SXSW (Part 2)

Hello, folks. Sorry for the long delay between posts. I have been under the weather ever since my trip. I am only now feeling up to writing, which is saying a lot.

Ok, for this post, I thought I would talk about the movies I saw while in Austin. It's a varied list, mostly dominated by shorts and documentaries. Of course, if you think about it, that makes sense at a film festival.

Movies I Saw:
Cowboy Del Amour is a documentary about a retired cowboy who helps American men meet Mexican women. Based on his own experience in finding a Mexican bride, the cowboy realized that there are many Mexican women who are looking for a good man, and at the same time, there are many American men who are fed up with the American woman who wants "everything" and is happy with nothing. For $3,000, the cowboy "of love" will take men across the border and help arrange meetings with prospective mates, as in life-mates. The cowboy says he is not running a brothel and that there are cheaper and easier ways of getting sex, so he make sure that his clients are looking for something beyond one night.

As with all good documentaries with quirky subjects, this movie is also part character study. As the movie follows the journey of 3 gringos looking for love, the old cowboy imparts country wisdom and quips on the subject of love to the audience. We also learn that while the cowboy "del amore" has seeming success in setting up his clients, his own personal relationships are anything but perfect. For example, the cowboy did not like it when his Mexican wife, now his ex, started taking English classes. As the story unfolds, we see that it is often easier to see it when other people make mistakes than to see it when we make them.

I definitely recommend this movie, but unfortunately, I doubt it will ever get distribution. Keep an eye out for it, though,. Who knows, it might make its way to DVD, and it certainly would be worth a rental.

As an added treat, they had the director of the film at the screening, along with the cowboy and a couple that he successfully sets up in the movie. The couple now have a child (and one on the way) and have been together for over 3 years.

High School Short Competition - These were basically what you would expect. There were a few good ones, but mostly they were unpolished. I am sure once they have a college film course, or two, under their belts, they will be making much better films. With all things, it takes practice to be successful.

Comedy Shorts had some standout films, including a Bill Plympton cartoon called Guard Dog, which depicts what goes on in the mind of a particular dog when it goes for a walk with its master. The dog imagines that his owner is forever in danger from innocuous animals and plants in the park, such as squirrels and flowers, which are (in the mind of the dog) plotting to take his master's life. It is only by barking and scaring the would-be assassins that the dog is able to stop them from unleashing (pun intended) their evil plans. In one scene, the dog and his master come upon a gopher. The dog imagines the gopher digging a pit large enough for his master to fall into, filling it with a live bull and then concealing the hole with sod. In the dog's imagination, his master steps on the trap, falls through the sod and somehow, while falling, is dressed by the gopher in a Ronald McDonald costume. When the dog's master lands and stands up, the bull immediately recongnizes him as the person who has made so many hamburgers out of his bovine brethren and cartoon violence naturally ensues. Wonderful!

Rock School is by far the best movie I saw at SXSW. In fact, it is the best movie I have seen this year, including Million Dollar Baby. It is a documentary about a music teacher in Pennsylvania who teaches music to his 9 -17 year-old students by teaching them the music of Black Sabbath and Frank Zappa. It is a real-life version of School of Rock with Jack Black's character being played by Paul Green, a man who cajoles, taunts and teases his students into being the rock gods they want to be. It is funny, inspiring and amazing, and the good news is that the movie has secured distribution and will be out in theaters June 3rd. Go see this movie and tell your friends.

Short Films II - I have no idea what the Short Films I was like, but these short films were really funny. The best short was a comedy about a French boy born to American parents. Imagine the parents' horror to find out that their child can only speak French and prefers to eat cheese and fruit to hot dogs. While other kids collect baseball cards, he collects the cards of famous philosophers. Needless to say, his life is miserable from all of the teasing he gets at school, which only brings out his reflexively French desire to wallow in being misunderstood and smoke cigarettes even more. It is a masterful film. I wish I knew the name.

Next time: Music.