Through the generosity of a benefactor – which makes it sound like I’m Pip in Great Expectations – I’m happy to announce that I’ll be attending the South by Southwest 2023 Conference and Festival. I have scored a complimentary badge to the film festival programming for this year’s SXSW celebration.
Running March 10-19, the fest has already started, and, due to the short notice that a badge was coming my way, as well as a few prior commitments, I’ll be down in Austin to see as much as possible between Monday, March 13 and Friday, March 17, a solid five days of screenings. This will be my first time attending SXSW, and I’m excited to find out if it lives up to the hype.
I made a critical error for the last festival I covered, Fantastic Fest 2022, in announcing that I would be publishing updates of what I was screening every day of the fest. With the number of hours that I was spending each day in screenings alone, that plan quickly proved to be overwhelming, so I switched strategies, offering up quick roundups on what I was seeing for three of the fest’s eight days of programming.
This time, the plan is to offer this brief preview, a mid-week update on what I’ve seen, and a post-mortem soon after the fest ends. I’ve missed the opening-night world premiere of Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves, starring Chris Pine, Michelle Rodriguez, and Hugh Grant, and directed and co-written by John Francis Daley, aka Freaks and Geeks’ Sam Weir. Here are a few of the titles on offer at this year’s South By that I’m hoping to see:
Evil Dead Rise: The latest entry in the iconic Evil Dead franchise – I discovered the first film in the series when I was 17 years old – might not have made the list but for the fact that OG Deadites Sam Raimi, Rob Tapert, and Bruce “Hail to the king, baby” Campbell are all serving as producers. I enjoyed the giddy goofiness of the series Ash vs Evil Dead from a few years ago, and this new film looks to get back to the franchise’s gruesome horror roots.
Problemista: Co-stars Tilda Swinton as an “erratic art-world outcast.” Stop drilling, you’ve hit oil. This is all I need to know.
Flamin' Hot: After cutting her teeth directing over a dozen episodes of different television series, including Black-ish and The Mick, actor Eva Longoria makes her feature film directorial debut with Flamin’ Hot, the story of a “Frito Lay janitor who channeled his Mexican American heritage and upbringing to turn Flamin' Hot Cheetos into a snack that disrupted the food industry and became a global phenomenon.” Cliché motivational treacle or fun tribute to an unsung hero? I can see it going either way. I hate Flamin’ Hot Cheetos, but here’s to hoping this is a good time.
Bottoms: Co-written by and starring Rachel Sennott and co-produced by Elizabeth Banks, Bottoms “follows two unpopular girls in their senior year who start a fight club to try to impress and hook up with cheerleaders.” Sennott won me over in last year’s Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, and I’ve heard she’s hilarious in her breakout role in Shiva Baby.
Joy Ride: “From the producers of Neighbors and the co-screenwriter of Crazy Rich Asians comes a hilarious, raunchy, and life-changing story of identity for four friends on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure.” The immensely talented Stephanie Hsu of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel and my beloved Everything Everywhere All at Once stars, so I’m there.
Tetris: “Based on the true story of American video game salesman Henk Rogers and his discovery of Tetris in 1988. When he sets out to bring the game to the world, he enters a dangerous web of lies and corruption behind the Iron Curtain.” I’ve seen the trailer for this, and it looks like Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy… but with Tetris.
There are also several docs playing that look intriguing. One “follows a college student after she discovers deepfakes of herself circulating online.” Another is “[a] film about why you should join a club—and why the fate of America may depend on it” which follows “the story of America's civic unraveling through the work of Robert Putnam, whose legendary Bowling Alone findings light a path out of our democracy's crisis.”
I’ve barely scratched the surface. If you want to take a look at everything I’m screening at SXSW – even the stuff I don’t get a chance to write about here – head on over to my Letterboxd profile where I meticulously log everything I see.
Cheers, and I’ll see you at the movies!