sxsw film pass day six

First, I have to say that I don't know who the picture of the guy below is. Well, I do know who he is (or I'm pretty sure because of the website he's on), but I don't know him, and he's not the guy I thought he was, who I was thinking he was. It's funny because the name I had in the back of my head for the guy I'd met the night before actually was the right name. I saw him in line yesterday as I was waiting at the Paramount to see Film, #11 Lou Reed's Berlin.

An artful document of musical legend Lou Reed, performing his influential record, "Berlin," to audiences in New York City.

My younger- and nerdier-looking (but still very handsome) new friend walked by and asked if I'd made it to Joy Division, a new documentary about that Eighties band. I did not. I had seen three films the night before and I was feeling the Fatigue (today I'm calling it F4 -- you can probably figure out what the fourth F is for!) and didn't think I wanted to start out my day listening to pounding Eighties music, so I skipped it. Plus, there was work I could do at home -- and considering the fact that I've been spending about $15 a day on eating at the movies, it seemed like a good idea to stay home and work. (So anyway, I looked at the guy's badge and saw his name.)

Lou Reed's Berlin is the best concert film I've seen since Stop Making Sense. What it doesn't say in the description is that it was directed by Julian Schnabel, which was another reason I wanted to see it. I like his films, I think (I can't recall one right now that I've seen). But anyway, this is a beautiful film. Schnabel's daughter, Lola, did most of the super-8 styled footage that was overlaid onto the film and on the backdrop of the set. And surprise, surprise, Antony (of Antony & the Johnsons, who used to be part of Black Lips Performance Troupe in NYC, and with whom S and I shared a stage when we were both starting, we as "Y'all," he as "Miss Fiona Blue...well, not Miss, really" -- that's how we'll forever remember him introducing himself) was one of the backup singers along with a woman named Shirley Jones and the Brooklyn Youth Choir. Antony sang the first of the two encore songs with Lou, and Lou seemed to be on the verge of tears when it was over, looking across the stage with a face of wonder and adoration. Antony is definitely due both of those things (he's kind of a Freak with a super-special power).

Lou was in the audience at the screening, the house was packed, downstairs and balcony; it was quite an event. After the movie was over, Lou shuffled to the stage like a little old Jewish man and asked for the house lights to be turned down so he could see people, and when people asked him questions he often said loud into the mike: "I can't hear you."

Before he went onstage, I noticed Jack from the Art Guys sitting in the VIP section. I called over to him to say hello, he invited me to sit by him. He was there with the guy who designed Lou's website and his girlfriend, and they were going to a party afterward with "free vodka drinks." I wasn't so interested in that, but was interested in tagging along with Jack and his friends and the Lou Reed entourage (since Jack got clearance for me), and off we went down the street.

I've been having this idea recently to do litter collages (picking up litter from the streets), and being with a famous artist like Jack, I finally got the nerve to start bending over and picking up things. He tried to help out, pointed out a garbage can, and I had to make the rule that the litter has to be on the ground -- i.e., "litter," not "garbage" (there's a distinction, in my mind at least).

We got to the party, which wasn't a private little affair at all, it was taking place in the upstairs of what used to be the Alamo Drafthouse Downtown. Now it's a bar/club called Pangaea, which Jack's friend told us has an "urban safari" theme. What?! There were stripped logs along the walls, skulls (probably, hopefully, fake) of gazelles, photos of sexy women and men holding skulls of African animals, shields and candles on the walls. It was weird because I've spent so much time there watching movies...

The band playing was called The Black Angels. Lou went to his little VIP section there, and we probably could've gone in there, too, but Jack's friend's girlfriend didn't have her picture ID on her, so the two of them had to walk back to their car and get it. Jack and I went inside and I was adamantly against having a vodka drink (the sponsor's brand). Jack asked if he could buy me a beer. I wasn't really into the idea of having any alcohol at all, but then when he ordered a screwdriver (a free drink) I said I would have the same. It was tasty but I got pretty buzzed (had another half drink before I remembered I didn't even want one!), which was okay for about an hour, until I had left the club and was standing in line at the Paramount again waiting to see another movie.

Jack's friends returned, we hung out a bit, more friends arrived, Lou was over there, we were over here, loud bands, two of them, both with female drummers (just like the Velvet Underground; hm, I wonder if that was planned) played too loud. I stuffed napkin wads in my ears and remembered why I don't like going out to see music.

Oh, and I also saw the guy with the website from yesterday again. I told him I looked at his website, was impressed by what I saw, but didn't see his name on it anywhere. "I own it," he said. (He was ordering drinks and trying to get $15 change from a 20 so he could tip but the bartender said that the tab came to $25 because they weren't the sponsor's vodka, which was weird and maybe was what put my new friend a little on the edge.) I asked how I could get in touch with him, then, to show him my work. He gave me his personal business card and another of the glossy cryptic ones with the website address on one side and "LITTLE RICHARDS WAS A CREATIVE MOTHERFUCKER" on the other side (he hadn't given it to me the day before because it has a typo and he was embarrassed by it...) He seemed a little impatient with me. Maybe I was reading too much into it; maybe I was already buzzing. Something. Whatever. He did say he was very interested in seeing my work...

I left and went to the Paramount to wait to see Film #12, Choke.

An adaptation of Chuck Palahniuk's novel, this is the sardonic story about mother and son relationship, fear of aging, sexual addiction, and the dark side of historical theme parks.

I don't know who the director was, don't know Chuck Palahniuk (I've read the name but not any of his books; he has a cult following, according to the audience around me); I went to see this because it stars Sam Rockwell, Anjelica Huston and Kelly Macdonald. I love them.

I didn't love the movie. I thought the story was kind of contrived, though the acting was really good. The main film booker for SXSW talked up the film beforehand, told us we were very fortunate that Fox Searchlight Films allowed us to see it after it just premiered at Sundance; he said it's twisted and hilarious. It was twisted, it had some funny moments, but it wasn't great, I didn't think. It could be one of those instances of feeling like I'm missing something; people around me were rocking in their seats with laughter at seemingly insignificant moments, one man directly behind me laughed so loud it kept scaring me (and the guy in front of me who seemed at least as unimpressed as I was kept turning around to look at the man).

There was lots of sex -- the main character is a sex addict -- but it was lots of titties and a lot of camera angles to make you think you were seeing something you weren't seeing. Not that I necessarily wanted to see Sam Rockwell's Cockwell, but it just seemed gratuitous -- almost every woman in the film showed her breasts, even some in their 70s and 80s. I'm not being prude, I'm just getting the feeling that this is like a "dude" film; I didn't get it. I guess I'm not dude enough.

I had a nice conversation with a guy in line waiting for this movie. He's a graphic designer from LA working for the Obama America campaign; he's staying here until the March 29th Delegation, but he'll probably move here after that because he met a girl. We were in line together for almost two hours, so we really dove in and talked about all kinds of stuff. I was excited that he was wearing an Obama button and that kind of started things; he showed me dozens of pictures in his camera of the HOPE signs he and this young woman he met (who shortly after the photo shoot, I'm assuming, became his girlfriend) had put up around the UT campus.

I had planned to go see a thirteenth film, one between the two that I did see, but instead I went and got drunk. My newest friend told me the movie (Goliath) was so-so. I wasn't really all that interested in it, but S told me it looked good, showed me an article in some paper or online or something, so I kind of sort of had it in the back of my mind to go see it. But when I ran into Jack, I couldn't even remember what movie it was I was planning on going to see (and it was at the Austin Convention Center, which I've successfully avoided so far this year because the seats are very uncomfortable).

Also while I was waiting in line for Choke, a couple came by and said, "JDJB, right?" I said yes; they looked familiar; they were there to see the movie, but the pass line was already really long. I told them good luck, they left. I think I met them waiting for Nerdcore Rising on Sunday night (the only film so far that I haven't been able to see). I don't know if my Sunday night friends got into Choke; it seemed like the kind of film they might have liked more than I did, but I didn't know them well enough (I was drunk, too) to tell them to get in the front of the really long line with me.

Today, I've cut my viewing options down from three to probably one. I was going to go see some experimental shorts this morning at 9, but I realized that there are no movies showing at 9 a.m. (they're at 9 p.m.), and I already had plans for something else at 9:30 p.m. But my friend M is singing at Cafe Caffeine tonight at 9, so I might go to that instead. That leaves one movie at 4. We'll see.

When the wind blows this direction from downtown I can hear music. SXSW is in full swing now, lord help us.