Here's Quint's first report of the fest, which ended last night with APT PUPIL, we will be having followup reports this week. Sorry for the lack of reports as of late. It's had nothing to do with anything other than some sort of GTE service problems out in the Santa Monica region. That sucks I know, but it was outside my control. I can't tell you how much it kills me to not be able to come in and go on and on and on about the festival and the conversations and the films and the projects, etc etc etc... But when I come in and the site's down. ARGH!!!!!! Hopefully it has some (knock on wood) stability now, but I wouldn't be surprised if something happened. Anyway here's QUINT's reports on four flicks in the festival... here ya go...
Hey there, Constant Readers. Quint here with reviews of some of the flicks that I caught at this year's Austin Film Festival and Screenwriter's Conference.
I'll start off with Penelope Spheeris' Decline of Western Civilization Part III. Now, when I first read that this film was showing, I thought she had just created a funny title. Yeah, let's put a "Part Three" on there and make this a satire. Well, what I didn't know what that it really is part three. Oops. And that it's an incredibly serious documentary. Double oops. I didn't mind so much, though because it is very well made documentary about Punk Rockers. What?!?!?, you're probably asking yourself. Yes, yes. They interview people off the street, all punks, purple hair, piercings and all and show them as nice people. It really changed the way I look at those Punkers on the street. As they were interviewing these guys and gals you got to realize that they all were intelligent, nice, funny people. If it weren't for their appearance, these could be the sort of people that I hang out with. The funniest of all the punks, the one with the most colorful personality was a guy whose street- name was Squid. He died on the streets of LA shortly after the finishing of the documentary. His parents were at the screening. All in all, very touching, moving, thought-changing flick. If the documentary every gets distribution, Spheeris wants all the proceeds to go to charity (so odds are not one of the studios will pick it up).
The next film they showed was a really weird movie called The Sadness of Sex. Based on the title I was expecting either an over-the-top artsy movie or a porno done in the name of art films. That's what you come to expect after attending multiple film festivals. Boy was I wrong. Sadness of Sex is probably my 3rd favorite film of the festival, the first two being La Cucaracha and Wicked which I'll get into in a minute. It's really weird and hard to describe, but it's all about this stage performer doing one of his stage shows. He's telling about his experiences with sex or love. Everything from being a boy and seeing his parents dress up in drag, to him losing his virginity, to him meeting "the right one" and so on. The thing is, this film is based on a book by Barry Yourgrau, who wrote and stars, and they decided not to change it too much. What I mean is that as he's telling his stories, they kinda play out for the us, the movie audience. When any character says something, it's his voice you hear, but their mouths moving. Like he'll go: "Get back there, she said" or something like that. But what he ultimately does is tell his whole history like a scop in the days of Beowulf and Odyssey. Fabricating all the way, of course. One scene has him with Cupid chasing after "the right one". It's just plainly hilarious.
My favorite "tale" that he tells is after he loses "the right one" he's depressed, but has a reputation for being a lady's man due to his womanizing spree he goes on. He hears over the radio that a woman's, well womanhood ran away from her at a supermarket. After many men lost fingers and other things to this runaway pussy, the cops need an expert. So he's hired to go get the runaway vagina by the mayor. From this point on they treat it like a '40s crime film. This is played out perfectly and is incredibly hilarious. I was reminded of Glen's ex-wife, the Crotch-Monster. If you remember reading about that, then you'll remember how funny it was. "I saw it sitting in the V of two branches, the bark gnawed off around it...." or something like that. You'll have a good time with this one, if you ever get a chance to see it. Yourgrau's performance it top-notch and full of energy. You can't help but get swept in by his fast-paced storytelling style.
Alright. Now on to Wicked. Harry introduced this and La Cucaracha as his picks of the fest. and damn good picks they are. Wicked is a story of seductive 15 year-old girl and her disfunctional family. Then the bitch-mother is killed. Who did it? The husband who wants to keep his kids? The seductive 15 year-old who can't stand her mother? The next-door neighbor/secret lover of the mother played by that Muldoon guy that got his brains sucked out in Starship Troopers? Who knows? Now we introduce that cool Texas Ranger that had to use the john in From Dusk 'Till Dawn, who plays a detective in the flick who wants to get to the bottom of it all. The lead girl in the movie is soooo cute. This is probably the movie that had the best camera work that I've seen at the festival, not counting the big one's like Pleasantville or Apt Pupil, but it'd be a big contender with them, too. This is a really fun flick. Morbid, weird, gross, you know, cool.
Now on the my final review in this installment: La Cucaracha, starring Eric Roberts and that guy who played the bad dude, Bucho, in Desperado. This is probably my favorite competition film of the festival. I believe it won, also. Eric Roberts is just so fucking cool in this film. I mean, I knew I liked this movie, but then I saw the scene with Roberts and the cockroach and then I loved this movie. This is definitely one to catch if it comes out on video or, please God, to theaters. This is filled with classic lines, cool situations, weird shit, gross shit and a pretty woman. What more can you ask for? I mean, there's a scene where Eric Roberts, in a wheelchair, falls out of the back of an old pick-up truck on a dirt road and hits a fucking goat. HE KILLS A FUCKING GOAT BY FALLING OUT OF A TRUCK!!!!!!!! How cool!!! That's just the tip of the iceberg. There are just so many interesting plot points, characters, situations, gags, lines, jokes, stories that I could write another 20 pages or so. By all means, get to see this movie. Kill, torture, please if you have to, you will love this movie. That is, if you're cool.
As always, this is Quint, signing off.
