This year at SXSW, I was given the opportunity to experience the Film & TV Festival alongside the music festival. I was not going to this opportunity go to waste. Once the Music Festival picked up, I saw less and less of the film debuts, but I got to see some great stuff. Here are my thoughts on every premiere I went to.
3 Body Problem – Episode 1 (4/5)
My good friend Drew Strachan coined the term “The Netflix Stank” when we went and saw David Fincher’s The Killer in theaters. For some reason, a majority of Netflix originals feel off in some way compared to a traditional movie. Maybe it is Netflix’s overly clean look to every product they release or that it feels like every script needed one more draft. Of course, there are exceptions to this when a movie feels like it diverges from the “Netflix look”, but that’s always a fear I have when watching anything on Netflix. The premiere of 3 Body Problem feels like it has that problem from the premiere episode, but there is so much running for it with its phenomenal cast, its engaging storytelling and world-building, and just the over plot that is up-ahead while being run by the former showrunners of Game of Thrones, David Benioff and D.B. Weiss, plus Alexander Woo. The premier was set up with free helmets based on the “VR game” headset from the show. I felt really engaged with the first episode’s attention to detail and the way it laid the story down. The cast seems really strong and there is already a tight chemistry between the cast it feels. The entire first season is available to stream on Netflix, and it will definitely be a summer pick-up for me.
Sing Sing (4/5)
Colman Domingo is such a powerful actor and Sing Sing is no different from his previous projects. Sing Sing takes place at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility where the inmates are involved with a Rehabilitation Through the Arts program allowing them to do full productions of theater shows. Minus Domingo and the wickedly talented Paul Raci, the entire cast is filled with formerly incarcerated men who were involved with their own Rehabilitation Through the Arts programs. The standout of the entire movie alongside Colman Domingo is Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin who starred in multiple plays at SIng Sing playing himself. He shares a powerful story throughout the film’s runtime and helps the waterworks come through by the credits. It’s beautifully shot and crafted by Clint Bentley and Greg Kwedar. I am excited for its inevitable release.
Y2K (3/5)
In his directorial debut, Kyle Mooney shares his vision of what would have happened if the dreaded Y2K occurred. I had seen the image of Jaeden Martell, Rachel Zegler, and Julian Dennison and the movie description, but I was not prepared for how extreme and over-the-top this disaster comedy would be. It’s extremely chaotic and just so much fun to watch in a large crowd. I think the experience I had is one I want people to duplicate with their experience when it reaches theaters. I think it is a blend of Kyle Mooney’s Cut for Time SNL pre-tapes mixed with This is the End.
I Saw The TV Glow (4/5)
I don’t think I was prepared for the existential crisis Jane Scoenbrun’s new film was going to take me. I was never fully sold on Justice Smith’s performance, but the world that Jane Schoenbrun built was so meticulously crafted and so insane, that this is nothing but a beautifully crafted slow-burning horror film. The soundtrack is integrated perfectly into the film, and the Buffy influence is extremely noticeable, but the themes of queerness and gender identity are so strongly impactful to the emotions and mood of the film, that it is nothing but a fantastic watch. The additional feelings of life passing you by are also just as unsettling. I still get chills thinking about this film 2 months later. It balances its humor with intense nightmare-like sequences making me feel the same fears Analog Horror makes me feel meshed with the uneasiness of a traditional horror film.
This Is A Film About The Black Keys (3.5/5)
As such an avid consumer of music, I love a good film about music or a movie that ties its soundtrack to the themes of the movie. For some reason, I cannot get behind a biopic about an artist. It feels so glossy that I cannot connect with it for some reason. There are of course exceptions, but most like Elvis, Bohemian Rhapsody, and others just do not connect with me. A documentary about music on the other hand can be so engaging. This is a Film About The Black Keys. is a fantastic story about a modern rock band that rose to the heights that The Black Keys did. Their dominance in the mid 2010s was major for alternative acts and the documentary does a great job at telling the story touching on their rise to stardom featuring a great collage of photos and footage from their rise.
Monkey Man (4.5/5)
I don’t necessarily need to review a movie that already had its entire theatrical run before I could share my thoughts outside my personal Instagram, but I walked out of the Paramount thinking Monkey Man was a perfect ten. It is not exactly that, but it is one hell of a time and one jaw-dropping debut from Dev Patel. I am not a huge fan of these “John Wick-style” action films, but the surrounding elements and the storytelling made me fall in love with the arc presented in Monkey Man. Every layer of the film is beautifully crafted and Dev Patel truly gave it his all, especially through all the troubles the production went through trying to bring this to life. This movie deserves all the support it can get.
Civil War (4/5)
This is another film that does not necessarily need a review, but I left the film with one perspective and I am going to share it here. I was worried this movie would be similar to Don’t Look Up and feel like a “wow America stinks and we are all gonna die” movie because that style makes a simple folk like me feel helpless and uncomfortable which isn’t cool, but in return we got a story about how journalists work and the ethics behind journalism just through this Civil War lens. The politics are not important to the movie’s overall plot but are used successfully to build a perfect over-the-top playground to play in for this story. So many times in school we have discussed the ethics of journalism and how far one should go to tell the story. How much do you interfere to tell the story to its fullest? How far do you go to get that shot? This movie encapsulates that idea perfectly.
Also to note: Alex Garland’s direction feels like a major blockbuster while also having a really powerful and quiet mix. The casting is fantastic with all the leads from Kirsten Dunset and Wagner Moura to Stephen McKinley Henderson to Cailee Spaeny being all perfectly crafted characters.
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