Another year and another great festival wraps up deep in the heart of Texas. As the curtains draw to a close on the Paramount and the music fades, Friday marked the end of another great festival at South by Southwest. With over a hundred films screened, this year’s festival has introduced a plethora of great films to audiences. The festival has been a chance to showcase big headliners like Evil Dead as well as highlight fantastic indies like Zero Charisma. The greatest thing about these festivals is the air of collaboration between various artists, admirers, and professionals alike. Hearing a conversation between a music badge holder, film badge press, and interactive entrepreneurs sums up South by Southwest succinctly. It really captures the spirit of South by Southwest and reminds us why Austin is a true Mecca for creativity and collaboration. Signing off from Austin, TX, see y’all next year! If you missed any of our coverage of SXSW, check out the links below:
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The Act of Killing
Directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, Anonymous, Christine Cynn
The documentary film opens with a pertinent and incredibly insightful quote by Voltaire followed by a surreal dance sequence of killers in drag set against a waterfall. After 1965 where the military overtook the Indonesian government, a martial rule was in place and all those deemed “Communists” (farmers, intellectuals, dissenters, ethnic Chinese) were murdered en masse… (read the full review)
Burma
Directed by Carlos Puga
Every family has their own issues, tendencies, and dysfunctions, but that familial bond transcends any sort of disagreement. However, what happens when familial bonds are tested against each other? When trust is betrayed, when parents abandon their children, what is the end result? Carlos Puga’s Burma takes an honest look at abandonment… (read the full review)
Don Jon
Directed by Joseph Gordon-Levitt
Gender roles can be a land mine of a topic. The subject matter is riddled with opinions that no one can agree on. It is a topic that perforates and polarizes. However, most can agree that objectification plays a large role in unfair assignments. In his directorial debut and also as writer and star, Joseph Gordon-Levitt’s brings a film that seeks to capture what is wrong with objectification in its many manifestations… (read the full review)
Drinking Buddies
Directed by Joe Swanberg
In this film, the plot is simple. Boy meets girl. Girl meets boy. Both are perfect for each other. However, boy already has another girl and girl, vice versa. Luke (Jake Johnson) and Kate (Olivia Wilde) both work at a local brewery while exchanging laughs, meals, smiles, and banter throughout the day, but when they go home, it is to their respective significant others… (read the full review)
Evil Dead
Directed by Fede Alvarez
It was no secret that when news of an Evil Dead remake was in works, the intitial, “Why?” was then followed by outcries from beloved fans of the original 1981 cult classic. It was made clear by director Fede Alvarez in his directorial debut that this remake was not just a quick cash out, that it strove to capture the essence of a horror movie and much of what made the original so fantastic… (read the full review)
The Fifth Season
Directed by Peter Brosens, Jessica Woodworth
Time is wholly a human construct. While other organisms simply accept the effect of moving time, humans feel the need to perceive and measure its passing. The seasons are an extension of human need to compartmentalize. For farmers, they use the changing seasons to decide when and what type of crops to plant. Story tellers and myth makers take seasons and wrap them in symbolism, giving arbitrary divisions a cultural meaning… (read the full review)
The Incredible Burt Wonderstone
Directed by Don Scardino
The film opens with the prototypical childhood scene. A young boy, bullied and an outcast, finds solace in his home magic kit. Flash forward thirty some odd years, and the same boy whose passion and awe has devolved into a stale show, a contrived performer, and a shell of a man… (read the full review)
Milo
Directed by Jacob Vaughan
People usually know what they are getting into when they enter certain movies at SXSW. There are the big headliners; there are the obscure international films; there are the intimate indie flicks and mumblecore movies; then there are the kind of films like Milo… (read the full review)
Prince Avalanche
Directed by David Gordon Green
The inception of this film does not so much start with a story but a location. Filmed in the ash ridden Bastrop, TX after the late 2011 fires that devastated thousands of homes, Prince Avalanche observes two men as they repaint a lonely, rural road. As a remake of the Icelandic film… (read the full review)
Sake-Bomb
Directed by Junya Sakino
Sake-Bomb follows the odd couple pairing of Sebastian (Eugene Kim), an aimless and sardonic Asian-American, and his inexperienced Japanese cousin Naoto (Gaku Hamada) as they search California for the latter’s ex flame… (read the full review)
Short Term 12
Directed by Destin Cretton
Trauma and abuse in a child’s formative years undoubtedly create ripple effects throughout their adult lives. Everyone talks about making choices, but what happens to those kids who are unfortunate enough to grow up in an environment where that choices are not a reality? Cretton’s Short Term 12 is a heart wrenching look at the lives of the children and their caretakers at a foster care facility… (read the full review)
Snap
Directed by Youssef Delara, Victor Teran
Snap is a psychological thriller that plays like a dubstep song on celluloid. It’s loud, abrasive, with hard cuts, and loud imagery. The film follows Jim Whitman (Jake Hoffman), a musically talented schizophrenic as he traverses an introverted life, trying to keep a darkness inside him at bay… (read the full review)
Spring Breakers
Directed by Harmony Korine
Spring Breakers, by strict definition, is not a very good film, but that does not mean that is a bad one either. The structure of the story is loose, looping and barely there; the characters lack much substantial development; however, for all of the hedonism and decadence portrayed in the trailer (and there is plenty in the film), Korine’s Spring Breakers should not be written off as just another lewd, impermanent film for the constant retweet/reblog generation… (read the full review)
Swim Little Fish Swim
Directed by Ruben Amar, Lola Bessis
There have been many meditations on the relationship between people and the creation of art. Swim Little Fish Swim takes a stab at this, examining how some people use art to connect to reality and how art can also cause disconnect, especially when it comes to doing what feels right versus what must be done… (read the full review)
Upstream Color
Directed by Shane Carruth
After Shane Carruth’s debut puzzle of a film, Primer, in 2004, there has been a lot of speculation and anticipation for his follow up film. Now, the product of nine years worth of work yields yet another enigmatic and existential film spattered with bits of high concept science fiction… (read the full review)
Zero Charisma
Directed by Katie Graham, Andrew Matthews
There is no question that the once derivative term “geek” has become a widely accepted and sometimes lauded term. To be a geek in 2013 means something entirely different than it did twenty, even ten, years ago… (read the full review)
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