SXSW FILM FESTIVAL

Stars reigned, films shined

By Michael Barnes and Chris Garcia
AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Saturday, March 17, 2007

First, it rained celebrities: Paul Rudd, Ann-Margret, Lily Tomlin, Bill Paxton, Adam Sandler, Don Cheadle, Morgan Spurlock, Shia LeBeouf and two nerdy guys dressed as Superman and the Hulk.

Then it rained world and regional premieres, including an unusual wealth of four-star movies.

Then it just rained. And rained.

As the clouds burst late Sunday, the South by Southwest Film Conference and Festival — the panel-packed conference wrapped Tuesday and the films conclude today — brought out the best in locals and visitors. Strangers huddled under marquees, shared much-in-demand cabs and offered umbrellas to the most soaked among moviegoers.

By Thursday, the sun was back, just in time for the music half of the SXSW behemoth to charge forth.

SXSW film is a happy jumble of movies and mingling, film and festivities. On March 9, the swanky Texas Film Hall of Fame ceremony at Austin Studios — not an official SXSW event, yet considered the festival's kick-off bash — saluted the late Gov. Ann Richards, a passionate movie-lover, with live and filmed tributes. Mistress of ceremonies and gossip columnist Liz Smith led the testimonial parade, which included it's-about-time inductee Richard Linklater and a visibly uncomfortable Lance Armstrong, who's beginning to look like Austin's go-to party mascot. Rumor is they keep Wonder Biker in a closet at the Chamber of Commerce, dusting him off when needed for anything from ribbon-cuttings to waving woodenly in parades.

For one long week, a remarkably eclectic mass of independent films desperately seeking distribution unrolled at various local theaters, including the Dobie, Alamos and the crown-jewel for participating filmmakers (and viewers), the luxurious Paramount, which boasts the city's best sound, projection and screen dimensions.

Which doesn't mean it boasts the best films. Actor-director Alan Cumming's shrill, astringently unfunny "Suffering Man's Charity" helped open the festival Friday, but turned off so many viewers with its rancid indulgences that many beelined it to the official opening party at the former Fox and Hound instead of sticking around for Scott Frank's Hollywood thriller "The Lookout."

It was a good party. Young actor Shia LaBeouf, best known for Disney's "Holes," arrived following the happy hour wingding for his SXSW film "Disturbia." Too young to drink, he promptly left.

Cumming, smart in a loose gray suit and white sneakers, was also there, giving us a chance to bend, contort and altogether pervert the truth with the words: "Your film is great!" His eyes twinkled, dimples danced. Then he left.

Far hardier were Paul Rudd, who starred in three films at the festival — "Diggers," "The Ten" and "Knocked Up" — and Christopher Dennis and Joe McQueen, aka Superman and the Hulk, respectively. Dennis and McQueen co-star in "Confessions of a Superhero," a documentary look at the lives and longings of the struggling actors who portray movie characters on Hollywood Boulevard, and one of the best films at the festival.

Superman explained the origins of his super-belt to Rudd ("It's from 'Superman III,' " he murmured as if divulging a state secret), and young women swarmed the men for photos and autographs.

Rudd was equally accessible, funny and photo-friendly at the Austin Chronicle party Monday at La Zona Rosa. The party also served as the after-bash for Rudd's "Knocked Up," the riotous follow-up to Judd Apatow's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin," which had a capacity Paramount crowd in joyous tears.

Rudd and his "Knocked Up" co-stars Jonah Hill and Martin Starr (of "Freaks and Geeks" fame) drank beer and raptly watched the special musical performance by Loudon Wainwright III, who also has a small part in the film.

"He's amazing," Rudd gushed.

When a young man offered Rudd some pot, the actor politely declined, saying, "I need to keep it straight here."

A woman then approached him and asked if he had slept with many women at the festival. With good humor, he called the woman a synonym for "hussy" and showed her his wedding band.

"Knocked Up" was a certified buzz film and a big hit at SXSW. Other standout movies include:

•"The Unforeseen," Laura Dunn's mesmerizing documentary on Barton Springs.

•"Scott Walker: 30 Century Man," an unprecedented profile of the reclusive musical genius.

•"Audience of One," in which a Pentecostal pastor attempts to make a $200 million science-fiction epic because God told him to. The documentary won a Special Jury Award at the SXSW film awards.

•"Kamp Katrina," a snapshot of the slowly evolving human dramas in the aftermath of the hurricane.

•"King Corn," a keen look at the politics and economics of American agriculture.

•"The Ten," David Wain and Ken Marino's perversely hilarious absurdist comedy, co-starring Rudd, Gretchen Mol and Winona Ryder.

Across downtown eager hustlers (politely) shoved postcards and other promotional movie items into the hands of passersby. Some of the most skillful promoters pushed two humorous but serious-minded documentaries: "What Would Jesus Buy?," which follows a comic preacher as he fights shopping addiction, and "Manufacturing Dissent," a fair if devastatingly critical portrait of firebrand filmmaker Michael Moore.

Blatant, if friendly, lobbying for audience awards progressed alongside the more studied work of official festival jurors.

Audiences, for instance, favored Bill Haney's "The Price of Sugar" for the Emerging Visions prize, Marlo Poras' "Run Granny Run" for best documentary and Monty Miranda's "Skills like this" for best narrative feature.

Jurors preferred Jennifer Venditti's "Billy the Kid," a movingly intimate profile of an autistic 15-year-old boy, for documentary feature and Jamie Babbit's "Itty Bitty Titty Committee" for narrative feature, among dozens of prizes announced Tuesday (go to Austin 360.com for a complete list of winners, plus film reviews).

"Billy the Kid" had viewers buzzing. "It's the best film I've seen in maybe 10 years," said Michael Taylor, co-editor of last year's big SXSW doc "Be Here to Love Me: A Film About Townes Van Zandt."

Film awards court as much disappointment as glory. Dennis, aka Superman, and Queenan, aka Hulk, were "bouncing off the walls" before Tuesday's ceremony, because they had heard that "Confessions of a Superhero" was nominated for the Emerging Visions honor.

The film did not win, proving that even superheroes can suffer the pains of mere mortals.