AUSTIN FILM FESTIVAL

Hippies, surfers and the hopeless

AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF
Thursday, October 11, 2007

'A Dirt Road to Psychedelia: Austin, Texas, during the 1960s'

"Since a Roky Erickson movie did so well, let's make our own about the Austin music and drugs scene during the '60s." I imagine a couple of the graybeards who appear in this documentary entertained such a thought after the success of "You're Gonna Miss Me."

Roky, however, plays second fiddle in this story of the hippiedom decade, when long hair mattered, psychedelics were songwriting tools and, as it's noted, Austin was always six months behind the rest of the country. The film clips and memories by old-timers pay more attention to Tommy Hall than Roky. Hall's instrument was the electric jug and he gets writing credits with the 13th Floor Elevators.

Another hero in "A Dirt Road" is Manse Lipscomb, who delivered blues to young Austinites before there was an Antone's. Then, of course, there is Janis Joplin, heard here in her folkie voice, before her move to San Francisco to openly embrace psychedelia. Interviews range from the artist Jack Jackson (who also fled west) to Harvey Gann, the longtime Austin police lieutenant who busted many a user back then.

The Vulcan Gas Company is given its due in Austin club history, but the most riveting images come from Wooldridge Square, that park with the sunken gazebo alongside the Travis County Courthouse. Watching hippies frolic there to local Doors wannabes is worth the slow time-travel ride of this film.

7:30 p.m. Saturday, Alamo Lake Creek; 9:45 p.m. Wednesday, Dobie

— Ed Crowell

'American Fork'

A blatant and generally sad effort to replicate the "Napoleon Dynamite" formula, "American Fork" enlists one of that film's producers, hires a whimsy-friendly composer, plunks itself in suburban dullsville and rolls out the freaks. This time, our hero isn't merely a dweeb but a hopelessly fat one — Tracy Orbison, whose sole traces of dignity come not from the script but from the actor portraying him — who is dumped upon by family, coworkers and a local gang of juvenile delinquents. Hopelessly naive, he develops a yen for acting, enrolling in an amateur class bearing just the slightest similarity to the legendary Rex Kwon Do in "Napoleon." Humiliation ensues, and, contrary to everything we expect from the blueprint being followed, things are not much happier for Tracy when the credits roll.

2 p.m. Saturday, Alamo Lake Creek; 9:30 p.m. Monday, Bullock Theater

— John DeFore

'Chasing the Dream'

Most surf movies, certainly the documentaries, make a star of the waves. Lingering, glistening water shots show glassy tubes or blustery, bone-crunching avalanches. The riders conquer the waves — or don't.

"Chasing the Dream" stars surfers (eight teenagers) and their cheering moms and dads. Just like Little League syndrome, notes one old pro. This doc by director Angelo Mei devotes its footage primarily to family discussions, beach calisthenics, talking-head coaches and been-there professionals, and tours of mostly middle-class homes in Huntington Beach, Calif., where these surfers live. Some wave-riding is filmed, of course, as these kids compete on their high school surf team and take a side trip to Australia. But the real focus here is on the talent and commitment necessary for young surfers to make the world-class tour that comes with paychecks.

Guessing who might break out of this likeable bunch as a bigtime star keeps the chase interesting amid predictable life lessons. That's a refreshing break from waves taking top billing.

5 p.m. Saturday, Dobie; 7:15 p.m. Monday, Alamo Lake Creek

— Ed Crowell