I attended the South by Southwest film festival remotely this year and got a chance to see some truly great films from the lineup. Some of these are already on streaming services (Pretty Lethal), while others still seek distribution.
Here are seven films I think you should keep on your radar this coming year.
And Her Body Was Never Found
"The most tedious kind of masturbatory filmmaking that wouldn't work even as a short film."
And Her Body Was Never Found is a therapy session for the filmmakers that holds the audience hostage throughout its entire oppressive runtime. It prides itself on two things: that it was (mostly) made by two people, and that everyone, including their actual therapist, told them not to make it. If only they had listened.
Crafted from real-life arguments, And Her Body Was Never Found is a meta-film in the most tedious sense. It knows it has little to say, so instead it breaks the fourth wall into a film about a film about a broken relationship. Maybe one of the filmmakers wants to kill their spouse, maybe it's all part of the process. The only certainty is that the whole thing is so unbearably self-centered that it really doesn't need an audience. It could just as happily play in a darkened room by itself and accomplish the same thing.
As a genre, found footage films live and die by suspension of disbelief. We have to accept that, regardless of everything that happens, people have a reason to keep filming. And Her Body Was Never Found opens with our leading couple attempting joyless sex in a cold river. They've set up one camera for a wide shot and another for close-ups. As their bickering continues, I found myself wondering about the logistics of it all. Every major moment falls into the same conundrum; even as the film tries to wave it all away as an excuse that it's all intentional.
This is the worst kind of narcissistic filmmaking; a film that forces the audience to serve as group therapy for the filmmakers. Ideally, cinema can deal with trauma and even help us understand the world from different viewpoints. A bad film, such as this, is like being stuck at a party where the hosts scream at each other while blocking all the exits. During the end credits, we even hear snippets of the real arguments, some of which were put verbatim into the film.
And Her Body Was Never Found doesn't reveal anything new. It doesn't reinvent the found footage genre, and it certainly isn't the first film to feature vicious arguments between spouses. But it is the first film in a while that treats therapy as a form of exhibitionism. It cynically presents itself as raw and vulnerable as a marketing tactic, but keeps the audience at arm's length, revealing nothing. As a result, it unloads all the trauma and venom on unsuspecting viewers and asks for applause.
It is a hostile and unpleasant experience with zero reward at the end.
The Ascent
"A deeply humane and beautifully realized portrait of a complicated person."
The Ascent is a film that is as much about contradictions as it is about sheer bullheaded determination. It follows the brutal climb of Mandy Horvath, a bilateral amputee, up Mt. Kilimanjaro using only her hands.
As with every ascent or attempt to conquer the impossible, there is more to Horvath's climb than just the physical element. Years ago, she lost her legs under deeply suspicious circumstances. One moment, she was out drinking with friends, the next, she woke in an ambulance with both of her legs torn apart by a freight train. The train drivers on the scene report that Horvath's unconscious body was sprawled over the tracks. It is a miracle she survived.
This is a deeply humane and beautifully realized portrait of a complicated person. It's messy and often difficult to watch, but that only speaks to its truthfulness. By refusing easy categorization, The Ascent defies every expectation of traditional sports biopics or inspirational platitudes. In the end, it earns every moment because it never takes the easy way there.
Read the full review from the link below.
Joonatan Itkonen
Grind
"A fantastic heir to Tales from the Crypt, Grind is a modern-day campfire story for everyone who has suffered through gig work in their life."
Like a cross between Office Space and Tales from the Crypt, Grind is an anthology film directed by Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust that skewers modern gig work with the kind of incisive satire-horror we haven't seen in years.
The pedigree behind the lens is to die for: Grant is a multi-hyphenate talent whose previous film, Torn Hearts, was a fantastic mix of Americana and Psycho, while Stardust is beloved around these parts for her instant cult-classic debut, Satanic Panic.
Like its inspirations, especially Tales from the Crypt, Grind is a fresh take on classic storytelling. It's just on the right side of creepy and funny, where neither part overpowers the other. You could easily imagine it as the heightened logical step of friends venting after work about their nightmarish shifts. Like all great satire, it roots itself in relatability, which makes even the most ludicrous moments work.
Read the review from the link below.
Joonatan Itkonen
Peril at Pincer Point
"Atmospheric and moody, but so hard to pin down that it almost works against itself. Nevertheless, it is an interesting oddity worth exploring."
Peril at Pincer Point is the kind of oddity that is so certain of its own weirdness that I can't help but be charmed by it, even when it takes too long to get where it's going.
It plays out like a live-action version of old LucasArts games, as if retold through a David Lynchian filter. The plot is minimal and hallucinatory even at its most coherent, and there's a constant sense that we're being set up for a shaggy-dog story. In a way, we are, but even that's besides the point.
The setup makes the rules, or lack thereof, clear from the outset. Our hero, Jim (Jack Redmayne), is a low-level sound engineer working for a despotic director who demands a sound for his production that has never been heard before. The crew previously sent someone on this quest, but they never returned. So, Jim sets off for Pincer Point, located somewhere in Northamptonshire, a bizarre seaside town surrounded by mountains and vistas certainly not of the British island.
As Jim meets the locals, Peril at Pincer Point settles into an easy rhythm of off-beat interactions, important quest items, and boatloads of droll, dry English humor. The dialogue and visual stylings are packed with references, and once you get a feel for the comedy, each line feels like it's about to turn around into something bizarre. The result is a tonally audacious experience, one that is as exhausting as it is rewarding.
This is a film that kept me on my toes, which is partially why it left me a bit cold as well. Instead of relaxing and going with the flow, I spent my entire time anticipating the next bit, another clue, or some vague signpost that would unravel in time. Peril at Pincer Point has the rough edges of films like Bait and Enys Men, made by Mark Jenkins. Even when it made me laugh, I did so with some unease.
But it's also an audiovisual treat, especially for those with a soft spot for the texture of analog technology. Every image looks like it's been dragged along a dusty basement floor, and the soundtrack crackles and pops delightfully. It's a brilliant showcase for how much you can do with very little.
But it won't be for everyone, and it doesn't need to be. Peril at Pincer Point is its own thing, and I'm delighted it exists. Even if I'm uncertain of what, ultimately, it's all about.
Pretty Lethal
"Tightly written and directed with impish joy, Pretty Lethal is a blast from beginning to end."
At just under 90 minutes in length, Pretty Lethal is exactly as long as it needs to be. My only issues with it are a couple of odd tonal shifts, which push the film into darker territory than I think is necessary. I get why these scenes are there, but they still grind against the rest of the film, which is surprisingly bubbly even as the body count piles up.
But if that's the only complaint, then what a minor one it is. Few movies know so precisely what they are, and even fewer deliver on their high-concept promise with such accuracy. Pretty Lethal is everything it says on the cover, and what a joy that is.
Read the full review from the link below.
Joonatan Itkonen
The Snake
"Outrageous and disarmingly sweet with a superb leading performance, The Snake is one of the great delights at SXSW this year."
The Snake would not work without the fearless performance by Susan Kent, who also serves as writer. It is a portrait of a deeply flawed and hurt person who, in lesser hands, would be so unlikable that no amount of comedy could salvage.
Instead, thanks to deeply empathetic storytelling from Kent and director Jenna MacMillan, The Snake slowly but surely wins us over and delivers one of the most unexpected feel-bad-but-ultimately-good films of the year.
Jamie (Kent) is an adolescent in her forties. To call her a mess would be an understatement. When we first meet her, she's in the backseat of a police cruiser, explaining how none of this (once again) wasn't her fault. Her mother kicks Jamie out of the house, she breaks up with her loser boyfriend (again), and slinks to live with her abusive childhood friend, who seems to keep Jamie around as a trinket and warning sign.
It's a lot to take in, and it doesn't make for pleasant viewing at first. Like Uncut Gems, Good Time, or $Positions, The Snake is another film in the series of societal outcasts racing to the bottom. Unlike the others, it isn't about men throwing away a good thing for the sake of a quick rush. What makes Kent's and MacMillan's work stand out is how deeply they care about and understand what makes Jamie tick.
The longer we spend with Jamie, the more we're let inside her emotional state. It doesn't happen at once, and some of it is told entirely through silence and the wonderfully subtle body language in Kent's performance. This is a person who's been kicked in the head since childhood. It's no wonder they are who they are. It's the kind of performance that, coupled with the smart script, forces us to examine our preconceived notions multiple times throughout the film.
Remarkably, The Snake doesn't excuse this behavior. It doesn't pretend any of it is OK, and there is no magical ribbon tying it all together. Instead, it opens the door for recovery and shows us how long and difficult that road is. Throughout all this, Kent grounds the increasingly bad decisions in honesty. I felt bad for Jamie, even as I shook my head at her consistently wrong choices.
This is a difficult, but ultimately moving and even profound film about people whose dreams have shrunk to just making it through the day. Everyone here is in a perpetual fight-or-flight mode. It plays up the insanity for laughs, but it isn't a crass, voyeuristic bit of exploitation, either. At no point does The Snake laugh at its subjects. Instead, it laughs with them, bitterly at times, and always in the hopes that somehow, someday, things will get better.
Your Attention Please
"One of the most vitally important documentaries of the year."
A good documentary is as much an act of enlightenment as it is a call to arms. At best, it is an instrument of change that encapsulates a moment in time so astutely that it captures the urgency and anger needed to turn the tide.
Such is the case with Your Attention Please, the startling and emotionally harrowing film by Sara Robin. This is a smartly crafted and deeply humane documentary that treats its impossibly dark material with elegance and maturity. In lesser hands, it could have resulted in an exploitative piece of hysteria. Instead, Robins weaves a compelling argument for sanity at a time when we're short on it.
It is not an all-encompassing solution, nor does Your Attention Please even pretend to be one. We have only begun to grasp the devastation that social media has caused. It will take even longer to carve a bigger picture. But this is a primer, a rallying cry for humanity. It is an angry and outspoken plea for everyone to stop and look around before it's too late.
Your Attention Please is one of the most vitally important films of the decade. I just hope we realize it sooner rather than later.
Read the full review from the link below.
Joonatan Itkonen
