I'm back in Los Angeles for a good solid 12 hours before I hop on another plane to Argentina for the Mar del Plata International Film Festival, which is screening About A Son this weekend and, which, I hear, is amazing (the town and festival, that is). But before I leave for 17 hours of travel to get to South America, I wanted to recap the last few days in of SXSW Film in Austin, Texas.
I wrote briefly about my first day at the fest (and the film that I saw) while still in Austin. In fact, as I was finishing that post, it began to rain. Rain that would continue off and on for the rest of Sunday. Monday was beautiful, warm, sunny. As was Tuesday morning, until the rains came again and hard. The meandering creek behind the convention center became a rushing rapids river in the time it took to down some smoked turket at the Iron Works BBQ. I really felt lucky to get out of town as many of the flights at the airport were being canceled or were delayed as planes attempted to fly around large weather systems.
Despite this, we all tried our best to muddle through on Sunday and see some movies. I caught two films that I liked a lot - Bob Rey's Hell on Wheels and Joe Swanberg's Hannah Takes the Stairs. Hell on Wheels was not exactly what I expected - I guess I thought that since it was about the revitalized roller derby trend that it would count its wins and losses in a traditional sports movie sense - following a team on its path to ass kicking victory and set to a driving punk rock score. But in fact, Hell on Wheels is really about the birth of a scene - and the business sense (or lack thereof) that will determine whether that scene can flourish or flounder. In some ways it reminded me of another SXSW doc - 2000's Live Nude Girls Unite! - another film about women trying to learn and apply business acumen and organize themselves. I was glad that Hell on Wheels surprised me by taking this tact and was constantly interested in the twists and turns (and occasional tragedies) of Austin's burgeoning roller derby leagues.
Hannah Takes the Stairs is indie hero Joe Swanberg's 3rd feature in three years at SXSW. Chances are he'll be back in 2008 with his fourth. In addition this year, he did the trailers and received a newly created award (and hosted what seemed to be the most surprisingly packed party in the most out-of-the-way location). Next year, he'll probably keynote the Texas Hall of Fame Awards. If you don't know much about Joe, you aren't reading any number of indie film blogs, which have been practically 24-7 Swanberg for the past week (Anthony Kaufman sums up nicely with a short post on his blog about this "Ultra-Indie Movement" and Ray Pride has a long, in depth piece going at MCIndie.)
The Hannah premiere was a packed affair at the Paramount and it seemed like everyone in indie land had turned out - even if they hadn't caught Joe's previous features, both of which I've seen. For some, I'm sure they felt like they didn't know how to quantify or categorize what they were seeing. I had some conversations after the film that quickly moved into business talk - "but you couldn't distribute that" - a phrase that is becoming more and more common as even the smallest, "coolest" niche indie companies are thinking only of big hits and bottom lines. And on the one hand, can you blame them - as they've seen Wellspring and Cowboy and any other number of well intentioned companies bid farewell? Yet, we're in the era of the instant business calculation, before a film is judged as good or bad, it's can it make a profit, can it have a trailer, can you get it into Costco and Target and Best Buy. And I suppose it's sad to see some folks - particularly some of the younger ones who look like they're auditioning for Endeavor and ICM rather than looking for the next great indie voice - at some of the smaller companies looking so pained and so risk-averse when they should be having such fun.
But back to Hannah Takes the Stairs and the thing I said to some people after the film. What I love about Joe's work is that he finds moments. Incredible, intimate, directly real, undiscovered moments of human clarity. And he discovers these moments inside a larger canvas that is in some ways just about an idea or an emotion. And I could be wrong here - but I'm not sure that the larger thing matters to him as much as the moments, other than to be a framework in which to make these discoveries. And I feel that Joe is the kind of filmmaker that you have to approach from his perspective and on his terms, which can maybe feel off-putting or alienating, as if he were saying, you want plot, fuck you, I'm giving you this other thing. It's a different film language than most are used to, or maybe even seeking. But if you can come at it from his side, there's real beauty to find. And lead actress Greta Gerwig (the first time Swanberg has really had a lead in what had been traditionally interwoven ensemble films) is a knockout. She's the reason that Independent Spirit Awards were created.
Hannah Takes the Stairs compatriots Kevin Bewersdorf, Greta Gerwig and Kris Williams at their post-premiere party at the Peacock Lounge.
Who Loves the Sun director Matt Bissonnette, producer Corey Marr and star Adam Scott, staying dry for the moment, at the Peacock.
The Prisoner or: How I Planned to Kill Tony Blair co-directors Michael Tucker and Petra Epperlein at the Netflix/Red Envelope reception for their movie.
Need to grab some sleep. Will try to write more on the long plane flight about our SXSW Premiere (a very emotional experience), my panel on Rock Documentaries as well as the all-star blogging on film panel (which was followed by the aforementioned trip to Iron Works) in which we discussed whether or not to criticise films that we don't like, something I'd never done until this year at SXSW (and for which I have been both praised and chastised).
Ah, too bad we didn't get to meet up! I saw you heading down the aisle at the Hannah screening, but then the lights went down. I'm heading off to see the About A Son first thing tomorrow morning.
Posted by: David Lowery | March 15, 2007 at 01:01 AM