enforcement when the state has passed a law saying medical marijuana is legal. When Benson's marijuana supplier is busted and patients' records are seized by the DEA, the whole thing seem far more real and borderline dangerous. The incident also fuels the stereotypical stoner paranoia that abounds in this film.
I'm not sure the results of Benson's pseudo-scientific tests really prove or disprove much, but they proved to me that Benson's stand-up act is just as funny whether he's stoned or not. During his 30 days stoned, he would update each night's audience as to his condition and the current state of the union regarding legalized marijuana, and the material is priceless.
We also get glimpses of Benson's comic buddies, including Sarah Silverman (yes, we do see her take a drag off a pot vaporizer), Patton Oswalt, Bob Odenkirk, Zach Galifianakis, Brian Posehn and Jeff Ross, all of whom offer their perspective on Benson's experiment. Even if SUPER HIGH ME were just an excuse to watch 90 minutes of Benson do his stuff, I would have been happy. The stoner material is just icing on an already fabulously rich cake. I don't know if this film has a release date or distributor yet, but I guarantee you if it gets released, it will become a cult hit among stoners of all races and creeds. This is the most entertaining science experiment since baking soda met vinegar.
SECOND SKIN
Probably my second-favorite documentary of SXSW was this look at the men and women (and everything in between) who literally and figuratively live in the world of online gaming, specifically MMOs (massively multiplayer online) games like World of Warcraft and Everquest.
While the film might seem like its subject matter is ripe for gentle ribbing and mockery, director Juan Carlos Pineiro Escoriaza not only takes the lifestyle seriously but examines its darker corners, such as those addicted to the games to the point where they lose their jobs, relationships, money, and sometimes, their will to live.
Now in the interest of full disclosure, I don't play video games, period. I simply don't have the time. But when I go to a friends house and start playing, it's extremely hard to stop. I recognize that I have a mildly addictive personality (I saw something like 480 in theaters last year, so clearly my addiction is concentrated in one place), so I stay away from video games. My point is that SECOND SKIN wasn't just a great introduction to these fascinating characters, it was a great way to learn about the virtual world and all of its benefits and troubles.
Director Escoriaza fills his movie with almost unbelievable statistics about online game players and their levels of social activity, time spent playing these games, and the number of friends they make in these environments. Probably the most disturbing part of the film is the discussion of addiction, and one woman's creating of a "Games Anonymous" organization based on the principles set up by AA and NA after her son committed suicide with WOW still on his monitor.
But I also found the discussion of Chinese gold-farming sweatshops almost too much to believe. What the film really taught me was that most of the online gamers manage to maintain someone active lives away from their computers. They date, get married, have children, hold down jobs, buy homes. But don't be surprised if they take a week off of work when the new WOW game streets. SECOND SKIN is wildly entertaining, but also manages to be informative and worthy of contemplation of where our society (or a portion of it) is headed.
THE SWEET LADY WITH THE NASTY VOICE
As much as I love documentaries, it's really music docs that are my passion. I discovered the groundbreaking work of Wanda Jackson a few years back as a result of a song she recorded with Elvis Costello on a comeback album of sorts for Jackson.
I liked the album so much, that I did a little research and found out just what a huge influence she was in the world of country and rock music in the 1950s and '60s. Many music historians and fans (including Costello and Bruce Springsteen, both of whom appear in the film) consider Jackson the first woman to ever play rock music, but her lasting impact is in the world of rockabilly (she was dubbed the Queen of Rockabilly).
But more than being a talented singer, she was also blazingly hot and wasn't afraid to show a little skin at a time when female singers simply did not dress or sing so unladylike. Her low-cut, form-fitting dresses (and perfect curves to go with them) are still sexy as the dickens. She was like Bettie Page and Marilyn Monroe with a guitar.
What she's perhaps best known for by casual admirers is dating Elvis Presley for a couple years when he was still up and coming. The film introduces is to a rich and diverse group of characters in Jackson's life, and reminds us that sometimes a singer is not in control of where his/her fanbase resides (Jackson has a fanatical following in Germany, Scandinavia, and Japan).
The movie also goes into Jackson's born-again conversion, her successful ministry and gospel-recording career, and her decision to re-emerge in recent years and take her place as rockabilly royalty. The most important thing THE SWEET LADY WITH THE NASTY VOICE does is put Jackson's career in order and in context with the world at the time of her initial success as first a country and later a rock legend.
The film makes an excellent case for her inclusion in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame (her exclusion might be the hall's greatest omission and shame), and the music is as essential as ever. There is nothing particularly earth shattering about the way the film is put together, but directors Vincent Kralyevich and Joanne Fish are wise enough to know that the only way to convince people Wanda's greatness is to let the music speak for her (not that Jackson doesn't have plenty to say at age 70). This is a wonderful little film about a glorious singer with a heart as big as her sound.
WE ARE WIZARDS
While I was certainly amused by this look at all aspects of Harry Potter fandom, I felt like the balance was a little off. Covering everything from fan sites to cartoonists to those who wait in line for days for the latest book, WE ARE WIZARDS leaves few stones unturned. But the overwhelming emphasis on Wizard Rock is a bit ridiculous.
Sure it's catchy and funny (at least what we see here), but if you're going to devote so much time to the subject, make the documentary about that and don't minimize all of the dozens of fan sites that aren't Leaky Cauldron. An entire film could be devoted to artist and overall fucking creative dude Brad Neely, who did an unauthorized audio commentary to the first Harry Potter film. He's had a fascinating career since then, but it's had little to do with the Potter-verse. Still the filmmakers choose to detail his other projects. Why?
This lack of focus kind of took the wind out of my love with WE ARE WIZARDS. The stories about Warner Bros. cracking down on fan sites and then changing their tune after a call to boycott all Warners-related Potter projects is fascinating stuff and a classic example of old-school marketing and promotion techniques running into (and getting squashed by) the online community. That conflict and resolution should have been at the heart of this film, but instead we get song after song by Wizard Rock bands who all kind of sound like They Might Be Giants (that's a compliment) and dress like characters from the books and films.
The side story of a fundamentalist woman coming down on Potter-dom for promoting witchcraft is also quite hilarious and interesting. But anyone who say JESUS CAMP a couple years ago has heard that same rap done in a far scarier and more effective tone. WE ARE WIZARDS would probably do fairly well as a commercial release. Certainly the younger Potter fan base would and should flock to it. But as a casual Potter fan, curious about fan culture, I didn't get much more than a surface glimpse of the world of devotees out there in the world.
SEX POSITIVE
Having been a gay hustler in a former life (how do you think I met Harry?), I was immediately curious about this exploration of the life of Richard Berkowitz, one of the more controversial figures in the fight for safe sex in the world. Although his name is not as well known as, say, Michael Callen in this field, there's a reason for that. He promoted a change in the promiscuous lifestyle in the gay community of the '80s to stop the spread of AIDS, and was the first person to suggest condom usage (once thought only to be a device for straight couples not wanting to get pregnant).
It's actually kind of shocking today to think that there was resistance to Berkowitz's ideas on safe sex, but director David Wein's eye-opening documentary clearly lays out the reaction to him. I was also impressed by Berkowitz's adoption of Dr. Joseph Sonnbend's theories that AIDS was not the result of a single exposure.
Instead they believed that contracting the disease (which Berkowitz has had for many years) after repeated exposures combined with poor living and drug use combined with a virus. I'm not sure I believe that, but the theory has some logic to it. Now essentially impoverished and alone, Berkowitz goes into great detail about his life as an S&M hustler both before and during the era of AIDS. It's kind of incredible that this influential and clearly very smart individual was treated so poorly when it was clear he was trying to protect the health of gay men.
He's bitter, understandably, but he's also frustrated that young gay people today aren't protecting themselves and putting others at risk. This is a doc that will frustrate and possibly enrage you, but it's also one that will enlighten and inform. The foundation of this movie is Berkowitz and his throaty, impossible to ignore voice that, like the film, cuts through this issue with authority and passion.
Capone
