8 years ago
SXSW (10 posts found)
SXSW 2016: Fingers on the Pulse
In the wake of SXSW, Marshall Shaffer reflects on the festival's unique place in the cinematic landscape.
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SXSW 2016: Forward to the Past
From SXSW, Marshall Shaffer takes a look at two new films by prominent local directors, in Richard Linklater’s "Everybody Wants Some!!" and Jeff Nichols’ "Midnight Special."
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SXSW Review: “Night Owls”
Night Owls begins at the end of an evening, with two drunk strangers stumbling toward bed together. We know even less about them than they do about each other: she's a beautiful brunette (Rosa Salazar) with a crazy streak; he's a funny doofus (Adam Pally) who ...
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SXSW Review: “Frank” is a Mixed Bag of Tonal Whiplash and Muddled Ideas
The relationship between creativity and mental illness is a topic that has long been discussed in the modern era, with many suggesting that some of the most unstable artists create some of the greatest work. While that is certainly a more complex topic than ca...
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SXSW Review: “Boyhood” is the Masterful Summation of Richard Linklater’s Career
If there’s been a more ambitious filmmaking endeavor in the last ten years than Richard Linklater’s Boyhood, I’d love to know. Shot every year over the course of twelve years, the film chronicles the life of a family living in the south Texas suburbs, featurin...
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SXSW Review: Jim Jarmusch Plays By His Own Rules in “Only Lovers Left Alive”
Jim Jarmusch is a filmmaker who has long been concerned with human behavior, forgoing traditional narratives in favor of observing people interacting with one another, without anything ever really “happening”. When things do happen, it is without much fanfare,...
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Jury Awards for SXSW 14 Announced: ‘Fort Tilden’ and ‘The Great Invisible’ Win Big
The Jury Awards for the SXSW 14 Film Festival have been announced.
The big winner is Fort Tilden by directors Sarah-Violet Bliss and Charles Rogers. The film stars Bridey Elliott and Clare McNulty and it follows the two girls on a inexplicably troublesome j...
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SXSW Review: “No No: A Dockumentary” is as Extraordinary and Complex as its Subject
If 13 Sins represented a film at SXSW without a single human being in it, No No: A Dockumentary would be the polar opposite. Chronicling the life of Dock Ellis, the baseball player who famously pitched a no-hitter while tripping on LSD, this is a film so vital...
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SXSW Review: “13 Sins” Is a Flaccid Start to Midnight Programming
The programming at SXSW Midnight is often filled with low-budget, earnest, and unique visions of the horror and thriller genres. These are the independent voices in genre filmmaking we desperately need in today’s world, filled with remakes, reboots, and otherw...
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SXSW Review: Young Love Genuinely Depicted In Coming of Age Gem, The Spectacular Now
B+
Addiction is a tough nut to crack in cinematic storytelling. Treat it too seriously, and a film can often devolve into a PSA of unsubtle, parodic levels. Treat it too lightly, and the portrayal can come off as trivial. It’s a tightrope that filmmakers mu...
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