SXSW - day 3

Okay, so this was a couple of days ago (Tuesday) but it was our big movie day. Five movies starting at about 1:30 or so and going until nearly 2 a.m. I'm not going to do the linking thing because a.) I guess I haven't really figured out how to do it right and b.) it takes too long to do. You can look this all up (and a whole lot more) at http://2005.sxsw.com.

First we saw "Max & Grace" starring Natasha Lyonne ("American Pie") and David Krumholtz ("10 Things I Hate About You"). It was helpful that Krumholtz had shaved off his usually tousled, bushy hair for this part as it served to seperate him from his current TV role on "NUMB3RS." This movie had a lot of elements of everything from "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" to "Mad Love," and it was a dark comedy at heart. Not the best movie we've seen by any stretch but with David Paymer and Lorraine Bracco playing Krumholtz's parents, we were treated to apathetic comedy that made the movie smarter than it tried to be.

Then we moved on to "The Devil and Daniel Johnston." Now, I'd never really heard of Daniel Johnston - man or music - much less heard this much about him but this tortured soul (and that is being nice about it) is touted as an artistic genius. While I don't see the genius in either his songs or his art, it was explained to me, in patronizing ways, that the true appeal of his music (and "art") is the exposure of his vulnerability which was obvious to see in any of the recorded live performances from his early days until the present.

Then it was back to the Alamo Downtown for Mike's (that's pronounced Me-Kay) "City of Lost Souls." I'm not sure what I was expecting but a Japanese gangster film was not really it. It should have been but up until this point I'd only heard of Mike and hadn't seen any of his stuff (I do have a couple in my NetFlix cue though right after all the episodes of "Angel" and "Alias"). While he's no John Woo (and I don't think that's what he was aiming for) he infused all the ruthless Yakuza elements with a number of random bits of chop-socky for a full-throttle Japenese fun ride.

We then returned to the Paramount (where we saw the first two films of the day as well) for "Kung Fu Hustle." I'd been reading about this movie in everything from Premiere and Entertainment Weekly to the AP wire and was particularly excited for this film. I expected less kung-fu and more hustle but I've got to say that I was not disappointed by the best kung-fu I've seen in years. It didn't have the shine or polish of a Jet Li actioner but it did have fantastical chopsocky that had me on the edge of my seat. Best movie I've seen so far. But I'm a bit partial to kung-fu.

Then it was back to the Alamo Downtown (back and forth, back and forth) for "Dead Birds." This horror-er featured Henry Thomas ("E.T.") and Patrick Fugit (I'm not sure but I'm sure you can look it up on imdb.com). It told a frightening tale of, as the director put it, a group robs a bunch of gold and "bad shit happens." The CGI creatures - as well as the disintegration of the group - were well-done and I found myself jumping out of seat (and closing my eyes) on more than one occasion but I am a bit of a sissy and easily scared. But I wasn't the only one and, judging by the number of people who stuck around at 1:30-ish in the morning for the Q&A with the director, it seemed well received.