SXSW is off to a raucous start with the indie film biz and Austin movie fans competing for precious 6th street real estate with the techies and college kids. SXSW is such an interesting event as far as film festivals go. Although the film program is world class year-in year-out, there are always so many other activities competing for the spotlight. It's undoubtedly one of the most overwhelming weeks on the fest calendar.
The 2017 edition is no exception, especially when it comes to the quality of the film program. There are some truly excellent films making their world premieres at the festival, a number of which we profiled in our preview series (part 1 | part 2 | part 3). Now that the festival is officially out of the gates, we can start to talk about just which films are getting the most buzz (and which ones deserve it).
The name Norm Gunderson might be slightly more familiar to most people than John Carroll Lynch -- but you've almost certainly seen Carroll Lynch in more than just Fargo (in which he plays the aforementioned Gunderson). The uber-recognizable character actor takes his first turn behind the camera in Lucky and he's called on the talents of perhaps the most famous character actor to do so. The film stars Harry Dean Stanton as a 90-year old man named Lucky who is just going about his admittedly long-stretching days in a small town. Carroll Lynch doesn't dwell much on plot, instead opting to spend time with his rich cast of characters that surround Lucky (including particularly fun turns by Ron Livingston, David Lynch, and Ed Begley Jr.). It's a charming film and a true celebration of the beautiful talent of Harry Dean Stanton.
Another film that has people talking is Lauren Wolkstein and Christopher Radcliff's The Strange Ones. This dark mystery about a young boy and his older brother on a trip into the deep woods keeps the audience guessing throughout. Alex Pettyfer stars alongside the young James Freedson-Jackson and both do very well but the star of the show is the gorgeous cinematography by Todd Banhazl.
Plenty more to come from Austin in the days to come!
SXSW 2017 Dispatch: Early Buzz from a Truly Excellent Film Lineup