Curse you, daylight savings time! I could have used that extra hour.
Boy, yesterday was full throttle at South by Southwest 2012 (SXSW). Between trying to sneak some writing in or, more accurately, stuffing my face with Austin’s wealth of delicious foods, and attempting to catch every film possible, I have been trying to take in as much of the town as possible. There’s true beauty here, and it’s such an intensely good feeling to be in a city that not only cares about it’s creative culture, but also nourishes it.
Yesterday didn’t go quite as planned. I saw many of the documentaries I was after, but the time between each film is fleeting and with each theater being fairly spread out, sometimes you just have to chalk it up as a loss. This did lead me back to the Paramount Theater for one of the best surprises of SXSW, Safety Not Guaranteed. This film was based around the personal ad that became popular across the internet that promised time travel and payment upon return. It features Aubrey Plaza and Jake Johnson, but newcomer Karan Soni steals every scene he’s in. The film is witty, quirky and incredibly heartwarming. It wasn’t even on my radar but I took a chance and couldn’t have been happier.
A quick phone charge and pop-in to the Magnet/Magnolia Films party and I was en route to the Secret Screening at Alamo Lamar. It turned out to be a film called Sinister, starring Ethan Hawke. It played in a theater that sat less than 200, and even two hours ahead of time was already packed. Rumblings I have heard about it though sound mostly positive and that it was a truly terrifying experience. Look for it in October.
This led me back downtown and to the Alamo Ritz where I caught the midnight screening of Iron Sky, a film that presupposes that in 1945, Nazi’s fled Earth to live on the moon, just waiting for the right time to strike. That’s right, moon Nazis. The film has its moments, including some incredible space battles, but never quite commits to being completely silly or taking itself seriously. It’s somewhere in the middle, which left me feeling about the same. It’s been sitting on the shelf since 2006, so it is nice to see it finally make it’s debut.
As I type, I am about to begin a trio of films at the Stateside Theater. Eden, Los Chidos and See Girl Run. There’s quite a few midday options that I’m debating, but the midnighter is a definite; V/H/S. This horror film was all i heard about during Sundance and is one of the top five films I’ve been looking forward to seeing.
Four minutes until show time. This is the time of my life.
