sxsw film pass day nine

I made it. All nine days. It's over now, and I'm weary but happy for the experience. I considered taking it easy on the last day of the festival, since I'd already made my $70 pass pay for itself and then some, but there were some films available to see that I really wanted to see, and since the music portion of the festival was going strong, I figured I would have an easier time getting into them. I was right about that.

All three films were showing at the Alamo Ritz, which is in the heart of the headache that is SXSW. Sixth Street, I mean. The thumping music coming from bars all around me added up to a bunch of loud noise, but it was fun gawking at the young and old going up and down the parade route. The sun bore down like an evil eye from above; thank goodness I'd remembered to wear a hat. But then when I thought I could take it no more, the light from the sky suddenly turned shimmery and shady. The sun had just gone down behind the crest of the owl head-looking top of the Frost Bank building, Austin's most iconic building. I love that building (more so now because of the favor it did for me at SXSW 2008).

Film #16 was Registered Sex Offender.

There may be one thing worse than being a sex offender sent to prison: Being a sex offender released from prison. RSO tells the story of one offender's unlikely rehabilitation.

Another vague synopsis which led me to believe this could be a documentary. But I was onto them by this point and saw that the film was scheduled in the "Narrative Features" department, so I kinda knew what I was in for. Kinda. The picture (above) led me to believe something different about the film as well; that scene did not appear anywhere in the film. Hm, interesting.

But I'm interested in the subject matter, so I would have wanted to see it whether it was a documentary or a narrative or a slide show. Seriously. So off I went.

It's a comedy; I think it's all right to say that. That doesn't give anything away. It was also filmed in Austin, which was cool to see. I recognized a couple of locations and I recognized a good number of the extras, mostly because of the fact that I've seen them around town, not that I know them (because I really don't know anybody, you know!).

The movie was filmed documentary style, a big thing this year (though it doesn't really seem like any of them are attempting to be mockumentaries, so I'm not really sure what's going on. I guess it's probably a lot cheaper to film movies in this style -- it doesn't matter if microphones or cameras are seen on the screen. I really don't have any problem with it; it's just an observation. The main guy I was a little worried about at first because he was so hateful; he was being interviewed at prison and was saying things that made me squirm in my seat. I don't mind that either, but I was a little worried that there was no purpose to it. But I was wrong, I'm happy to say.

Oh, and the opening credit sequence -- an animation bit with fun music -- was brilliant; I would recommend the movie just so people could see that.

Film #17 was Joy Division.

In 1976 four young men from ruined, post-industrial Manchester went to see the Sex Pistols. They formed a band, Joy Division. Three years later the lead singer, Ian Curtis committed suicide just as they were on the brink of worldwide success. Together Gee and Savage investigate why Joy Division's collective musical genius and singular vision enjoys a larger audience and influence thirty years on. Featuring the unprecedented participation of the surviving band members of Joy Division, now known as New Order, the film chronicles a time of great social and political change in England of the mid-70's and tells the untold story of these four men who transcended economic and cultural barriers to produce an enduring and profound legacy, one that resonates fiercely in today's heavily careerist music industry and over mediated pop culture.The band's remarkable story is depicted through atmospheric never-before-seen live performance footage, photographs both iconic and personal, period films and newly unearthed audio tapes; taking us through the band's early years as individuals finding their voices and then later as a band, building their ideas and ideals. The documentary situates the band not just in the musical context of punk and post-punk but in the culturally starved, claustrophobic landscape of post-industrial Manchester that surrounded them and suffuses every note of their music.This unparalleled visual account of a time and place is coupled with heartfelt and animated, present tense accounts from the surviving members of the band Bernard Sumner, Peter Hook and Stephen Morris, plus other key characters in the story, including friend and similarly isolated musician Genesis P. Orridge, the late legendary Factory Records owner Tony Wilson, iconic graphic artist Peter Saville, photographer/filmmaker Anton Corbijn, Annik Honore and others. A documentary film about Joy Division, produced by Hudson Productions partners Tom Astor and Tom Atencio and Brown Owl Films' Jacqui Edenbrow, is directed by Grant Gee (Radiohead's 'Meeting People Is Easy') and co-written by acclaimed journalist/writer Jon Savage (England's Dreaming: Anarchy, Sex Pistols, Punk Rock, and Beyond).

I was one of those people who discovered New Order before Joy Division. The synopsis says it all. It's a good film; it'll be fine to see on VH1 or some other cable channel.

Film #18 was Love Songs.

I had this movie on my big list, but then it got taken off because of scheduling conflicts, but then things shuffled around again, and there was an opportunity to see it as my last film experience of the festival, which meant I would have to leave the previous movie and get right back in line and stand there in the noise and now the unnatural lightness beneath the dark Austin sky.

When I got into the theater, I had told myself I wouldn't eat anything -- I had a pizza and a root beer at Registered Sex Offender, french fries and a beer at Joy Division -- but felt compelled to support the wait staff somehow, so I ordered decaf coffee and the plate of cookies ("fresh baked to order"). A couple sat next to me -- the guy reminded me a little bit in his looks but more so than his manner of my friend D from Boulder, Colorado, whom I first met in Nashville. We said hi but not much more until he went to the bathroom and his girlfriend asked what this movie was about. "I have no idea," I confessed. She said, "I know it's French." (I didn't even know that.)

When the boyfriend returned, he joined in our conversation about movies we've seen and liked (as is the habit, in this year's festival anyway), and then my plate of four huge cookies arrived and I offered them one, and made a pretty convincing offer, so they said they would eat half of one, and he took one and pulled it apart, and the chocolate chips were like molten lava, and they dripped all over his hands and stuck burning to him as he struggled, juggling the boiling dough from hand to hand with a pained smile. Finally, I got it and offered a napkin for him to put the cookie on, he apologized for taking my napkin, I apologized for offering him a cookie like that, we laughed and became automatic friends (though we didn't exchange names -- it was sort of a one-movie friendship).

The movie was a musical. Hooray! I was so happy when I left the theater, it was a delightful musical; not an early Hollywood era musical, a regular story about a man and his girlfriend, and their girlfriend, and the things that happen when tragedy strikes and how the secondary girlfriend's new boyfriend's younger brother and roommate makes a play for the main guy, and the sweet and sad and bittersweet things that come about for everybody. With songs! The main guy is played by Louis Garrel, who is the son of filmmaker Philippe Garrel, whom I discovered recently at a retrospective of his films (though I thought the film with Garrel -- filmed in scratchy B&W -- was actually a film from the late 60s; I guess it's obvious I'm more interested in the "fantasy" of film than the actual making of films). This man is beautiful. And he's a very good actor. Here's his picture.

And here's the synopsis for Love Songs (Les Chansons d'amour) from the SXSW website, which I hadn't read since I first put it on my big list of movies to watch more than nine days ago:

Christophe Honoré follows-up DANS PARIS with this modernist musical about love and loss in Paris. Taking its cue from Jacques Demy's THE UMBRELLAS OF CHERBOURG, the film is divided into three sections: 'the departure,' 'the absence' and 'the return.' The film features 14 songs by composer Alex Beaupain. Ismaël (Louis Garrel of THE DREAMERS and DANS PARIS) and Julie (Ludivine Sagnier of SWIMMING POOL) are the ideal young Parisian couple. They both have good jobs, a great apartment and are considered part of each other's families. After several years together, they decide to add a spark to their relationship and take on a third lover, Alice (Clotilde Hesme of REGULAR LOVERS), Ismaël's co-worker. She makes an ideal partner at first but things soon become strained between them. And when a tragic event occurs, everyone copes in very different ways. Ismaël pulls away from everyone and finds himself spending time with Erwann (Gregoire Leprince-Ringuet of André Téchiné's STRAYED), a wide-eyed Breton college student. Their relationship both terrifies and surprises Ismaël, but shows him that love is still possible.

That's a pretty good description but not a real accurate portrayal of the story. Alice is there from the beginning of the movie, so the above is kind of back story. But that's okay. I love, love, loved this movie. I cannot wait for it to come out in a regular run because I want people to see it, and I want to see it again. I was so lucky to end my SXSW experience with Love Songs!