STAGED READING of "HOT/COLD"

Oh, I'm involved in this, me Daniel, if you are a reader of this blog you are invited to come and check this out. It is going to be very cool. Here's the nitty-gritty or more-so the press release for the event.



HOT/COLD is a short film in development from award-winning filmmaker Frank Mosley, an Arlington, Texas resident whose love for film and theater has collided for this one-night only event. Fresh off his first feature film, HOLD, due out this summer, Mosley has returned to the passion project that has long eluded him. To help jumpstart this production, he hopes this live performance might ignite public interest and provide a whole new perspective into the evolution of a single project.

Four Day Weekend Theater of Fort Worth, located in the heart of Sundance Square, is hosting a staged reading of Mosley’s latest script about disillusionment, loneliness, choice, and responsibility. It will be an entertaining and unique kind of fundraiser that hopes to secure some money for producing the film this summer. Although there is no admission fee, Mosley hopes that even the smallest donation will help produce the vision that this minimalist theater production alludes to.

The reading, narrated by drama instructor Jennifer Mazza-Nguyen, will be acted by cast members Danielle Pickard, Crystal Pate, Morgana Shaw, and John Elliott. The film’s composer, Fort Worth musician Clint Niosi, fresh off his hit album, “The Sound of Dead Horses Beaten Against Cold Shoulders”, will be performing a live “first draft” of the film’s score to accompany the actors. Fort Worth photographer Paul Leicht has also taken a series of portraits and abstracts that will be projected on three background screens as a commanding triptych to round out this aural experience.

Mosley will speak on behalf of himself and his producers Robby Storey and Daniel Laabs to illustrate the potential pinnacle this film will take on once funding is successfully raised. He hopes to submit the finished film to both national and international festivals, and also present an alternate, “one-long-take only” installation version of the tale to galleries and museums across Texas.

Any further inquiries will be contacted with an online, full-color press packet for circulation and interest.
This night will also be taped by filmmaker and writer Shaun Hamill for his latest documentary, both a chronicle on the making of HOT/COLD, as well as a meditative investigation into the creative and collaborative process.

So, join us for a fun night of theater and cinema, of sight and sound, where you, as an audience, can help put the finishing brushstrokes on this canvas, filling in the gaps as both spectator and curator. We hope you enjoy it.

There will be two performances, one at 7:30 pm and the other at 9 pm, on the evening of Tuesday, April 14th. Please join us in the lobby afterwards for drinks and discussion.

the sky looked crazy today before it rained

:)

Looking forward to AFI

So for AFI, I'm going to catch a couple films I missed and support other new exciting films in this festival. I am also one support duty for UTA. My little film school has a huge presence this year at AFI Dallas, there is, the big one, The Other Side of Paradise, which was made by Justin Hilliard and Ryan Harsell, two people I have never met save for facebook and association with one of the stars of their film and mine, Frank Mosley. Also playing is Sai Salvarajan's short The Management of Grief, a met Sai a few years ago during a tour up at Video Post & Transfer, now called & Transfer, but then it wasn't. Then Justin Wilson, who I've never met or heard of, has a film called One Nation. All things considered, I am looking forward to meeting these guys and seeing their films.

I am also looking forward to another chance to see David Lowery's St. Nick, again. It was easily one of the strongest voices in SXSW and his presence was noted on a couple other films there that I really liked. If you are reading this, the film that should be at the top of your list of things to see is St. Nick. Otherside is sold out, so it really will be luck that gets you into that or you were smart unlike myself and bought your tickets to see that the night they went on sale and sold out. I am really amazed and surprised at their success. So I hope I can get into see that (fingers crossed).

So many good films we saw at SXSW are also screening here at AFI and I have to recommend a few if you get a chance to get out to the fest. I Come From the Woods and Treevenge are both screening in the midnight shorts catagory and were also part of the same compilation at SXSW, which was one of the best round of shorts we saw in Austin. As far as features, I would also suggest 500 Days of Summer, now this isn't really a small film at all, it is huge, but it was a really nice film that I would definitely say was worth the watch. I heard nice things about The 2 Bobs, and Big Fan with Patton Oswald looked pretty funny. Sister Wife was really interesting and is playing in the Documentary Shorts Competiton. Naiti Gamez's Love, Sadie is in competition with Sleet/Snow, but I really liked it, it was one of top shorts at SXSW, and if you come out to see my film you'll get to see that one too. I will be going to see Dungeon Masters is playing, I didn't hear much about this, but it looks funny. I will also be checking out Grace, which just looked disturbing but was on my list of films to see at SXSW, so... HUG is also playing in my competition, and we saw that at SXSW and was really cool, wasn't a favorite but I definitely liked it a lot.  Moon is also screening, we saw that, I didn't see all of it so I may catch the rest of that one. Bart said Rip was good. 

Oh well, I post more films I am looking forward to seeing at afi later in the week.

d

Where has Adrian been? ... by Adrian

SXSW is over. I'm back in Arlington, where there is no festival, no 5 films a day, no free pass to all kinds of stuff, and most importantly... no free food.

I'm back at school. Stress, Embarrassment, Anxiety, Confusion... Life.... starts again.

I'm extremely unmotivated and uninspired to do much of anything. Where is the Adrian from last year? That guy who never slept and never stopped moving. Did he die? How did he do so much? Is that why I'm so burned out now? Am I burned out or am I just being lazy? Where are my socks? Am I going to graduate?

I keep telling people that "My Suicide" was my favorite movie at SXSW. Was it? I really enjoyed it and I loved the style, but was there something better that I forgot about? I'm in class right now, or I was when I wrote this, so I can't look up everything I saw and revisit them and decide what I liked about them and weigh them against the other films.

I'll see if I can find some time to do that later... but when do I have time?

Today I'm helping an intro student shoot a documentary, then later I'm climbing.

Tomorrow I'm helping with the documentary again.

Thursday I'm supposed to go to Fort Worth to try to lock a jewelry store, and AFI starts.

Friday through next week is AFI and casting and finding locations... Can I do all of this?

Of course I can. I accomplished more tasks than this in one day last semester, so all this should be cake for me.... but then we're back to the question... "Am I the same Adrian from last year?"

-Who am I?

I think he's a Jack-Ass

The shorthorn published a really nice article about us and Sleet/Snow in today's paper. check it out.

Top Ten of SXSW

Here is Daniel's top ten favorite festures

1. Afterschool

Probably the most important film of this festival. It is a satire, but more then that, it is also perfect. By the end you are practically going nuts, your brain almost can't handle it. You feel tense. But the most important thing is you feel. That feeling is strong, and unique.

2. You Won't Miss Me

We saw this opening night, and it immediately resonated with me. I truly cannot wait to see this film again. It is dark, it is depressing, but above all it is real. Gritty and real. You feel humiliated, betrayed, lost, and ultimately alone, it is hard to like this movie if you can't identify or decode it's harsh language. Very much like Afterschool, this film makes you feel things, it is just that they are both refined and subtle.

3. Winnebago Man

I think you are always affected by a film when at its completion the applause is so loud and heartfelt. I won't attend to the every detail because I have not posted my notes on this profoundly inspired documentary about an angry man. I mean, I predict people will be talking about this film for years and years to come. It is that good.

4. My Suicide

I didn't want to like this film, for a lot of reasons. It is immature, it is an over-the-top-preach-a-lesson type of movie, but it is really great. The editing, the main actors, (Joe Montanga sucked 90% of the time he was on screen), the music (the TV on the Radio cover of Daniel Johnston's "Walking the Cow" is worth a viewing alone), the story, this film was as much as I didn't want it to be one of the best films I've seen this year. Not my favorite of the fest, but definitely one of the best films of the year. 

5. The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle

I wrote about this previously and I really liked this film. It earned every second of your time, it made you love it so much, and the film makes you want to hate it. It is essentially about pooping blue fish,. But it is amazing to witness this film evolve into what ultimately becomes a truly worth while experience. I think technical proficiency would understate how cool this movie is to look at.

6. Alexander the Last

I really liked this movie. I was simple, fun, and contextually fulfilling. I have to say though the thing that impressed me the most about this film was Joe's camera work. It looked really great, the visual aesthetic of each sequence was really neat to watch. It was as cool as St. Nick, but it was a very pretty movie. A lot of improvised elements really stood strong in this film. Really cool.

 

7. St. Nick

Some told me during the festival that it could have been a short, but I'm glad it wasn't. One of the things I liked most about this film is how it lets you think. Like You Won't Miss Me & Afterschool, you really had to look at yourself and pay attention to what you were thinking about during the screening. Each image draws your attention to a thought or a subtext, and like the boy, when you do have the courage to speak it is often so self-centered and introspective, your are curious if in fact you are alone in your thoughts. It sits on this list also for its powerful freaking sound design.

8. We Live In Public/Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo

In both of these films, you could watch two different filmmakers, continue with the work and style they have established for themselves. If you've seen and liked their previous films, I recommend these, they totally do it again, with new subjects.

9. Beeswax

Bujalski's latest film, his third film, does not disappoint. It is about the relationship between two sisters, it is fun and meaningful. Maybe I'm just still so in love with his other two films that it is hard for me to not like this movie. But seeing Beeswax in the theater, let me see an audience react to a subtle comedy like this for the first time. I'd put this on par with Bottle Rocket, but the heart of this one is a bit grander. I shook this guy's hand three times but couldn't sum up the courage to talk to him.

10. Creative NonFiction

I enjoyed this film a lot, funny and insecure. It was one of the most enjoyable films at the festival. Great story, low budget, exactly the kind of thing you hope to see when you are about to embark on a long laborious journey.

Favorite Shorts

1. Sunday Mornings

2. I come from the Woods

3. Isis Avenue

4. A'mare

5. Recieve Bacon/Butthole Lickin'

6. "C.R.U.F.F."

7. Love, Sadie

8. Auto Pilot

9. Warm Fuzzy Feeling

10. Sleet/Snow (because I made it.)

Feels Like the Last Day on Earth... by Adrian

SOO... YESTERDAY - We started out our day with "Breaking Upwards". It was funny in the beginning, then slowly declined to not as funny as the beginning. There were a LOT of focus problems. The lead girl was cute and the mothers of the main couple were great! I was not into it as much as I thought I would be.

After the New York Break Up Movie, we went to see "Winnebago Man". I'm not sure if you have heard of "Winnebago Man", and I'm not sure if you will ever get a chance to see it. "Winnebago Man" started as a secretly circulated video tape that made it's way to underground "funniest home movies" shows. Later it was uploaded onto the "inter-web", and spread like wildfire to all the "funny video" sites. "Winnebago Man" currently has 894,771 hits, and is rapidly rising. "Winnebago Man", the documentary, is amazing. It's about a guy who watched the online clip then set out on an adventure to find what people are calling "the angriest man alive". "Winnebago Man" had a PACKED house at the Paramount (which seats over 800) on its third, and last screening and had THE loudest applause I've heard out of anything we've seen here at SXSW. "Winnebago Man" is an incredible film that will probably get a theatrical release and major distribution. It's that good.... if you haven't noticed by how many times I wrote "Winnebago Man".... "Winnebago Man". www.winnebagoman.com 

Next we saw "Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo". Incredible again. The opening sequence was great and the movie overall was great and I would write a lot about it, but we're heading out to see more movies... I'll be back for more updates later.

Adrian in the morning...

Beep beep went the sheep.

I'm having a "crazy" day. One of those days where I walk around and sing out of tune on purpose and let my voice crack and say things that don't make sense and make up words from some unknown space language...

Another day of back to back movies. You know... this is the true test. Festivals are the deciding factor to see if someone really wants to be a filmmaker. You would think that after a couple of movies I would be burned out and want to wash my hair in a toilet... but no, I'm still "truckin'". i enjoy watching movies, and I've always said, "Dang, I wish I could watch movies all day long and not have to do anything..." Well, now that's happening and I'm realizing that ISN'T what I want. I'm starting to feel useless and extremely unproductive. I like the movies, but sometimes I find myself wandering off (in my brain noodles), and I want to go work on my own movies or my friend's movies.

I've come to the plateau of wanting to work in production. I think I love it. I like pre-production and post, but I think I like production the most. That's weird. I always thought I was a pre-to-post guy, but when I sit down and STOP and think about it, I REALLY like production. I don't mind waking up when the sun does, and I don't mind working for like 20 hours a day. I wish I could be in production all the time. BUT....... Don't read this and think that I want to be in production all the time. Even though I just said that, doesn't mean I want to do it. "What does that mean, you're confusing me...", you might say. Well, this is what it's like aboard the Adrian Train. We ride on our own tracks and they're invisible and sometimes they do loops and U-turns and sometimes they plunge into the ocean or go straight up to the moon. Just try to hang on.... You'll eventually want off this crazy ride. That's what we think. And now I'm referring to myself as plural. I'm crazy.

Here's where I try to reason with myself, that usually ends up with me getting upset and eating.

I like production, but I don't want to do it. It's like having a "thing" for cheesecake. You can't eat cheesecake everyday, because you will explode. So the few times you get the privilege to eat it, it's SOOOO much better. I'd like to steal the phrase "pleasure delay" from Vanilla Sky. There are things on this earth that I enjoy so much... and I purposely avoid them until I almost can't take it anymore, then I give in and the cheesecake is that much sweeter. Pleasure Delay. So if I relate to production, it works the same. I'm sure if I worked on everybody's projects and was on set every weekend or all week, over and over, I might get burned out... I don't know.

I can honestly say I still like watching movies. Good, bad, weird... all of them. I also like to play video games, but I haven't played any for months. I miss it. I also like cheesecake.

So what do I want to do for the rest of life? Do I want to be an actor? I could be on set and enjoy the production from the opposite side of the camera! Do I want to be a PA? I can be on any set anywhere, anytime and have minimal responsibility, and just enjoy being a part of production. But that's a waste of the skills I have acquired! I can do anything and everything! If I'm PA-ing, that's wasting my talent! I guess I could PA to pay bills and work on my own work in between. Is that the norm? I don't want to be normal....

So crap. I have to leave now and watch more movies AFTER we find a parking spot... which is going to be hell on wheels.

Motivation... I have to get to work. 

Lemon is coming.

Soon.

Cheesecake.

Pleasure Delay.

Crazy Day.

Adrian and his thoughts.

"Why do you think that it is possible for men and women to be friends?"

For some reason every time I add up the reasons why I make films, the scale tips one way before I can counter balance those thoughts. So I reach all too often the mentality that this is not worth it. Months of writing to months of pre-production to one week where it all falls apart and you scramble for 18 hours a day catching everything to further reducing your original concept to the ruthlessly essential, to what ultimately becomes hustling you film. I met Laura Longsworth from Arlington, MA, and we laughed and joked about this so of nightmarish reality. We posed for a picture and I later went to see her amazing film "Luckey." 

Three day post.... by Adrian

Hello again.
Tuesday - We went to a panel in the AM for the TFPF grant through AFS. We learned some good stuff. Nothing new really, Bart already told us all about grants and how they worked.
We went to David Lowery's "St. Nick", which didn't have dialogue until 30 minutes in. It was awesome. I love kid movies. I talked to Savannah and her mother Amy after the screening and told them about Lemon. They seemed very interested in the project! Hooray!
Next we went to "We Live in Public"... It was a great documentary! Yipee! It was about this internet genius who was inventing stuff way before his time. Good stuff.
After that was "Trust Us, This is All Made Up". It was good. I felt like it was just a stand up comedy show, not really impressed with it as an indie feature, although the improv by the two main characters was amazing.
After the movies we went to the film after party where Daniel and I networked like cats in heat. Daniel downed a few drinks and loosened up and talked to eveyone he ever wanted to talk to and I took his lead and talked to everyone he was talking to and then... There was this girl... I saw this girl on Friday, the first day, and then everyday after, and every time I saw her, I was like, "Damn Gina!" Well, her name isn't Gina. It's Kristen, and she's a producer/actress in Austin. Love at first sight. She's nice, beautiful, friendly, and has amazing eyes and hair. I gave her my card and told her I'd be moving to Austin soon and that we should work together... She smiled at me. That's all it took for me to splurt out half sentences and broken words. Anyway, she's great. We're in love. Not really, she probably doesn't remember my name.
After the party we went to Kerby Lane with some new friends and made it home at about 3 or 4am. Damn us.

Wednesday - We started out the day with some shorts, then an INCREDIBLE movie called "Afterschool" that all of you will probably never see. There are SO many controversial aspects of this movie that the Church Lady would crap a Volkswagen! It was shot BEAUTIFULLY and had an AMAZING story of REAL LIFE that everyone hides from and tiptoes around. We sat next to a group of high school students who were shocked and offended by the obscenities and absurdities on the screen. They hated it, which made me love it that much more. There were some oddly composed shots that were absolutely amazing and I heard that the director is 23 and I want to kick him in the throat for being so awesome.

We met up with Chris Mangus for a little while. He was in town shooting some transportation legislation at the capitol and had some time to kill so he met up with us at a little mexican restaurant where we talked crap about school and filmmaking and graphic novels that have been converted to movies.

Next we slept through Experimental Shorts, then we went on to watch Texas Shorts which featured "Love, Sadie", our competitor at AFI at the end of this month. I can't lie, it was good... Really good. I liked the story and it was shot nicely. Keep your fingers crossed for "Sleet/Snow"... or just tell everyone you know it's amazing and hopefully it will get around to the judges before they even see it. Go Lobby Go!

After the Texas shorts we watched "Creative Nonfiction". For those of you who went to or or currently attending film school: Do you remember when your instructor said, "If the story is good enough, it doesn't matter how it's shot." Well, my friends, "Creative Nonfiction" is the shining example for that legendary statement. There are SOOO many technical errors in this movie that you would think it was an intro students "in camera edit". The story, however, is stupendous! The main character is incredible and the dialogue is fantastic and the movie in all is grrreat! I liked it a lot, and all the rules that were broken made me like it even more. Now this doesn't mean that you can go out and shoot something that looks like crap on purpose... you HAVE to have the story! I expect great things from this director in the near future.

After that we experienced the one... the only... "LESBIAN VAMPIRE KILLERS"! Hooray! This movie was all hotness and comedy and unexpected really good production value. The story was cheesy and the acting was cheese, and by the end I was feeling constipated. BUT a couple of the lesbian vampires were ULTRA hot and the "fat guy" was pretty funny throughout the movie... it was a "Shaun of the Dead" but switch the characters out with less-well known actors and all supporting actors with hot girls and change the undead to vampires... that's pretty much it... but completely different... figure that one out, geniuses.

I dropped Daniel off at Jeremy's and went to Erik's to go to sleep.

Thursday - The next morning Daniel called me and didn't know where he was. He had been "transported" in the middle of the night to a different location than he fell asleep in. So that was a little adventure in itself.

We started out our day with a Korean movie called "Daytime Drinking". It was funny. It made me miss Korea. I haven't actually been there, but I'm sure if I had been, I would have missed it by watching the pretty countryside pictures of this movie. It was about a guy and his weekend where everything bad that could happen to someone, happened to him. It was funny.

Then we watched some more shorts that were pretty frickin' good! There was one about these two boys in Italy or somewheres that swam around in the water and then went fishing and caught a dead guy. Find it and let me know what it is.

After that we slept through Garbage Dreams.

Then we went to some more shorts (Reel Shorts 3) and watched most of that showcase, there were some humorous shorts in this last package.

THEN we went to see "Sorry, Thanks". It was enjoyable. We had met the director at the closing party a couple of nights ago, her name is Dia Sokol. She is really cool and really nice. The main character was really funny. I liked his dialogue a lot and the main female actress was funny because her eyes were really big and so was her mouth and she made funny faces (not on purpose). So I liked it because I laughed with and at the movie.

DId I mention that we had lunch with Joe Swanberg? No I didn't... No big deal... He's only AWESOME and really down to earth.

That's like Andy Anderson having lunch with Ron Howard. How's that for perspective?

Tomorrow is going to be fun and hopefully I can dedicate one post to it instead of a three day post like this one...

Sorry. We've been staying up late and waking up early and it's hard to find time to keep up with this pooper.

My mom suggested we skip SXSW tomorrow and just go to Fiesta Texas and ride roller coasters all day. It sounds lovely to me, but we're on a mission and we can't take a detour!

PEOPLE & shorts...

Two days left, it is sad. I miss the first days already. I'm listening to Orange Mighty Trio's CD that Mike Vasich gave me Tuesday after the Closing Party, which was fun, and I'm sure I was borderline too drunk... (deal breaker?)

Well, instead of trying to catch up to where I am now, I'm going to jump to ahead to the shorts. Adrian and I caught; Texas Shorts, Experiemntal, Reel Shorts 1, 2, & 3. Wow, there was some really fantastic films in there, my favorite shorts for SXSW past are David Lowery's Catalog of Anticipations, Josh Safdie's We're Going to The Zoo, and I also enjoyed "Death to the Tinman." Well what I'm saying is the shorts stand out, and you remember.

Here's a list of my favorite SXSW Shorts this year in order of my top favorite to bottom. 

1. Sunday Mornings (d. Jannicke Laaker)

2. Isis Avenue (d. Mr. Paul Marchand)

3. A'mare (d. Martina Amati)

4. Love, Sadie (d. Naiti Gamez)

5. Tess and Nana (d. M. Stewart Thorndike)

6. Winter Lilacs (d. Stephen Gurewitz) 

7. Uprush (d. Kim Hall)

8. Countertranceference (d. Madeleine Olnek)

9. Autopilot (d. J. B. Herndon)

10. Before the Sea (d. Charlene Music)

11. The Better Half (d. Rebecca Rodriguez)

But I haven't seen the midnight shorts yet so, I will make a separate list for those...

Tomorrow we are seeing Winnebago Man, Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo, Over the Hills, Breaking Upwards, TRIMPIN' and Midnight Shorts... another long day.

being fun...

For Monday we put our trust into the hands of the programming staff with both a Special Screening and a TBA screening on our schedule. Literally these could've been anything. So Adrian goes to park and I get in a, rapidly growing, line abuzz with stories of the "Drag Me To Hell" Screening the night before. Apparently a bat was trapped in the ceiling and ruined some people's experience... I ask the nice pretty lady in front of me if she knew what we were going to watch. She replied with "Me and Orson Wells" the new Linklater film. I immediately think about "Fast Food Nation," "Scanner Darkly," "Waking LIfe," "Dazed and Confused," and I'm starting to get pumped. I have never seen a Linklater film in a theater before, let alone in a theater with him. Very exciting.

"Me and Orson Wells"

At first this film felt like something I might watch on DVD years after it was theatrically released, and would've been drawn to it because of the subject matter. Well, let's just say the Caesar sequences were the most powerful and successful aspect of the film. For what it is worth seeing that performance recreated with so much faith and love in portraying it as much like it actually was as can be. I'm a film student, and a casual lover of most Shakespeare, so it would be hard for me to criticize the intent or the execution, because it was just so cool to see it in any respect. Unfortunately for me the rest of the film seems forced and unable to achieve the excitement of those scenes. Linklater's biggest achievement here was in the casting of Christian McKay, whose dead-on rendering of a Orson Wells seeks to gain this film most of its attention.

"It was great, but I was ready to come home." Director; Kris Swanberg

I wasn't sure what to make of this until the opening sequence of the film ended and the music had faded. I was sold, and was like many other people an instant fan. I think of all the films I've seen so far this year, I am taking away a lot from this one. It is empowering to see people send such a powerful message to audiences about what narrative filmmaking could be. Simple and yet eloquent the film follows the experiences of two young women as they travel across Costa Rica. During the Q & A I couldn't help but think, had we shot for two more days on either North Street or Sleet/Snow, we could've had a film at about this quality. Adrian and I walked a way from this film more then any other, frustrated with our mistakes and empowered to continue and start new and better projects.

"Luckey"

We met the filmmaker for this film in line for Kris' film and Adrian and I were already planning on attending the screening. I was very satisfied with the film, the ending was a bit hard, the film overall really maintained the complexity of a Father and Son's relationship as they struggle to accommodate for the father's paralysis. Really powerful and fun film.

"TBA" or "Superstar: the Karen Carpenter Story" Director: Todd Haynes

Linklater presented the film, a 16mm print of it too, beautiful film and truly a shock even today. Not a big Todd Haynes fan, but this was a really great film. One of the best I have ever seen. Oh yeah, and it is illegal to screen publically, the film has been banned, so for SXSW to screen it they had to call it TBA and only offer vague descriptions of the film to anyone that asked.

ketchup mess...

I just found out that John Pierson attended out screening on Sunday, and I got to meet the lovely director of "Martha," Katja Straub. Had a really sweet conversation with her. As Adrian noted in his blog about Sunday, after the screening we went back to Jeremy's to jsut relax a bit beofre checking out "Humpday" and "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle." Indeed Jeremy's daughter, Sidney was marching around, talking in to a megaphone saying things like...

"Ignore Me" (repeatedly)

Then later she went to the backyard and conversed with, well anyone who was listening, spouting gems like...

"Do not be afraid people!"

"I'm a vegetarian."

"I only eat eat bad people blood."

"I come in peace, people!"

And then we went to see... 

"Humpday"

A film that later became a conversation piece, and to be honest if there is one film that everyone was talking about it was "Humpday." The film is incredibly funny, and it stars Mark Duplass, but unlike his films, Humpday lacked a lot of the context. It felt one-sided, and I had hoped for a bit more. Seeing as it was improvised, it bugged me to no end that there could've been something powerful there. But if there was, it was avoided. So to me it was a bit of a let down. But in reality, this movie was so funny. I definitely enjoyed watching it.

 "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle"

I won't hide from this, it was really good. Little Dizzle is not what you'd expect from a feature film ever. But it defies your inherent expectations as an unwilling member of this audience, and drives you so recklessly and crazily off road, you mind is busy recoiling half of the time you are being wildly entertained by this.  There is really so much to say about this film, most of the animation was perfect, but it was the editing that really made this film. I don't think I could've appreciated a straight forward cut of this film. This was a major highlight of the festival so far.

"A Film With Me In It"

Could've been better.

d

One more thought about the current happenings, I seriously can't believe the festival is almost over. So much has happened in such a short time. Only four days left including today.

meeting people is easy...

It is a shock to find the people who intimidate you the most are not much different then yourself. I am three days behind posting my thoughts on most of the films I've seen, but the post will happen soon. I will update everyone on these things shortly. Thanks again to everyone who has gone to the sleet/snow facebook page. And anyone who hasn't made should. People look at that stuff. I'm still drunk, and tomorrow Adrian and I begin our road to seeing all the shorts that played at SXSW so far. We are also seeing "Afterschool" which is one film I have been looking forward to the whole fest. wow...

d

More from Adrian

Yesterday- Sunday night- we left Jeremy's house and went to the premiere party for "Make Out with Violence". We talked to the filmmakers and one of the actresses who seemed very interested in us. There were also some old hooters girls there that were like "Hi, Adrian" and I was like "Hi".

 Afterwards we headed over to see "Humpday". Fantastic. Very funny cast, funny story, funny fun eating cheddar chex in the theater. Mark Dupass is incredible. The movie was unscripted. Incredible performances. Witty clever humor. Great.
After that we saw "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle". Another great funny movie! It was great and funny! The opening title sequence was an incredible work of art! The movie was weird and funny and great and great and weird and funny! I loved it! There were unconventional cuts and effects and shots, but they all worked and the story was so crazy awesome that I want to watch it several more times!
"A Film with Me in It" was the last thing we watched Sunday. Daniel fell asleep through almost the whole movie. It started slow and was a tad boring, then it picked up and got a little better. We passed up seeing Raimi's new movie "Drag Me to Hell" because dizzle got out late. Oh well. So this morning we wandered into this "super special screening", not knowing what it was... Daniel asked somebody in line while I was parking and found out that it was linkletter's new film... Whoever that is... "Me and Orson Welles" with Zac Efron and Claire Daines. It was good. Huge budget, huge production, huge movie. Linklater is a cool guy.

When we got out we headed over to the Trade Show and I talked to the EP people about EP Budgeting and Scheduling and how we can get it at school and it seems pretty easy so I have to talk to Bart. Then I went over the the Texas Film Commission stand and talked to the woman there about getting a guest speaker to come to school and talk about the advantages of making friends with the film commission. It was fun.

Next we went to see "It was Great, but I was Ready to Come Home". We were standing in line next to all these important people who have movies in the feature competition and they are all friends and laughing and having a good time and I was wanting to just go over and laugh and have a good time with them... but then I got really mad. I started thinking about how they would just "shoo" us away or ignore us because we weren't on their "level" and how they would probably forget about us 5 minutes after we left.... Then we watched the movie (and I fell asleep in the end because I was so angry before the movie started and throughout it) and then Daniel and I walked over to the Convention Center and talked about our "futures" as filmmakers and I felt better. Comment if you would like to know more about my Hulk anger.

After our future planning session we headed over to see "Luckey". It was a pretty kick ass documentary with a not so good resolution. It seemed very long too. I enjoyed it. Daniel and I talked more about future filmmaking before and after the screening.

THEN we headed over to see a "TBA" screening which turned out to be Todd Haynes infamous BANNED documentary, "SUPERSTAR, The Karen Carpenter Story". It was funny... although I'm not sure if it was intended to be so. Yes... it was... and it was.

Tomorrow Erik and Carla might come and hang out with us and watch some movies. That should be fun.

I'm tired now though, so Too-Da-Loo!

another step/grossly inappropriate...

You can't really express in words the relief after a successful first screening with a nearly full house, but I am happy that it is done and that there is nothing more I can do. Now it is time to enjoy the rest of the festival without the responsibility of promoting. I think meeting people will be a little easier. But before I enjoy more films, I will try to summate the experiences of yesterday.

So we started yesterday morning with running around promoting the "sleet/snow" screening, putting up posters, handing out postcards. Ran into Ry Russo-Young in the process. Then we were off to get into the front of the line for Andrew Bujalski's new film "Beeswax."

This film premiered at Berlinale, and we saw it's US premier here at SXSW. It was really nice, good crowd, well enjoyed by all. I wrote about this before I left yesterday and found the film that I was looking for. "Beeswax" is sweet, meandering, and beautiful. I am starting to feel more and more confidence that my tastes haven't changed too much.

After words we rushed over to see "Sons of a Gun" and we met up with Jon Mitchell, who was part of the Odessa Crew on Sleet/Snow. I won't say too much about Sons, with its heartfelt and compelling subject matter, I had expected a little more in the ways of the edit. Almost every cut in the film felt weak and amateurish. I isn't my film so I won't say how I would've fixed it but I will definitely take that experience to back to the India project.

Then we went a PBS Party I had a drink and Adrian ate chips (this is starting to sound like Adrian's Blog so I'll stop here...).

To fill our gap we snuck in to see "Moon" where Sam Rockwell plays a lone worker on a mining camp on the, you guessed it, MOON. Other then Rockwell typically dead on performance, the film seemed extremely forced and bland. Special Effects and Make-up looked great, but who cares, answer; I didn't and left early to get a good spot in line for Alexander the Last.

Now before I begin to discuss my thoughts on Swanberg's best film yet, I will take some time to express thoughts on some of the excuses I've heard from people for their reason's why they are not attending the festival. Why film students who have a desire to write, direct, edit, shoot, or whatever, decided, "meh, not really worth it..."

I'm paraphrasing here but this is the gist of each of the top reasons.

1. Money
2. Work
3. Bitterness (this was my excuse)

Money
"I don't have the money, but I'd love to go." But you'll spend 3K on making a film to submit it to said festival... (I will explain why that jsut does not seem logical in one moment but first...) Let's look at how much money you spend on beer, cigarettes, "fancy"/"fashionable" clothing, restaurants/fast food, etc. It adds up quick, probably thousands a year. All of these things do not compare on any level (in my opinion) to the experiences you'll get with the $70 film pass, which grants you admission to every screening during the film portion of SXSW. Films that are achieving current success at our level of production or lower, in a theater, and their good. You get the chance to see shorts, that were supposedly better then yours (but I'll get to bitterness later), that you will likely never get another chance to see again. $70 for a film pass, that's it. Everyone has friends and there are a bunch of places to stay in Austin for free. If you get a Badge ($325 or if you submitted a film, that didn't get in, it is discounted to $300), there is so much free alcohol your last trip to caves would feel like a thunderous waste, and you can pretty much eat for free too. Folks, Main Street will be there when you get back after a couple days of SXSW. Now you could probably even request for money from the University, and call it research, because that is what it is.

Work
This one I understand to some extent, but if you are planning to throw thousands of dollars into making a film and you are taking off work for that, why not research. Actively seeking out and discovering what is what in film today. I have been told it is the same as it has always been, but that is a lie. Every year new films made by different filmmakers, with new voices get into SXSW and seeing what is out there gives you clues to predict what will be the next big thing or what sort of bait is biting in the festivals at large. There is a simple philosophy here, and that is treat your film as your job, and whatever else you are doing as a supplemental for of income, (even if it is your primary source). To call yourself a filmmaker on the set of your first film is pure fantasy, but that's what most of this is. It is attitude and follow through. Anyways, just ask off for SXSW, it is tremendously insightful for a first time filmmaker or even second time.

Bitterness (my reason)
The reality is after my first year at South By, I declared, almost masochistically, that I wouldn't attend another SXSW without a film in the festival. But to fair I had wanted to go last year, and had I not gotten director in the narrative class I would've gone. Now I submitted a very rough cut of "sleet/snow" to South By, and got rejected. I knew in my heart when I dropped it off at the post office I would not be accepted. I distinctly felt my legs go numb like they used to when I was a child if I were to stand on the edge of a balcony. When I wasn't accepted I felt a very bitter rejection, feeling that my film was, above all else, inadequate. The last I wanted to be seen was at SXSW '09. Needless to say here I am, my film part of this really spectacular festival. I have met so many talented people at this point on my trip, gotten so many business cards. I feel I have fulfilled and surpassed my networking expectations for this whole year in one fail swoop. I won't soon miss another SXSW. Even if all I can afford is the $70 Film Pass, I will be here, and if you're not, you probably should.

So now that I've made a jerk of myself.

"Alexander the Last"

I'll say now that I've seen parts of "Hannah Takes the Stairs" and I own "LOL," but those films did carry the weight or had half the effect on me as did this. Joe's newest film has all the same complexities and spontaneous energy of his other films, but this is a new step for him professionally and creatively. I'll say it appeared it might have been one for David as well, but who knows. I mean, both of them created this film. It had a more striking beauty in the framing of the shots then Joe's other films. Another careful edit as well. It is just a more mature film in a lot of ways, not to say his other films contextually weren't mature, this one looked and felt like a movie. I haven't seen 'Nights and Weekends" yet, but when I saw the trailer awhile back, and heard the general concept I was really sort of intrigued.

It is hard not to love one of Joe's films after seeing it at SXSW with that SXSW audience, (I would extend this to Bujalski's films as well). At this point it is hard for me to divorce the work of Joe Swanberg with SXSW. If you want to know what this movie is about go read up on it, or check it out OnDemand from IFC. I won't discuss plot here, because I'm impartial to loving the fleeting nature of it (see any of my films).

I mentioned before the edits so I will talk about that, because that is something I enjoyed the most about this film, other then the really good cast. The film is broken up into vignettes or deliberate sequences divided by a few seconds of black leader, each bloke containing a blip of vision or one element of style. Pinning this film down to one specific style would almost be impossible, yet all the elements come together to for a pretty consistently adventurous voice. Anyways, congratulations to Mr. Swanberg this  is definitely my favorite, and look forward to your next film... (which I found out about later in the trip but I'll get there, when I do.)

So after that Jon Mitchell and I said goodbye to Arian Testolin,

"Bye Adrian, see you later after your car gets towed" (it was in bad taste even then)

and we went on to the Premier's big, crowded after party. I talked to nearly 30 people, collected business cards, promised to see like 10 films I won't, and handed out the rest of our "sleet/snow" post cards. After that Jon and I went to get some beers at a Bar I forget the name of.

d

Back on Track.... by Adrian

I feel much better now.

Yesterday was fun. We started out our (late start) day with "Beeswax". It was good. The 2 main actresses were "non-actors", as well as most of the rest of the cast. You could have fooled me... and you did... (insert George W. Bush joke here) I thought they were REAL actresses. Everyone in the movie was good. The great thing about "Beeswax" is it was SO simple! We definitely have the capabilities to shoot a feature on that scale.... Hmm, not sure what's holding us back...

THE John Mitchell came into town and met up with us after Beeswax. John Mitchell was our Sound Supreme on "sleet/snow"! We all went to see "Sons of a Gun", which from the trailer and initial preview/review I gave, looked pretty promising. Well, I was kind of disappointed. Daniel described it as "episodic", which it was... I just couldn't think of how to put it eloquently. It WAS about crazy old people, which I like, but I'm more into the humor of old people's craziness, not the TRUE craziness/scariness that they are or have or whatever I'm trying to say here. It was, at times, horrific. Not horrific/bad, but horrific/like I'm cringing and gripping my knees because I'm scared and worried for these old helpless crazies. 

Next we ran back over to the Paramount to catch "Alexander the Last". Well, we were actually going to see "Splinterheads", but there was a crazy line outside the Alamo Drafthouse Ritz, so we decided not to go, which made us 3 hours early to the "Alexander the Last" movie. SO, we ducked into whatever was playing at the Paramount to pass the time, and low and behold, it was "Moon", starring Sam Rockwell. Moon was so slow that it helped me catch up on all the sleep I've been missing out on. I saw the beginning and the end, and slept through the middle. I won't be seeing that one again, even though it was WAY closer to my preview/review of what I thought "Alexander the Last" was going to be about. "Alexander the Last" (4th time I've dropped the title) was good. Great acting, great shots, great MUSIC, and great awkward sex scenes! The sex scenes weren't awkward, they were actually really hot, but they were awkward because you're watching what's supposed to be this intimate, private act that usually no one sees, but there's a HUGE theater full of people watching these two people "get it on"... all sex scenes are awkward in theaters... That's just what I think. 

After "that movie" we went to "that movie's" after/premiere party at the Kharma Lounge and that place was super packed. I couldn't breathe in there (my excuse), so I left to go get something to eat, take a dump, and go to sleep. I went to my friend, Erik's, house and ate Jack in the Box and watched a little bit of this crap-attack movie called "Chocolate" about an autistic teenage girl who watches "Ong Bak" and then goes out at night to beat up bad guys who work the docks. Check it out if you want, but I pretty much told you the whole movie.

I tried to go to sleep early but somebody kept calling me and woke me up every time I would doze off. I think I finally went to sleep around 2 or 3ish and woke up this morning (late again) and walked out to my truck to go pick up Daniel and my truck was gone.

It got towed. Now I don't know if any of you have ever had your truck towed but it's so infuriating! I was so mad. You can't yell at the apartment complex because 1) They don't open until 10am, even if you wait around until 10:45am, they still won't open, and 2) Even if they opened on time, they do have ONE sign posted behind a bush that visitors will be towed if they don't park in the designated visitor area. You can't yell at the tow truck company, because, GEEZ, if I got $200 for every car I picked up, I would be towing vehicles all night long, which they probably did. Good for them... but still F*ck them both and I hope they die slow, painful deaths.

My dad came and rescued me. He picked me up and took me to the impound place and picked up my truck and then I was on my way to the show. I got to The Hideout Theatre and Coffeehouse at 11:30AM, later than I wanted to show up. The showcase rocked socks. We showed last and were the best. I'm not just saying that because I produced and edited the movie, it was actually the best. It got the most applause out of all of them and it was pretty incredible. I picked out three more things I didn't like about the movie, but I guess that's what filmmakers do when they watch their own junk. I'm still really happy with the ending of the movie. It ends so strong and on such a good vibe that I can't help but smile every time I see it. 

We've been sitting around doing nothing for the past couple hours visiting with friends that came out to see our movie. I'm really tired again... and hungry... as usual. The other short that excelled in the showcase was "Martha". I had been looking forward to see that short for a long time and I'm glad I finally got to see it.

Next we're going to see "Humpday" followed by "The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle". Then we're SERIOUSLY considering going to the super screening of SAM RAIMI'S new movie, "Drag Me to Hell"! We're fans of the Sam Raimi and his Spiderman franchise. HAR HAR HAR. 

Long live The Evil Dead.

wake me up before you go,

Adrian Made Blog

Sunday Morning... by Adrian

I will write more later... but today is not going good so far...

Today...

So here's the scoop on what we are up to today, if Adrian decides to wake up anytime soon is...

"Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo" Director, Bradley Beesley
(for my thoughts; see post)

"Beeswax" Director, Andrew Bujalski
I did not find out that this was even playing until I looked to see if it was. I am fan of "Mutual Appreciation" and an admirer of "Funny Ha Ha." Although the latter I don't think translates to the small screen, or is as important today as it had been only a few years ago. Andrew is credited as the creator or the originator of the unkindly titled "mumblecore"-genre. Personally to me it is a label or a genre seems to mean more to fans of the work. But genre creation is scary business, seeing as it often evolves into a cultural infatuation. So I go to "Beeswax" looking for something fresh, and distinctly Bujalski, which inherently states I seek a bit of "mumble" with this one.

"Sons of a Gun" Directors, Rivkah Beth Medow & Greg O'Toole
(for my thoughts; see post)

"Splinterheads" Director, Brant Sersen
I read a review of this that wasn't so nice, and the promo they have on their website sadly doesn't look entirely promising, or for that matter completely terrible. I get a weird Dude/bro Napoleon Dynamite feel from the trailer... whatever, Adrian wanted to fit this one in.

Alexander the Last, Director, Joe Swanberg
(for my thoughts; see post)

Grace, Directed by Paul Solet
This one played at Sundance, but a lot of shit plays there that Sundance thinks they can sell off. No doubt this will get some sort of release, either theatrically or straight to DVD/Blu. I would rather see the midnight shorts and see, David's cohort/producer, James Johnston's new short. But I shall see that later in the week so no worries. Or am I worried... about Grace, it is about Zombie Babies, I'm guessing? Who knows, this falls under the catagory of, I tend to enjoy fucked up movies before I sleep. Perhaps that is comforting. We might miss this one if we can find a good party. I hear there is a Digg Nation party somewhere, and Troll 2 is playing at the South Lamar.

Alright well Adrian just called and he is on his way over, probably almost here, we might miss our first movie of the day, because we have to promote "sleet/snow." It is number one on the agenda today, and then after that movies. I picked films that might feel similar to my film to promote at and see. Luckily, I really want to see all the films we have planned for the day, with the exception of Splinterheads and maybe Grace...

d

One Night Down, Seven to Go... by Adrian

So, I decided to go with a different font for this post... 

Tonight was the first night of the "movie watching week"! We started the day out by going to the Austin Convention Center to pick up our badges and advanced tickets to some shows. We waited in NO lines, we walked right up and grabbed our badges then we went to the bank and Kinkos to make some "sleet/snow" fliers. The fliers were going to take a few hours to print so we met up with my dad and ate at Longhorn PoBoy's, where Daniel and I each had a "Terminator", which was quite possibly amazing.

We went to my mom's place to pick up our luggage, which we left the night before because it was raining and rain sucks and it rained all day today too... Anyway, Daniel fell asleep on my mom's couch and I watched Oprah. After a couple hours, Mr. Crabby Pants Daniel woke up and was like, "MMM, Why did you make me sleep so long? WAH!", and I said, "Sooooorrrrryyyy.", then we were on our way.

Next we argued over wether there was going to be traffic or not, and for half of the ride, there wasn't any traffic and I was all, "HA HA, you negative asshole.", then we hit I-35 and it was bumper cars, and then Daniel jumped on his high horse and rode around in between the slowly moving cars gloating about how he was right and blah blah blah.

So we made it back to Kinkos, then to Jeremy's (our home base), then to S. Lamar to catch the Music Video Competition. 

We weren't late for anything. Daniel just likes to complain when we wakes up... then complain for hours after he wakes up... then complain until he goes to sleep... but it's not like it's all the time...... it is.

So on to ADRIAN'S REVIEWS of movies and junk:

There were three REALLY cool music videos that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

The third place goes to Gnarles Barkley's "Going On", by Wendy Morgan. It was creatively shot, had some fun dancing, I tapped my foot along with the music and the dancing in the video. It was very fun.

Second Place goes to Oren Lavie's "Her Morning Elegance". This video was so frickin' cool that I forgot I had to pee for the past hour. It was stop motion of a girl sleeping and the different positions she twisted herself in while she slept took her on a journey through her bed-world. You'd have to see it to understand what I'm talking about. It's really cool and hopefully Daniel will post a link to it so I can watch it again.

First Place goes to Don McCloskey's "Mister Novocaine", Directed, Produced, and Edited by Peter Rhoads. This frickin' video was so great. I really enjoyed the song and the visuals were so good, I think I smiled throughout the whole video.

There were some other funny ones and some that I thought were poop on a stick, but whatever, I'm not a judge.

After the last music video, we rushed out of the theater so we could catch "You Won't Miss Me". It was cold as balls outside and we could feel it every time someone opened the damn door behind us while we waited in our VIP line (because we picked up "go the front of the line" advanced tickets). We got inside the theater and the director showed up (a woman) and introduced the movie and then we watched it. Daniel said he had been looking forward to this movie for a long time so I was interested in seeing what was so great about it. I couldn't remember what it was so I was just going to enjoy what ever came on the screen. Well enjoy it I did. Technically the movie was shot on like 500 different formats so the aspect ratio and graininess and fuzziness kept changing. As a film student, I notice stuff like that, but I also recognized it as the style of the film. The movie was so incredible that most of the time I thought it was a documentary because the characters were SOOOOO real. Like I said in my review of the trailer, I know a crazy girl like the lead character in this movie so I could relate to her wacky weirdness, but I had no idea that it could be captured so well. Hot damn it was good. I don't see this movie getting any kind of wide release and maybe none of you will ever get a chance to see it, but it was damn good, emotional, funny, sad, and great!

After that we went to the "Film Opening Party", where filmmakers of all shape and sizes (features to docs to shorts) can all mingle and meet each other and talk about movie making. Well, Daniel and I walked around the room like a couple of ghosts, not making eye contact with anyone. We looked for familiar faces, of which I found NONE... except for two actors who I couldn't remember the names of but one of them is old and one of them is in funny movies and has a beard now. Maybe you can tell me who they are? So we mingled with nobody and felt like dumb idiots. I mean, what are we supposed to say to people?! "Hi, we like making movies. Oh, you do too? Let's talk about it!" I don't know! It was like everyone there was already talking to three other people and we were just walking around them trying to butt in on their private conversations.

So we left that crap and went to Treasure Island where my best friend (which I earlier wrote "BF", but realized it sounded REALLY gay), Erik works. He said I didn't look as fat as I usually do, which I guess is a compliment and then he told me some funny stories about bloody faces and big butts. Sidney showed up a little later wearing glasses and sporting an afro which I laughed about for about five minutes straight. Daniel did not have fun at Treasure Island at all. He's not a "dance-club-disco-tech" kind of guy, I guess.

So we finally left there, much later than Daniel had hoped we would, I'm sure, and came back to Jeremy's and ate some chips and started writing about our first day.

Tomorrow we're going to start our day out with The Prison Rodeo Movie. I can't wait. I know that movie is going to be so awesome! We're gonna watch a lot of other stuff too but that's the one I'm most excited about.

Miss-uh-lay-knee-us: I miss my bed. Autum has it and I tried sleeping in it the past two nights, but I didn't sleep well for some reason, even though it was REALLY comfortable. I miss my TV. I miss eating all the time. I miss rock climbing. I miss my family and my friends in Austin. I'm here and I don't have time to spend with them. I miss feeling important. I miss the salami sandwich I ate in my truck in between the last movie and the crap party we failed at. I miss sleep. I miss my good friends in Arlington. I miss some of the bad ones too. I miss the carefree days when nothing mattered and everything was fun.

Until Tomorrow >>

-Adrian (tired as poopcrap and about to go to sleep)

So it begins folks...

So first of all, we managed to get postcards printed at the last minute, and posters go up tomorrow morning. Adrian and I will be on full promotion duty, while at the same time still getting to as many screenings as possible. Went to the opening night party tonight, saw a lot of really cool people and stood on sidelines like a boy at his first high school dance. I feel all so very insignificant and freshman-like. It is hard to throw yourself at people and not sound like you're trying to convince people that you are not just some jack-ass with a youtube account. I wish more then ever I had become a journalist and had a reason to talk with the people respect the most. I did talk to David Lowery, and had a nice conversation with him. I look forward to seeing more of him around this week.

Moving on to what made tonight truly stellar, and that's "You Won't Miss Me" and the Music Video Compilation... which is a compilation I avoid at any festival, mainly because it is such a commercial medium. But I really feel like I've been missing out here. Music Videos range from commercial to well a lot of stop motion compositing expertise. Seriously the amazing programmer of this group definitely had a hard-on for stop motion, but that doesn't mean it wasn't masterfully arranged. Each video climbing atop it's predecessor's shoulders with vigor and pride. With these shorts I will be making a list in order of favorites ignoring ones that I thought were nothing special. Also I will try to find links to the videos, because most of them are on youtube or something.

1. "Count it Off" by The Saturday Nights/"C.R.U.F.F." by Roots Manuva (great cinematography)
2. TIE: "Leave Alight" by Krista Muir (sweet, intelligent, perfect)/"Her Morning Elegance" by Oren Lavie
3. "An Evening with Rthrtha" by Octopus Project (well executed befitting compositing, a color explosion of beautiful)

4. "Winter Hymnal" by Fleet Foxes (great song, claymation worked well to enhance song)

5. "Jerk It" by Thunderheist (SPOILER - it is a Rooster...)

6. "Going On" by Gnarles Barkley (Gritty/Religious/ending sucked)
7. "Hyper Gospel" by Megachurch (completely retarded funny)

I had a lot of fun watching these often ridiculous bits of shear creativity, the worst video of the bunch, was The Knife's video, just dumb, 3 minutes of black silence would've worked better then the over the top wtf of that video. Sorry to the folks behind it, there was not much there for me to like.

and without further hesitation...

"You Won't Miss Me" director, Ry Russo-Young

Even as I type, netflix has already delivered a DVD of "Orphans" and it waits for my return, quietly in my mailbox. It will be the first order of business when I get back, because what I got from her latest film was nothing but confidence in anything by this woman. Before I discuss plot or the beautiful cinematography or the amazing music, I will say that Stella Schnabel will always be remembered for this film. This film, likewise, will be remember for her, and her triumphant discourse. I was very excited to see this film, and was even more pleased with my experience. The film is shot on VHS, miniDV, Super8, Super16, and HD giving it a stark documentary feel. At times it feels as though you are watching a security camera or , someone's camera phone recording from the other side of the room. The director discussed during the Q & A that she felt that people didn't notice the changing aspect ratios or the degrading and upgrading of the image quality, or if they did it effected their attitude toward her or their experience with her. I felt a lot of things, and all those feeling were the subtle steady had of Young's mise en scene or Stella's jaw dropping performance. I am trying to think of the images of this film to describe but, what stands out to me, was something I initially disliked, with was the motocycle shots, but as the film went on, these shots provided me with much needed comfort as I sat closer and closer to Shelly. The more we see of her on screen the more we know here, we cringe when she does something she shouldn't, we laugh when she is acting ridiculous, but more so, nothing is pressuring you to feel those things. And those feelings are subtle. If you are used to slow motion action scenes or over the top sex scenes, a la Watchman. You might miss out on what this film really has to offer. I almost wish that this was the first movie I ever saw. Like I was saying, the motorcycle, this is where the near brilliant score weighes in for every beat, hurting you to feel this happy fantasy. I will no doubt be talking about this film for years to come. For the one sentence review, think Cassavetes' Woman Under The Influence, but without a cross-eyed Peter Faulk, without all the love and security he brings, and add a fondness for video/film formats. Great start to what I'm sure will be a great festival.

D

Trailer Party!

So I watched all the FEATURE trailers that we'll be watching. We're purposely skipping the BIG movies that will be coming out in the next few weeks ("Observe and Report", "I Love You, Man", and some other junk), so that we can see the good indie films that might not ever see a theater or distribution.

Here are my thoughts on the individual previews I watched (In alphabetical order)

45365 - I think this movie looks good... Daniel says we might see it, maybe. I think I might kick Daniel in his maybe face. Dirty dumbo donkus dork.

500 Day of Summer - I have high hopes for this one. The trailer is Aamazazing. The HORRIBLE narration makes me want to pull out my own tongue, but the quick glimpses of what looks like singing and dancing makes my toes twinkle.

Afterschool - looks good... reminds me of my younger years... fighting, sex, fantasizing about crazy happenstances... or more what I wished my younger years would have been like...

Alexander the Last - There is no trailer for this movie and I don't know how to read so I have no idea what this is going to be about. However, I am hoping that it will be loosely based on Alexander the Great's conquest of Earth, but set in space. The "Alexander" will be a lone warrior starship from a historical space battle, and it's rag-tag crew of misfits and stowaways will have to fight their way through hordes of de-humans (a human-like species that are mushy on the inside and wear their bones on the outside) and other battleships. They will eventually discover that the "promised land" that they are trying to get to for most of the 4 hour movie does not exist and the only thing they have is each other. Then their ship will run out of oxygen. Credits. Or... I guess their ship could run out of oxygen in the opening credits, then it could be a short. I guess we'll see.

Beetle Queen Conquers Tokyo - Not what you would expect. If you read the last description of what I get from movie titles, then you can see that I hope for the most ridiculous... Well this story is about the insect crave in Tokyo and how people own insects as pets and I guess how insect marketing is a very lucrative business in Japan. The trailer has some very funky music that I enjoyed and some pretty pictures as well.

Bomber - Road Trip/Old People/Life Movie. I love old people. I think they are funny. There are some really nice road shots in this movie that I am jealous of. I think it will be one of those "carpe diem" movies, where old people teach us youngsters the value of life and let us know that we're wasting it by sitting in front of computers blogging all day.

Brock Enright: Good Times Will Never Be The Same - this is a documentary about a crazy artist. I wasn't surprised by anything in the trailer because I hang out with a crazy artist. I'm not going to say who, but his name starts with a "D" and ends with a "aniel Laabs". You want real crazy? Check out Daniel's self made bathtub documentary.

Exterminators - Wow... this is what people spend their money on in SXSW? It has Heather Hot Boogie Nights and that old lady from American Pie and Legally Blonde. It looks bad... not bad enough to be good... just bad. Daniel says it is on our list as a "place holder" but I'm beginning to question his real motives and his overall taste in film.

Grace - a movie about birthing, demon babies, flies, breast blood-milk, vampires, hatchets, bottles, rubber gloves... i just started writing whatever I think I saw in the preview. Baby horror movies are great... like enemas.

Iron Maiden: Flight 666 - Rock... Roll... Pantera behind the scenes... but not. Iron Maiden lives on forever and they prove it through their undying rockstardomism.

It was great, but I was ready to come home - College girls in a foreign country... Costa Rica? I've been there and if these girls ruin it for me, I will hate them and myself. Girls make me want to throw up. Why do they ruin everything? Why do I love them so? Oh gross... (took a break to gag myself)

Lesbian Vampire Killers - For such a corny name, and expecting it to be nothing but corny, this one actually looks pretty well produced. I think this is one of our "midnight madness" movies, so I'm sure it will be enjoyable. If not, I will blame it on the lesbians.

Luckey - Heart-wrenching documentary about a quadraplegic father and the wife and son that take care of him. I bet it's good. Tears will rain down upon the desolate earth.

MakeOut with Violence - Low budget, unique, zombies? Possibly. Might be some sick and twisted necrophiliac stuff... I'm turned on just thinking about it.

Modern Love is Automatic - Punk Rock Preview! Horrible sound! Bondage and Boredom! There's a girl named "Adrian"? That's impossible. The trailer started out cool... I had a headache at the end and might have blacked out.

My Suicide - I think this will be great. It's on our "IF WE HAVE TIME" list. It's going to be about the life of teenager and how he knows the world through media. There's some rotoscoping and other cool effects. I'm excited. We're gonna see it. I'm moving into the "We're gonna see it" list.

Over the Hills and Far Away - A journey of a father and son to find a cure for the son's autism. Horseback riding and Mongolian healers. I'm down.

Son of a Gun - More old people humor. I can't wait. This one actually looks really funny and I'm sure it has a heart warming story attached to it. Big ears, white hair, missing teeth... I love it.

Sorry, Thanks - awkward relationships and awkward moments. I'm used to that. Let's all love awkwardness together!

St. Nick - KIDS! The first line in this trailer got me. I'm gonna love it. I know it. I'm writing a short about a child and how they see the world and how it's difficult for adults to see the same things that they see, so this will help me with my movie... I hope.

Sweethearts of the Prison Rodeo - OMG! I watched the whole preview with a dropped jaw... Inmate gorging bulls run around and have a field day on fleeing prisoners that are ecstatic to be "off the yard". Omg. Everyone enjoys a trampling! "You don't want to see anybody get hurt or get killed, but if they do, you darn sure don't want to miss it." -random spectator of the prison rodeo.

The Immaculate Conception of Little Dizzle - Oh geez... crazy effects and crazy craziness! I'm ready to get my mind grapes plucked! Let's do this, Rocket Punch!

Trimpin - I thought maybe this one was about some new dance and got really excited... then I learned it's just ANOTHER movie about ANOTHER crazy old man... what's with the crazy geezers this year?

All of these trailers can be seen on SXSW.com, under film and then "trailer viewer".

We're going to see PRAYER FOR ANIMALS tonight at The Hole in the Wall. It's Jeremy's band. It will be my first time praying with animals and I'm sure I will enjoy it.

Laundry's almost done...

Oh, if anyone wants to make any donations to the Adrian Make Movie's Fight Against Starvation at SXSW 2009 Fund, please contact Daniel or Adrian and take them to lunch.

Thank you and God Speed.

-CJW3 (Adrian)