SXSW10-Animated Shorts/Cherry (2010)/Get Low (2009)/Saturday Night (2010)/Suck (2010)
I’ll be staggering drunkenly through your streets for the next two days, so feel free to rape me. –Dave Foley
ANIMATED SHORTS
LA NOSTALGIA DEL SR. ALAMBRE
Directed by: Jonathan Ostos Yaber
Written by: Jonathan Ostos Yaber
Sr. Alambre is a wire shadow puppeteer. Hell, he’s an AMAZING wire shadow puppeteer. But no one really knows him until an unscrupulous manager come along to take him away from his family to take him to the big time. What can possibly become of Sr. Alambre?
This stop motion short looked amazing, although the character design was a little bit awkward. It was a rather long short that didn’t waste a moment of its run time and made you really care about the characters. It made me really want to see a guy who could do all of that with wire.
Directed by: Alice Lyons/Orla McHardy
Written by: Alice Lyons/Orla McHardy
Film poems always seem basically like experimental shorts to me. I don’t fully understand them, but they’re sometimes very pretty. Other times, they’re really pretentious and stupid. Luckily, this one is of the pretty variety, although I really don’t know what it means for bees to live near rape.
The animation style was cool, but I ultimately forgot just about everything about the short. Sorry.It has something to do with the Polish language and how it’s changed over the years. I’m not entirely sure. Moving on.
Directed by: James Cunningham
Two soldiers find a baby on the war field during trench warfare in WWI. One of them wants to leave it, the other can’t bear to. They end up trying to take it to a nearby convent, but “nearby” is all relative when it comes to war.
The characters were kind of ugly, but that worked with the ugliness of war. It was obviously a heartfelt short as it was written by the great-grandson of one of the soldiers. It actually ended up being one of my favorites of the program. Well written, good voice acting and as beautiful as a war short could possibly be.
Directed by: Nick Fox-Gieg
Then we hit the funny. This Orange happens to rule the world. The journey that it goes on enlightens everyone it touches. (Including a republican man who calls his lesbian CEO daughter to say that “all is forgiven.”)
Perfect in its weirdness and, underneath, kind of nice in the thought that something so small could change someone’s life.
Directed by: Harry Chaskin
Even monsters get old. And, as they get old, they long to be remembered for who they once were. The star of such films as It Ate Paris and It Ate San Fransisco is now in an old monsters’ home, but he longs to work again. And why shouldn’t he? Just because “this town wasn’t made for dinosaurs like us” as his agent said?
Bah.
This was a really funny, but kind of touching story of someone outgrowing his usefulness in an ever-more youth-driven world. Very good and obviously made by someone who loves monster movies.
THE COW WHO WANTED TO BE A BURGER
Directed by: Bill Plympton
Ah, Bill Plympton. I love everything he’s done even if it’s not always spot-on amazing. This one may not be perfect, but it is pretty awesome and it’s a kinder, gentler Bill.
A calf sees a burger ad and the trucks driving by with their meat and desperately wants to be a part of that world. He works out and grows until he’s finally good enough to be among the chosen ones. Then he finds out that it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
No pornographic aliens or bizarro songs this time out. Here Bill just wants to tell a simple story, and he does it very well. It’s the first of his cartoons that I would feel comfortable showing to a kid. They would probably find it just as funny as I did.
Just in case you’re worried that Bill has completely lost his mind and gone soft, he put the food orientation of all of the major crew members in the credits. He loves burgers. There was one vegan on the crew. There’s no agenda here. Just good story-telling.
Directed by: Tom Gasek
If you’ve ever wondered what happens inside of a microwave, watch this short. You’ll still wonder, but you’ll be a little more entertained. When someone puts a fork in the microwave, things get really interesting.
Stop motion circuitry is a pretty small niche for filmmakers, but I think Tom Gasek has the market cornered. Pretty good, if a bit overlong. Still very funny, though.
Directed by: Diego Maclean
Based on poem by: Billy Collins
Another film poem, but this one I didn’t latch on to as well even as The Polish Language. This one was narrated by the author and had some pretty cool sketches, but it wasn’t one of my favorites. The idea was obvious (drowning man and all), so I didn’t feel too dumb to get it. I just wasn’t into it.
Directed by: Sol Friedman
A young boy is being taught by his blind sensai. What happens when the boy takes an unscheduled break and the teacher’s enemy comes to visit? Devastation!
The mix of animation and live-action is really cool here and the story is, while highly metaphorical, pretty straight-forward. And good and dense short that kept me wondering what would happen next. I kind of wish that the Japanese chorus had been subtitled, though. I have no idea what they were saying, but I’m pretty certain that it might have cleared some stuff up for a lot of people…maybe.
Directed by: Scott Hampton
This one I have no idea about. I think I was nodding off a bit, but it was really interestingly animated, even if there didn’t seem to be much of a story. It was stop-motion with small machine parts. There was a falcon, though. And some owls. And a dude or two. Beyond that, I don’t remember it very well. Very cool to look at, though.
Directed by: Jeff Drew
Funny stuff from Jeff Drew and The Pajama Men. It all takes place in The Sand Bar where a lot of different animals are trying to pick each other up. No mention is ever made that they are animals. They’re only human, but they’re very funny in that “scenes at a bar” sort of way. We’ve all been there and that’s what makes it so funny.
The animation is a little on the “We Like The Moon” side, but not that creepy. Good stuff. Check it out if you can.
Directed by: Peter Ahem
They saved the funniest for last. This is Spike And Mike stuff here. A little boy who is allergic to everything is forced outside by his babysitter. When he sneezes one last time, he turns himself inside out….literally.
Really funny and kind of gross, but it’s all line drawings, so it’s not so bad that the squeamish couldn’t check it out. I’m for it.
Directed by: Jeffrey Fine
Written by: Jeffrey Fine
Every guy has a fantasy of having a mom and daughter tag team. Admit it. Aaron (Kyle Gallner from The Haunting In Connecticut) may just have that opportunity…sort of.
He’s new to college and doesn’t quite understand how the whole thing works, but he’s getting there. His first friend (after his party animal roommate) is Linda (Laura Allen) a 30-something woman who is finally giving college another chance. He starts to fall for her even before he finds out about her 14 year old daughter, Beth (Brittany Robertson). Aaron and Beth immediately hate each other, but Beth eventually warms to Aaron…maybe getting a bit too warm. Meanwhile, Linda is warming up to him, too, even though she is dating a cop (Esai Morales).
On the side of Aaron’s family, he has his overbearing mother who forced him into engineering school and his weak-willed father who will do whatever his ex-wife tells him.
As cheesy as this movie could have been, it is well written and acted enough to pull out from under its rather low expectations and pull ahead of the pack. And, best of all, the ending isn’t cloying and Hollywood. It ends the way it needs to end.
Cherry was, if not one of the absolute best of the festival, a movie that I could actually watch over and over without getting sick of it or getting bored with it. That, for me, is enough to call it one of my favorites of the festival.
Directed by: Aaron Schneider
Written by: Chris Provenzano/C Gaby Mitchell/Scott Seeke
Death comes to us all. It’s how we deal with it that makes us different. (That’d make a great tagline, eh?)
Felix Bush (Robert Duvall) is finally coming to terms with the fact that he is going to die. He’s been a hermit for nearly 40 years, living just outside of his hometown in his cabin in the woods and has hardly had any contact with anyone that he knew in that life. But people haven’t forgotten him. When he rides his horse and buggy into town, everyone stares, and in the early part of the 20th century, a horse and buggy weren’t THAT strange of a sight even though everyone in the tiny town owned a car.
He figures that it’s about time to start planning for his funeral, one that he wants to have before he dies. He wants to throw a party where everyone tells stories about him. And maybe he’ll be able to tell them all the truth.
He tries the local preacher first (Gerald McRaney), but it’s finally the funeral directors (Bill Murray and Lucas Black) who take him up on his offer. They want to help him throw his party.
While not an amazing film by any means, this is a nice, quiet film with some amazing acting. Actually, there’s not a false note in it. Duvall could possibly be nominated for awards when the time comes and Bill Murray may not be far behind. The writing is very good and Schneider’s direction keeps it all from getting too Hallmarky. It’s being released in July, which means that it’s either going to get lost in the summer shuffle or the counter-programming will work. I’m hoping for the latter, because this movie deserves an audience. Go check it out.
Directed by: James Franco
Saturday Night Live is an institution, but it’s hard to see why these days. I think it’s longevity more than anything that keeps it on the air. The past 10-15 years have not been kind to the show.
But there’s one thing that remains the same: the hectic schedule that the cast and crew have to deal with to put on a live show every week. James Franco, one of the better hosts lately, decided that he wanted to make a documentary about how it all goes together. (In a video intro recorded for SXSW, Franco said that DA Pennebaker wanted to do it in the 70s. Producer Lorne Micheals, understandably said an emphatic “NO!” There’s less to hide now than there was back in the 70s. Red Bull does wonders and it doesn’t come in powder form.
Anyway, no matter what cast we’re talking about, the process is fascinating. Franco and his small crew followed the show and host John Malkovich through the entire week, from pitch session to closing curtain call to show that these guys are, in fact, the hardest working people in show business. Some of them get about an hour of sleep a night, if that, and they all only get one day off a week. He had a lot of access and kept the whole thing lively.
I just wish he had been able to do it with a better cast. I know these guys can be funny because they’re funny in movies. Unfortunately, the skits that they talk about and show bits of just aren’t very funny. Some of the pitches they do for the skits are funnier than what ended up in the skits. (Especially where Bill Hader and his writing partner are going through different strange afflictions that a teenage-girl version of Malkovich could have when playing Truth Or Dare in a lost Judy Blum story. “Has your third nipple grown its eyebrow yet? It’s perfectly normal.” Unused.)
I can’t wait to see what Franco may do in the future. Hopefully he finds a subject just as interesting as Saturday Night Live.
Directed by: Rob Stefaniuk
Written by: Rob Stefaniuk
A rock and roll vampire movie? Ok, fine. Dave Foley is in it? Yeah, sure. Jessica Pare as the first of the vampires? Hell, yes.
The Winners have been trying to live up to their name for a long time, but luck just hasn’t been with them. That is, until Jennifer (Pare) is bitten by a vampire. (Dimitri Coats looking like just about the goofiest “sexy” vampire ever. I wanted him dead early and often.) Suddenly, her talent shines through and she’s sexier than ever…even though daylight makes her sick and she has to feed every now and then. But they’re getting more popular than ever, so why should they care, right?
Suck is not a bad little vampire comedy, but it’s not amazing. The music is ok and the acting is sometimes a bit over the top. Dave Foley is pretty hilarious as their ineffectual manager and the cameos are great. (I especially like Moby’s cameo as a punk singer named Beef. As Dave said, he’s that rare breed, a vegan with a sense of humor.)
I really think that the best thing about the movie (besides Jessica being really hot with a pale face) was the Q&A with Dave, Jessica, the drummer, the songwriter and the producer. Dave took it over, as expected, and managed to make fun of the audience and our health care system. He’s way funnier in person than he is in movies…including this one. And he’s pretty damn funny in this movie.
