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.