MOVIES: 2015 South By Southwest Film Festival Recap

Having grown at an almost unimaginable speed in the last decade, the South By Southwest Film Festival is rivaled only by Comic-Con as the annual event for Hollywood, television studios and web content creators to showcase their work for thousands of attendees, nearly all of whom are willing to stand in line for an hour or more to be a part of the singularly unique programming that takes place every Spring in Austin, Texas. While the Music Festival component of SXSW has stayed more true to the indie roots of this nearly 30 year old festival, the Film portion has embraced the zeitgeist and offers almost as many mainstream (read: Hollywood) films and TV content as it does independent, experimental and international works of cinema.

Arguments can easily be made about SXSW becoming too corporate, but the feel of the the film festival remains unchanged. Walking around downtown Austin, there is a buzz and electricity permeating every street and venue. People are there to enjoy great works of filmmaking and, regardless of how many big name stars ascend on this small Texas town, they are rarely disappointed.

So, here is my recap of the 2015 South By Southwest Film Festival.

The Final Girls

As with the world premiere of Cabin in the Woods three years ago, The Final Girls is a nearly perfect film for SXSW audiences. Both an homage to and spoof of 80s slasher movies, The Final Girls deconstructs the genre of cult classic horror movies. Directed by Todd Strauss-Schulson, the movie stars Taissa Farmiga (American Horror Story) as Max, the daughter of Scream Queen Amanda Cartwright (Malin Akerman). At a midnight showing of her mother’s most famous role, Max and her friends are somehow transported inside the movie and must find a way to survive the psycho killer who stalks the stereotypical summer camp by the lake.

The movie is as clever with its humor as it is with its dissection of movie stereotypes. The script, by M.A. Fortin and Joshua John Miller, plays with not only slasher movie conventions, but archetypes that all movies rely on, much as Joss Whedon and Drew Goddard did with Cabin in the Woods. The cast is terrific, especially the “fictionals,” the characters in the movie within the movie, including Akerman, Adam Devine and Angela Trimbur. The movie also has a very touching story at its center which never feels hackneyed or forced. Credit for that fine accomplishment goes to Strauss-Schulson for never making sappy what is a very emotional central conflict.

Grade: A

Steve Jobs: The Man in the Machine

Director Alex Gibney’s documentary about Steve Jobs is meant to reveal a hidden side of the late enigmatic man who co-founded Apple Computers and changed the personal computer industry. But for anyone who is even remotely interested in Jobs, the film is far from revelatory and plays more like a CNN one-hour special rather than a fully formed documentary.

Gibney is a very talented and prophetic documentarian, having directed Enron: The Smartest Guys in the Room and Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief, which was also recently released. Gibney’s talent is in stirring up controversy or shining light on socially-conscious topics. In Steve Jobs, though, neither is really at play. It’s pretty well known that Jobs wasn’t the nicest guy in the world, but most of his former employees will tell you that what he lacked in kindness he more than made up for with genius and work ethic. Though it is interesting to hear stories about Jobs from the people who knew and worked with him, anyone interested in the man himself would be better served by reading Walter Isaacson’s brilliant biography, titled simply Steve Jobs.

Grade: C-

The Automatic Hate

The Automatic Hate deals with dark family secrets and the ripple effect those secrets can have down through the generations. Director Justin Lerner delivers a very somber but engaging depiction of one family’s struggle to acknowledge (or ignore) an event from long ago that tore two brothers apart.

Joseph Cross stars as Davis Green, a young man dealing with his own relationship troubles when a curious young woman, Alexis (Adelaide Clemens), shows up at his house claiming to be a cousin he never knew he had. As far as Davis knows, his father doesn’t have any siblings so a cousin is impossible. Nevertheless, Davis begins his own exploration which leads him to uncovering something unsettling which changes him forever.

The film is subtle in its tone, allowing the audience to be voyeuristic participants in this family’s world. Lerner coaxes excellent performances from his cast, most notably Clemens and the great character actor Richard Schiff, who plays Davis’s judgmental father. The Automatic Hate is not for everyone, but will, in one way or another, resonate with many people.

Grade: B

Love & Mercy

Unquestionably one of the greatest pop music composers of all time, Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys was as troubled as he was brilliant. In Love & Mercy, we see young Brian Wilson (Paul Dano) struggling with his genius while older Brian Wilson (John Cusack) deals with the reverberations of a massive mental breakdown that kept him bedridden for nearly three years. The film cuts back and forth between the two journeys as we get a glimpse inside the tortured mind of a great musician.

While Dano has been around for some time, I’ve never really been impressed by his work. That changes with Love & Mercy. Dano’s performance as the young Wilson is fantastic. He manages to capture Wilson’s eccentricities, bizarre humor and obsession with perfection. As his mental stability begins to crumble, Dano humanizes Wilson through his inexhaustible work ethic and unflagging dedication to his music. Sadly, Cusack’s performance is distractingly bland, offsetting the good work of Dano. But, the film is worth seeing to better understand the fine line between genius and madness and to remember how beautiful Wilson’s music truly is.

Grade: B

Trainwreck

Amy Schumer is having a moment and there was no better place for her new film, which she wrote, to premiere than at SXSW. Trainwreck is a semi-autobiographical story about a woman named Amy (Schumer) who is 100 percent opposed to any sort of serious relationship. As with any broad comedy, her plans are thrown into flux when she meets someone right for her, played here by Bill Hader in a rare straight performance.

The details of the story are insignificant. What we get is Schumer, one of the most talented and hilarious comedians working today, getting a massive new platform for her brand of comedy. While her skills as an actor are sketchy at best, her comedic timing and delivery are excellent and that’s really what matters. Hader is a terrific partner for Schumer, funny but never the main attraction. The real surprise is LeBron James, playing himself, who turns in a surprisingly funny performance as Hader’s best friend.

The film is directed by Judd Apatow and has his expected paint-by-numbers style. Like Kevin Smith, Apatow doesn’t even try anymore, but at least with Trainwreck we have Schumer’s hilarious script to entertain us.

Grade: B+

Ex Machina

Ex Machina was the best film I saw at SXSW this year and will likely rank among my top ten favorite films of 2015. It is the directorial debut of Alex Garland, one of the most intelligent and reliably impressive screenwriters working today. Taking place in the very near future -- maybe only a few years from now -- Ex Machina ponders the possibilities and dangers of achieving genuine artificial intelligence. What might be mankind’s greatest achievement may be our undoing.

The film stars Domhnall Gleeson as Caleb, a mid-level programmer who is given the chance to work with Nathan Bateman (Oscar Isaac), the founder and creator of a Google-like tech behemoth. Caleb’s new job consists of administering a Turing Test to Ava (Alicia Vikander), a fully-functioning work of AI. Caleb spends a week at Nathan’s secluded compound to find out if Ava’s intelligence and comprehension is on par with any human.

I won’t say any more about the film because it would deprive you of the pure enjoyment of watching Garland’s film unfold. Suffice to say, the film does not progress the way you think it will. Isaac is tremendous as Nathan and Gleeson shines as well. It’s Vikander, though, who is most impressive. If this isn’t a career-making performance, I don’t know what is. The film is brilliant, creative and directed with the confidence and intelligence of a veteran filmmaker.

Grade: A+

Welcome to Leith

A documentary that is able to both infuriate and uplift you is rare, but Welcome to Leith does just that. Directed by Michael Beach Nichols and Christopher K. Walker, Leith tells the story of Leith, North Dakota, a small rural town consisting of only 24 residents, and the unexpected and unwelcome invasion by a group of white supremacists. Led by Craig Cobb, the white separatist movement wants to claim Leith as a new settlement for the pure white race. The town’s citizens, many of whom have lived in Leith their entire lives, do everything in their power to drive Cobb and his ilk out of their town.

Most impressive is the complete objectivity of the filmmakers given the horrible racist hate speech being spoken by Cobb and others. As a true documentary should, Nichols and Walker give both sides equal time to assert their beliefs about whether what Cobb is doing should be allowed. The residents of Leith, most of whom are white, are infuriated that Cobb would try to overtake their town to create a utopia based on hate. Cobb, meanwhile, acts calmly and mostly within the law to exercise his First Amendment rights.

Welcome to Leith is an excellent film told by two very talented filmmakers. If it finds distribution, it will be met with much controversy but will hopefully inspire dialogue and messages of tolerance.

Grade: A

Ava’s Possessions

Ava’s Possessions was the only truly disappointing film I saw this year. Written and directed by Jordan Galland, the movie tries to mimic the horror/comedy of Shaun of the Dead or Tucker and Dale vs. Evil, but is unfunny and boring. Part of the reason the film is so bland is that it’s central conceit -- a girl, Ava (Louisa Krause), is recovering from a demonic possession -- has been featured in so many previous movies that any new iteration is automatically going to turn off many audience members. Additionally, Galland doesn’t bring anything new to the genre despite his attempts to take the quirky approach of “What happens to the possessed people after the demon is exorcised?” It’s boring, stupid, humorless and a waste of time.

Grade: F

Adult Beginners

One of the more mainstream movies that premiered in Austin this year was Nick Kroll’s Adult Beginners. Kroll, whose popular has grown over the last few years with his role on The League and his own Comedy Central sketch show, stars and co-wrote the screenplay. Kroll plays Jake, an entitled, arrogant NYC yuppie who loses all of his money (and many others’) in a poor tech investment. He’s forced to move in with his sister (Rose Byrne) and her husband (Bobby Cannavale) and take care of their toddler.

The film is very funny and all three main actors give strong performances, but the movie is a big “So what?” in the end. Why did this movie need to be made? It doesn’t have any big insights into relationships or growing up and its tone and pacing are extremely clunky. Byrne and Cannavale are both very talented actors and always entertaining, but they deserve much better than this.

Grade: C-

The Nymphets

The Nymphets is the epitome of a low-budget indie film. That is both a compliment and a criticism. Gary Gardner, who wrote and directed, is clearly interested in exploring gender roles and societal pressures put on both sexes, but his stripped down, raw film doesn’t do much more than highlight these issues without uncover any new truths.

The film centers on Joe (Kip Pardue), Brittany (Annabelle Dexter-Jones) and Allyson (Jordan Lane Price) over the course of one very complicated night. Joe, who is much older than both girls, invites them back to his swanky apartment with one very clear motive on his mind. The girls, however, have no interest in having sex with Joe. Instead, they do everything they can to humiliate and taunt him, his lifestyle and his dysfunctional relationship with his live-in girlfriend.

There are no good guys in The Nymphets. Even though we never learn the actual age of Brittany and Allyson, there’s a very good chance they’re under age, making Joe both a philanderer and a predator. However, Brittany and Allyson’s obsession with torturing Joe for their own entertainment prevents the audience for feeling anything more than disgust for them. The film isn’t bad and it’s not really good. It’s just an indie film try to shock it’s audience.

Grade: C

Deep Webb

The final film I saw at SXSW was the documentary Deep Webb, directed by Alex Winter (yes, of Bill and Ted’s Excellent Adventure) who also directed the amazing Downloaded which premiered at SXSW two years ago. The film traces the government’s persecution of Ross Ulbricht, the man they believe is the creator and administrator of The Silk Road, a digital marketplace on the dark web. The Silk Road allows individuals to sell whatever they want, especially drugs. Because the FBI and DEA can’t typically trace buyers and sellers (due to extremely secure anonymity), the government agencies decide to go after the man they think is responsible for the site’s existence.

Deep Webb is brilliant both in how well it articulates the intricacies of the Silk Road and the dark web, but also in how it documents the government’s illegal and immoral behaviors to ensure the outcome they desire. Winter clearly has a passion for capturing the myriad issues facing society in this digital revolution and his keen eye as a documentarian makes him one of the most important filmmakers working today.

Grade: A