I went to my first SXSW in 2005, covering the festival for The Battalion, Texas A&M’s student newspaper. It was my first major film festival and the experience pretty much blew my mind. The ability to cram a then-unprecedented number of films into a single week was intoxicating. It would take me another four years before I was able to return, but from 2009 to 2019, I would attend the SXSW Film Festival religiously - watching between thirty and forty films in a single week on any given year.
(This year I only saw 23 films - I’m slacking!)
In March 2020, the festival was canceled do the COVID outbreak and, while virtual versions of the festival were made available in 2020 and 2021, I found it difficult to engage myself in the online version of my beloved festival. To say that I was anticipating the return of an in-person version of SXSW this year is a bit of an understatement. I love SXSW - the bustle of film lovers as they bolt to the restrooms after a lengthy post-film Q&A, the cramped seats at the Paramount, scarfing down junk food while rushing between venues, even the act of standing in line is something I enjoy - it allows me to catch up on my reading. I loved this year’s festival, even as I realized it may be my last.
It’s expensive to go to SXSW! In the past, I’ve been able to expense the festival - paying for the hotel, the badge, even meals with my company credit card. We’re in a much different place in the theatrical landscape than we were in 2019, though. The film festival budget at work no longer exists. I was lucky to still have a badge that carried over from 2020’s canceled festival, but I had to pay for everything else. The cheapest hotel I could find in Austin was $600 for the week and it was a hotel that I’m 100 percent positive has seen a fair number of murders during its existence. I don’t have the personal budget to spend the money on a hotel, a badge, and all the other expenses that come with SXSW on an annual basis - not if I want to take other vacations or do other things with my disposable income - and that’s OK! I got to enjoy twelve solid years of SXSW - and what a dozen great years they’ve been.
If I’m somehow able to attend SXSW again in the future, great! If not, that’s OK too. As luck would have it, if this was my last year it was an absolutely great year to go out on.
Here’s the best stuff I saw at SXSW this year:
EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE
This film, from directing duo The Daniels, stars Michelle Yeoh as a Chinese immigrant who discovers she is the key to saving the multiverse. The film takes so many of the very real emotional struggles we humans peck our way through - disappointment, the weakening of familial bonds, loss of potential - and transforms them into a life-affirming magical martial arts carnival ride. Visually stunning, emotionally rich, and featuring a great supporting performance by a raccoon, this movie rules.
I LOVE MY DAD
Patton Oswalt plays a man who, desperate to connect with his son, creates a fake Facebook profile and begins a relationship with him. Unfortunately, the profile the dad creates is that of an attractive young woman his son soon, in a cosmic hiccup, falls in love with his dad’s catfish profile. Oh, and this is based on a true story. Grade A cringe comedy, the film nails the right balance between extremely awkward and extremely funny. Written, directed, and starring the dude whose dad had cybersex with him.
SOFT & QUIET
Holy shit. An alt-right ladies group’s wine night turns very bad, very quickly. This movie is going to piss off a lot of people - but to know thy enemy is essential. A real butt-clencher - this film uses a one-take narrative storytelling approach to capture how quickly a hate crime can occur. It’s horror where the horror is the fear of when the movie might conceivably end.
THE THIEF COLLECTOR
A jaw-dropping documentary about a pair of married teachers who, following their death, are discovered to be art thieves. This documentary features some wild twists and turns but - most importantly - it revels in the fact that we will never know all the truth when it comes to secrets taken to their grave.
CROWS ARE WHITE
Ahsen Nadeem’s documentary is a deeply personal film about reconciling faith with desire. The film juxtaposes the stories of a Japanese Buddhist monestary’s devout practices, a young Japanese man learning to be a better monk, and the filmmaker’s own personal turmoil over the fact that he’s strayed from his Islamic faith and is keeping secrets from his parents. It’s as funny as it is moving.
DEADSTREAM
What if EVIL DEAD was a Twitch stream? This film is a super fun low-budget one-man-found footage film about a disgraced social influencer who spends the night in a haunted house in an attempt to make his big comeback as a streamer. The film features great gore and even better comedy. The film kills with an audience and I hope Shudder (who picked the movie up) does some theatrical with it.
BODIES BODIES BODIES
A Zoomer prestige television soap opera turns bloody in this hip and fun horror-comedy about a group of friends whose party game goes wrong. More Agatha Christie than SCREAM, the film is really funny and packs some great surprises. A24 tackles the elevated slasher - and by elevated, I mean everybody in this movie is super high.
X
The new film from Ti West is super fun! Chicken friend cronesploitation about a group of Houston would be adult movie stars who find their shoot interrupted by a good ol’ fashioned Texas massacre. Bloody, funny, dangly horror - X knows the first rule of entertainment is to be entertaining.
THE KIDS IN THE HALL: COMEDY PUNKS
I’ll admit - I’m not super familiar with The Kids in the Hall. I’ve seen a few episodes of the show and I’ve seen non-sketch stuff from most of the troupe, but I’m not exactly a superfan. That said, I found this documentary to be an impressively though dissection of the KIDS’ history and legacy. It features great archival material, some poignant interviews. All in all, it’s a wonderful documentary about a wonderful group of comedians.
JETHICA
A goddamn delight. This film is a low-key and charming ghost story that feels like something you might hear around a Christian church overnighter campfire or on the corner of a dive bar frequented by twenty-somethings. A well-meaning amateur mystic helps a young woman who is being haunted by the ghost of her stalker. Not scary as much as clever and tongue-planted-firmly-in-cheek.
THE CELLAR
PI meets HELLRAISER. This super creepy slow-burn horror film follows a family who discovers their home has supernatural ammeneties that weren’t previously disclosed. Equal parts inspired by British folk horror and Fulci (at least to me!) this film is super fun and features some great unexpected effects.
THE PEZ OUTLAW
A wonderful surprise - this fun documentary follows a Michigan man who waged a war of illegal imports and bootlegs and against the American PEZ corporation - bringing in unauthorized European candies and candy dispensers and selling them for big bucks to hungry American collectors. The reenactments are incredible.
LINOLEUM
Jim Gaffigan plays an amateur astronaut who spends his evenings building a rocket in his backyard after he’s fired from the children’s science show he hosts. On the surface, this film plays out like a middle-aged DONNIE DAROKO but there’s some deeper, very emotionally resonant stuff that happens in this very special and very touching film. Narratively, not everything makes sense - but that’s a big part of its charm, to be honest.
HYPOCHONDRIAC
A man haunted by the memories of his bipolar mother begins to have his life crumble around him as he sees the first signs that he is suffering from the same disease as his mom. As somebody who has a major fear of mental illness, this film - a horror movie where the monster is the act of losing your mind - hit hard. It’s an emotional, stressful, wonderful film that springs from a seemingly deeply personal space.
MARCEL THE SHELL WITH SHOES ON
Is A24’s new movie an elevated kids film? Regardless, it’s super charming, super funny, and guaranteed to sell lots of merchandise on the studio’s website for years to come. Jenny Slate is tremendous as an anthropomorphic shell in search of their family.