Hey folks, Harry here with Annette Kellerman to discuss the winner of the Austin Film Festival... WEDNESDAY'S CHILD. It was one of the films I most wanted to see, but an unforeseen incident kept the print from arriving at it's last scheduled showing which found me in the lobby... without a film to see. But lucky for us, Annette Kellerman caught an earlier showing to clue us in on the film. Hopefully I'll be able to take a look at this film later. Here she is..... take it away Annette...
Hello all! Now that all the fuss about Fight Club is over (or is it?), I finally have a chance to talk about what we at AICN have been busy covering for the last week- the Austin Film Festival. And what a week it was! Between all the panels, screenings, parties, etc. you'd think I'd have a hell of a time choosing what to cover first- but alas-
I feel it only appropriate to begin with the film that took the honor of best feature film of the fest, WEDNESDAY'S CHILD. Unfortunately due to circumstances beyond our control, I was the only person in the crew able to attend the winners screening on Monday night, and MAN am I glad that I did! It's such a wonderful feeling to discover such a gem of a small film like Wednesday's Child. Moreover, its extremely nice to be reminded that a fantastic movie can still be made for under a million dollars!
The main idea of the film involves an uncertain homage to To Kill A Mockingbird-basically, what if Boo Radley made friends? Writer/director Brad Marlowe reveals his answer to this question in a tight, well-developed story that still has me thinking. The story begins with the new girl in a small southern town and all of the teen angst involved therein. Adorned with a sort of goth-grrrl look- PLUS the attitude and sex drive to match- Joanna is immediately ostrasized from the goody goody majority and basically left to fend for herself. Through getting-to-know-you gossip from the local pastor (who else?), she eventually learns that the dilapidated house on her street is, in fact, habitated by a mysterious recluse whose only means of survival depends on food donations left by the good people of the church. No one has communicated with the guy for years, and Joanna (as well as the audience) is left to wonder what chain of events would lead someone to such a fate. As it would be, these secrets and more are revealed as Joanna, with the help of her curious little brother, actually befriends the suprisingly intelligent, yet socially inept hermit. We soon learn that Nathan(the hermit), though a bit delusional, has much more going on behind his solemn stares than originally imagined. Marlowe manages to keep the story fresh and the cheese-factor to a minimum with a disturbing twist involving the local bad boy who is enamourmed with Joanna. Now, I don't want to give away any more than that, because if anyone is lucky enough to get a chance to check it out, I'd love for you to be as pleasantly surprised with the film as I was. Beautifully shot and executed, the film took me to a place that I can undoubtably say I haven't even touched with the onslaught of teenage films I've most recently given in to. And the performances!
God, its so good to see young characters and not CHARACITURES! In the role of Joanna, Sommer Knight is dead-on in the angst department, yet is still somehow able to get across a desperate loneliness that really drives the story. She really made me feel for a character that I might have otherwise felt more cynical about. Not to be overshadowed by Sommer, though, comes David King and his wonderful portrayl of the recluse. This role could have been SO mishandled by some of the youngish "talent" abusing the big screen right now, but David completely brought the difficult character to life with an extremely solid performance. With equally tight supporting roles- including a definite stand out performance by Matt Johnson as one of the goody goodies- it's no mystery why the festival deemed the picture best feature film. I sincerely hope that some of you get the chance to see it. Hats off to Brad Marlowe and his troupe!
Until next time,
Annette.
