This past week announced two musician-related SXSW films, both of which are intriguing for different reasons, namely Harmony Korine, Die Antwoord, Carrie Brownstein, and James Mercer. But there are also a host of other compelling films debuting at the festival that prove SXSW's growing film appendage is an equally worthy draw.
Carrie Brownstein, who delights us all with her antics on Portlandia takes on a role with a bit more gravitas in the new film Some Days Are Better Than Others by Matt McCormick (though, we can't help but feel like her opening lines in the trailer are bait and switch for a withering parody). The film also stars James Mercer and boasts a soundtrack by Matthew Cooper (Eluvium)—a veritable indie-star cast!
Harmony Korine projects seem to be coming out of the woodwork lately, and unsurprisingly, he's found kindred spirits in Die Antwoord. Their film Umshini Wam, which translates roughly to "bring me my machine gun", is about a pair of wheel chair-bound redneck gangstas... obviously, right?
Dragonslayer is a documentary by Tristan Patterson chronicling the extreme dissolution of a group of suburban Californian skateboarders.
From the director: "I met Josh Sandoval at a party in an abandoned airfield off the I-10 in Chino, California. He had a lime-green Mohawk and was wearing a matching Screamers T-shirt, in honor of the L.A. punk band that never recorded an album. He looked malnourished and lost, and claimed he was on 5 tabs of acid. It was impossible to talk to him. His head was lost in the clouds. Then I saw him skate. I think Josh is like a lot of kids from his generation–smart enough to know a potentially bleak future looms and scrambling to figure out a way to survive in it. He's also on a wavelength all his own."
Aaron Burns' new film, Blacktino, also looks to be a real crowd pleaser.
Blacktino is a coming-of-age dramedy about overweight half-black, half-latino nerd named Stefan Daily who lives with his black grandmother in suburban Austin, TX. Struggling to find his place in a mostly white high school, Stefan finds sanctuary amongst the proscenium circus. Theater geeks!