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The maturation of Joe Swanberg
Young filmmaker Joe Swanberg, long the bane of my film festival-going career, has finally made a pretty good and recommendable movie. Still in his 20s, I believe, he began with puerile, poorly thought-out and semi-embarrassing micro-budget indie exercises like “Kissing on the Mouth,” “LOL” and “Hannah Takes the Stairs.” They were strictly indulgent, with itty-bitty sparks of promise.
Yet with the curiously titled “Alexander the Last,” world-premiering at SXSW this week, he demonstrates a real urge and ambition toward mature filmmaking. I won’t go on, because another reviewer is writing up this indie-that-can, but it’s a marked departure, a happy upgrading of his previous work, which, if we are fair, was noble and serious.
I have to chalk it up to the fact that Swanberg either attracted or enlisted two name producers, Noah Baumbach (writer-director of “The Squid and the Whale” and much more) and Anish Savjani (“Wendy & Lucy”), who likely kept him on his toes, and a professional cast that can actually act. Regardless, almost everything is nicely in place — performances, tempo, music, cuts, cues, camera work, emotional marks — and it’s worth a peek during SXSW.
SXSW screening dates HERE.
More about the movie HERE.
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